Louis Hall III v. Riverside County
Louis Hall III v. Riverside County
Trial Court Opinion
1 Nathan A. Oyster (SBN 225307) E-mail: [email protected] 2 Caylin W. Jones (SBN 327829) E-mail: [email protected] 3 Zareh Bursalyan (SBN 356603) [email protected] 4 BURKE, WILLIAMS & SORENSEN, LLP 444 South Flower Street, 40th Floor 5 Los Angeles, CA 90071-2942 Tel: 213.236.0600 Fax: 213.236.2700 6 Attorneys for Defendants 7 COUNTY OF RIVERSIDE, SHERIFF CHAD BIANCO, CAPTAIN FLAKES, 8 LIEUTENANT RAMIREZ (erroneously sued as “RAMEREZ”), DEPUTY 9 SALAZAR (erroneously sued as “SALZAR”), and DEPUTY TOVAR, 10 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 11 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 12 13 LOUIS HALL III, an individual; and Case No. 5:24-cv-00553-JGB-DTB 14 LASHAWN D. LEWIS, an individual, Discovery Matter 15 Plaintiff, STIPULATED PROTECTIVE 16 v. ORDER 17 RIVERSIDE COUNTY; RIVERSIDE COUNTY SHERIFF’S Magistrate Judge: Hon. David T. Bristow 18 DEPARTMENT; SHERIFF CHAD BIANCO; CAPTAIN FLAKES; Distric t J u d g e : Hon. Jesus G. Bernal 19 LIEUTENANT RAMEREZ; DEPUTY SALZAR; DEPUTY TOVAR; 20 SHERIFF DENNIS VROOM; AND DOES 1-10, INCLUSIVE, 21 Defendant. 22 23 24 1. A. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 25 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, 26 proprietary, or private information for which special protection from public disclosure 27 and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. 1 following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order does 2 not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and that 3 the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited 4 information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable 5 legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3, below, 6 that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential 7 information under seal; Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be 8 followed and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from 9 the court to file material under seal. 10 B. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 11 This action is likely to involve the production of confidential records, 12 personal medical records, and investigation information that may implicate third 13 party information, materials protected by the Official Information Privilege, 14 employment or financial information, and confidential information relating to the 15 County, its deputies, and other inmates, for which special protection from public 16 disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecution of this action is 17 warranted. Such information may implicate the privacy interests of the party and are 18 properly protected through a Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c) protective order. Seattle Times 19 Co. v. Rhinehart,
467 U.S. 20, 35 n.21 (1984) (“Rule 26(c) includes among its 20 express purposes the protection of a ‘party or person from annoyance, 21 embarrassment, oppression or undue burden or expense.’ Although the Rule 22 contains no specific reference to privacy or to other rights or interests that may be 23 implicated, such matters are implicit in the broad purpose and language of the 24 Rule.”); Soto v. City of Concord,
162 F.R.D. 603, 617(N.D. Cal. 1995) (a party’s 25 privacy rights are to be protected through a “carefully crafted protective order.”). 26 Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, facilitate the prompt 27 resolution of disputes over confidentiality of discovery materials, adequately protect 1 permitted reasonable necessary uses of such material in preparation for and in the 2 conduct of trial, address their handling at the end of the litigation, and serve the ends 3 of justice, a protective order for such information is justified in this Action. It is the 4 intent of the parties that information will not be designated as confidential for 5 tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated without a good faith belief that it 6 has been maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause 7 why it should not be part of the public record of this case. 8 2. DEFINITIONS 9 2.1 Action: Louis Hall III and Lashawn D. Lewis v. County of 10 Riverside, et al. USDC Case No. 5:24-cv-00553-JGB-DTB. 11 2.2 Challenging Party: A Party or Non-Party that challenges the 12 designation of information or items under this Order. 13 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: Information 14 (regardless of how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that 15 qualify for protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified 16 above in the Good Cause Statement. 17 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as 18 well as their support staff). 19 2.5 Designating Party: A Party or Non-Party that designates 20 information or items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as 21 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 22 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: All items or information, 23 regardless of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained 24 (including, among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are 25 produced or generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter. 26 2.7 Expert: A person with specialized knowledge or experience in a 27 matter pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to 1 2.8 House Counsel: Attorneys who are employees of a party to this 2 Action. House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other 3 outside counsel. 4 2.9 Non-Party: Any natural person, partnership, corporation, 5 association, or other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 6 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: Attorneys who are not employees of 7 a party to this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action 8 and have appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law 9 firm which has appeared on behalf of that party, and includes support staff. 10 2.11 Party: Any party to this Action, including all of its officers, 11 directors, employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record 12 (and their support staffs). 13 2.12 Producing Party: A Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure 14 or Discovery Material in this Action. 15 2.13 Professional Vendors: Persons or entities that provide litigation 16 support services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or 17 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) 18 and their employees and subcontractors. 19 2.14 Protected Material: Any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 20 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 21 2.15 Receiving Party: A Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery 22 Material from a Producing Party. 23 3. SCOPE 24 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only 25 Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted 26 from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of 27 Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or presentations by Parties 1 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the 2 trial judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial. 3 4. DURATION 4 Once a case proceeds to trial, all of the information that was designated as 5 confidential or maintained pursuant to this protective order becomes public and will 6 be presumptively available to all members of the public, including the press, unless 7 compelling reasons supported by specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are 8 made to the trial judge in advance of the trial. See Kamakana v. City and County of 9 Honolulu,
