Kimberly Freeman v. County of Los Angeles
Kimberly Freeman v. County of Los Angeles
Trial Court Opinion
1 David J. Weiss, Esq., SBN 78542 Nicholas A. Weiss, Esq., SBN 260606 2 DAVID WEISS LAW 3 3019 Ocean Park Blvd #392 Santa Monica, CA 90405 4 Phone: (310) 575-9566 5 Fax: (310) 575-9576 [email protected] 6
7 Attorneys for Defendants, COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES and LOS 8 ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF’S 9 DEPARTMENT
10 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 11 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 12 KIMBERLY FREEMAN, individually ,CASE NO. 2:24-cv-01600 MWF(AJRx) 13 and as the personal representative of 14 TRAVIS CULVER FREEMAN, deceased; KENT FREEMAN, [PROPOSED] 15 individually and as the personal PROTECTIVE ORDER 16 representative of TRAVIS CULVER FREEMAN, deceased, 17 Plaintiffs, 18 v. Complaint Filed: 19 February 27, 2024 COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES, LOS 20 ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT, and DOES 1 TO 10, 21
22 Defendants.
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27 1 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 2 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, 3 proprietary or private information for which special protection from public 4 disclosure and from use for any purpose other than pursuing this litigation may be 5 warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to 6 enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this 7 Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to 8 discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends 9 only to the limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment 10 under the applicable legal principles. 11 2. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 12 Good cause exists for entry of this stipulated protective order because 13 discovery exchanged in this action is likely to contain documents with information 14 that could infringe on the privacy rights of third parties, including County 15 employees and other inmates at Men’s Central Jail who are not parties in this 16 matter. Gov. Code § 6254(c) exempts from inspection of public records 17 “personnel, medical, or similar files, the disclosure of which constitute 18 unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” Accordingly, to expedite the flow of 19 information, to facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes over confidentiality of 20 discovery materials, to adequately protect information the parties are entitled to 21 keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted reasonable necessary 22 uses of such material in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their 23 handling at the end of the litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a protective 24 order for such information is justified in this matter. It is the intent of the parties 25 that information will not be designated as confidential for tactical reasons and that 26 nothing be so designated without a good faith belief that it has been maintained in 27 1 a confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause why it should not be 2 part of the public record of this case. 3 3. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF UNDER SEAL FILING PROCEDURE 4 The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 14.3, below, that 5 this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential 6 information under seal; Local Civil Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must 7 be followed and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission 8 from the court to file material under seal. There is a strong presumption that the 9 public has a right of access to judicial proceedings and records in civil cases. In 10 connection with non-dispositive motions, good cause must be shown to support a 11 filing under seal. See Kamakana v. City and County of Honolulu,
447 F.3d 1172, 12 1176 (9th Cir. 2006), Phillips v. Gen. Motors Corp.,
307 F.3d 1206, 1210-11 (9th 13 Cir. 2002), Makar-Welbon v. Sony Electrics, Inc.,
187 F.R.D. 576, 577(E.D. Wis. 14 1999) (even stipulated protective orders require good cause showing), and a 15 specific showing of good cause or compelling reasons with proper evidentiary 16 support and legal justification, must be made with respect to Protected Material 17 that a party seeks to file under seal. The parties’ mere designation of Disclosure or 18 Discovery Material as CONFIDENTIAL does not— without the submission of 19 competent evidence by declaration, establishing that the material sought to be 20 filed under seal qualifies as confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable— 21 constitute good cause. 22 Further, if a party requests sealing related to a dispositive motion or trial, 23 then compelling reasons, not only good cause, for the sealing must be shown, and 24 the relief sought shall be narrowly tailored to serve the specific interest to be 25 protected. See Pintos v. Pacific Creditors Ass’n.,
605 F.3d 665, 677-79(9th Cir. 26 2010). For each item or type of information, document, or thing sought to be filed 27 or introduced under seal, the party seeking protection must articulate compelling 1 reasons, supported by specific facts and legal justification, for the requested 2 sealing order. Again, competent evidence supporting the application to file 3 documents under seal must be provided by declaration. 4 Any document that is not confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable 5 in its entirety will not be filed under seal if the confidential portions can be 6 redacted. If documents can be redacted, then a redacted version for public 7 viewing, omitting only the confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable 8 portions of the document, shall be filed. Any application that seeks to file 9 documents under seal in their entirety should include an explanation of 10 why redaction is not feasible. 11 4. DEFINITIONS 12 4.1 This federal lawsuit entitled Kimberly Freeman et al. vs. County of 13 Los Angeles et al. (Case No. 2:24-cv-01600 MWF) involves federal and state law 14 causes of action arising from County Defendants’ alleged failure to provide 15 Decedent Travis Freeman with adequate medical care, supervision and monitoring 16 during his detention at Los Angeles’ County’s Men’s Central Jail. 17 4.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation 18 of information or items under this Order. 19 4.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of 20 how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for 21 protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in 22 the Good Cause Statement. 23 4.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as 24 their support staff). 25 4.