447 F.3d 1172, 1180-81(9th Cir. 2006) (distinguishing “good cause” 10 showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from “compelling reasons” 11 standard when merits-related documents are part of court record). Accordingly, the 12 terms of this protective order do not extend beyond the commencement of the trial. 13 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 14 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for 15 Protection. Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for 16 protection under this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific 17 material that qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must 18 designate for protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or 19 written communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, 20 documents, items, or communications for which protection is not warranted are not 21 swept unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. 22 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations 23 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper 24 purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose 25 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating Party 26 to sanctions. 27 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it 1 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation. 2 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise 3 provided in this Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as 4 otherwise stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for 5 protection under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is 6 disclosed or produced. 7 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 8 (a) For information in documentary form (e.g., paper or 9 electronic documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or 10 trial proceedings), that the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend 11 “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that 12 contains protected material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page 13 qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected 14 portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 15 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection 16 need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated 17 which documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and before 18 the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be deemed 19 “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the documents it 20 wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which documents, 21 or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing 22 the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL 23 legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a portion or portions of 24 the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly 25 identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the 26 margins). 27 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating 1 of the deposition all protected testimony. 2 (c) for information produced in some form other than 3 documentary and for any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a 4 prominent place on the exterior of the container or containers in which the 5 information is stored the legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of 6 the information warrants protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, 7 shall identify the protected portion(s). 8 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an 9 inadvertent failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing 10 alone, waive the Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for 11 such material. Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must 12 make reasonable efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the 13 provisions of this Order. 14 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 15 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a 16 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s 17 Scheduling Order. 18 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the 19 dispute resolution process under Local Rule 37.1 et seq. 20 6.3 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall 21 be on the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper 22 purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other 23 parties) may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating 24 Party has waived or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall 25 continue to afford the material in question the level of protection to which it is 26 entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on the 27 challenge. 1 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 2 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material 3 that is disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with 4 this Action only for prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this Action. Such 5 Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the 6 conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a 7 Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL 8 DISPOSITION). 9 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a 10 location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons 11 authorized under this Order. 12 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless 13 otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a 14 Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated 15 “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 16 (a) The Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this 17 Action, as well as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is 18 reasonably necessary to disclose the information for this Action; 19 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House 20 Counsel) of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this 21 Action; 22 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to 23 whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the 24 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 25 (d) the court and its personnel; 26 (e) court reporters and their staff; 27 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and 1 and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit 2 A); 3 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the 4 information or a custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the 5 information; 6 (h) during their depositions, witnesses ,and attorneys for 7 witnesses, in the Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) 8 The deposing party requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit 1 9 hereto; and (2) they will not be permitted to keep any confidential information 10 unless they sign the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), 11 unless otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of 12 transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected 13 Material may be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to 14 anyone except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and 15 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting 16 personnel, mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement 17 discussions. 18 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED 19 PRODUCED IN OTHER LITIGATION 20 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation 21 that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as 22 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: 23 (a) Promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such 24 notification shall include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 25 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the 26 subpoena or order to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material 27 covered by the subpoena or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such 1 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought 2 to be pursued by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 3 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with 4 the subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in this action 5 as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the subpoena 6 or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s permission. The 7 Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in that court 8 of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions should be construed as 9 authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action to disobey a lawful 10 directive from another court. 11 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE 12 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION 13 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information 14 produced by a Non-Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 15 Such information produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is 16 protected by the remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these 17 provisions should be construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional 18 protections. 19 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery 20 request, to produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the 21 Party is subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s 22 confidential information, then the Party shall: 23 (i) Promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and 24 the Non-Party that some or all of the information requested is subject to a 25 confidentiality agreement with a Non-Party; 26 (ii) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the 27 Stipulated Protective Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a 1 (iii) make the information requested available for 2 inspection by the Non-Party, if requested. 3 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this 4 court within 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the 5 Receiving Party may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive 6 to the discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the 7 Receiving Party shall not produce any information in its possession or control that is 8 subject to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination 9 by the court. Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the 10 burden and expense of seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material. 11 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 12 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed 13 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this 14 Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in 15 writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts 16 to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or 17 persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order, 18 and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and 19 Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 20 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR 21 OTHERWISE PROTECTED MATERIAL 22 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain 23 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, 24 the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil 25 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure 26 may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production without prior 27 privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the 1 information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the 2 parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted 3 to the court. 4 12. MISCELLANEOUS 5 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right 6 of any person to seek its modification by the Court in the future. 7 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of 8 this Protective Order no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to 9 disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this 10 Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any 11 ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order. 12 12.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal 13 any Protected Material must comply with Civil Local Rule 79-5. Protected Material 14 may only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the 15 specific Protected Material at issue. If a Party's request to file Protected Material 16 under seal is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the information 17 in the public record unless otherwise instructed by the court. 18 13. FINAL DISPOSITION 19 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 4, within 60 20 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return 21 all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in this 22 subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, 23 summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected 24 Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party 25 must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same person 26 or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day deadline that (1) identifies (by 27 category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or destroyed 1 ||compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any of the 2 || Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an 3 |/archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing 4 || transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert 5 □□ reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such 6 ||materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or 7 || constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in 8 || Section 4 (DURATION). 9 14. Any violation of this Order may be punished by any and all appropriate 10 || measures including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary 11 || sanctions. 12 13 | IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 14 15 || Dated: January 17, 2025 BURKE, WILLIAMS & SORENSEN, LLP 16 17 18 By: athan A. Oyster 19 Caylin W. Jones Zareh Bursalyan Attorneys for Defendants 21 COUNTY OF RIVERSIDE, SHERIFF 22 CHAD BIANCO, CAPTAIN FLAKES, LIEUTENANT RAMIREZ, 23 DEPUTY SALAZAR, and DEPUTY 24 TOVAR 25 26 27 28 E, WILLIAMS &
1 || Dated: January 17, 2025 BOND LAW LEGAL GROUP 2 3 A By: p> Royal DL Bond 5 Attorneys for Plaintiffs 6 LOUIS HALL II and LASHAWN D. LEWIS 7 8 9 || FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED. 10 DATED: January 21, 2025 12 1S 7 be fe David T. Bristow 15 || United States District Court Honorable Magistrate Judge 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 E, WILLIAMS &
1 EXHIBIT A 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 3 I, _______________________________________ [print or type full name], of 4 _______________________ [print or type full address], declare under penalty of 5 perjury that I have read in its entirety and understand the Stipulated Protective Order 6 that was issued by the United States District Court for the Central District of 7 California on [date] in the case of _____________ [insert formal name of the case 8 and the number and initials assigned to it by the court]. I agree to comply with 9 and to be bound by all the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order and I understand 10 and acknowledge that failure to so comply could expose me to sanctions and 11 punishment in the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise that I will not disclose in 12 any manner any information or item that is subject to this Stipulated Protective Order 13 to any person or entity except in strict compliance with the provisions of this Order. 14 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the 15 Central District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this Stipulated 16 Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of this 17 action. I hereby appoint _____________________________ [print or type full name] 18 of _________________________________ [print or type full address and telephone 19 number] as my California agent for service of process in connection with this action 20 or any proceedings related to enforcement of this Stipulated Protective Order. 21 Date: ___________________________________ 22 City and State where sworn and signed: ________________________________ 23 24 Printed name: ____________________________ 25 26 Signature: _______________________________ 27
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