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or 26 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery 27 as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 1 4.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of 2 the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, 3 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced 4 or generated in disclosures or responses to discovery. 5 4.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter 6 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve 7 as an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action. 8 4.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action. 9 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside 10 counsel. 11 4.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association or 12 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 13 4.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party 14 to this Action but are retained to represent a party to this Action and have appeared 15 in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm that has 16 appeared on behalf of that party, and includes support staff. 17 4.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, 18 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their 19 support staffs). 20 4.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or 21 Discovery Material in this Action. 22 4.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support 23 services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or 24 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) 25 and their employees and subcontractors. 26 4.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 27 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 1 4.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material 2 from a Producing Party. 3 5. SCOPE 4 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only 5 Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or 6 extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or 7 compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or 8 presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 9 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the 10 trial judge and other applicable authorities. This Order does not govern the use of 11 Protected Material at trial. 12 6. DURATION 13 Once a case proceeds to trial, information that was designated as 14 CONFIDENTIAL or maintained pursuant to this protective order used or 15 introduced as an exhibit at trial becomes public and will be presumptively 16 available to all members of the public, including the press, unless compelling 17 reasons supported by specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are made to the 18 trial judge in advance of the trial. See Kamakana,
447 F.3d at 1180-81 19 (distinguishing “good cause” showing for sealing documents produced in 20 discovery from “compelling reasons” standard when merits-related documents are 21 part of court record). Accordingly, the terms of this protective order do not extend 22 beyond the commencement of the trial. 23 7. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 24 7.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. 25 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under 26 this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that 27 qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for 1 protection only those parts of material, documents, items or oral or written 2 communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, 3 items or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept 4 unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. 5 Mass, indiscriminate or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations 6 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper 7 purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to 8 impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the 9 Designating Party to sanctions. 10 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it 11 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must 12 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation. 13 7.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in 14 this Order, or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, Disclosure of Discovery Material 15 that qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so designated before 16 the material is disclosed or produced. 17 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 18 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic 19 documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial 20 proceedings), that the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend 21 “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that 22 contains protected material. If only a portion of the material on a page qualifies for 23 protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) 24 (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 25 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection 26 need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated 27 which documents it would like copied and produced. 1 During the inspection and before the designation, all of the material made 2 available for inspection shall be deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting 3 Party has identified the documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing 4 Party must determine which documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection 5 under this Order. Then, before producing the specified documents, the Producing 6 Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page that contains 7 Protected Material. If only a portion of the material on a page qualifies for 8 protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) 9 (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 10 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identifies 11 the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the 12 deposition all protected testimony. 13 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for 14 any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the 15 exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the legend 16 “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information warrants 17 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the 18 protected portion(s). 19 7.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent 20 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive 21 the Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such 22 material. Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make 23 reasonable efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the 24 provisions of this Order. 25 /// 26 /// 27 /// 1 ORDER IT IS SO ORDERED. 2 3 4 DATED: _2_/2_0_/2_0_2_5______ ___________________________________ 5 HON. A. JOEL RICHLIN UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
Reference
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