1 MATTHEW J. ESPOSITO (State Bar No. 223445) [email protected] 2 STINSON LLP 19100 Von Karman Avenue, Suite 700 3 Irvine, California 92612 Telephone: (949) 442-7110 4 Facsimile: (949) 442-7118

5 MARK I. WRAIGHT (State Bar No. 228303) [email protected] 6 595 Market Street Suite 2600 7 San Francisco, California 94105 Telephone: (415) 398-3344 8 Facsimile: (415) 956-0439

9 Attorneys for Defendant WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A. 10 (erroneously sued as Wells Fargo Bank)

11 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 12 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA — WESTERN DIVISION 13

14 SOHAILA DERAKHSHAN, Case No. 2:23-cv-05900-MRA-PD 15 Plaintiff, 16 STIPULATION AND PROTECTIVE vs. ORDER 17 WELLS FARGO BANK, 18 Defendant. 19

20 21 22 23 24 25 26 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 This action is likely to involve trade secrets and other valuable research, 13 development, commercial, financial, technical and/or proprietary information for 14 which special protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other 15 than prosecution of this action is warranted. Such confidential and proprietary 16 materials and information consist of, among other things, confidential business or 17 financial information, information regarding confidential business practices, or other 18 confidential research, development, or commercial information (including 19 information implicating privacy rights of third parties), information otherwise 20 generally unavailable to the public, or which may be privileged or otherwise 21 protected from disclosure under state or federal statutes, court rules, case decisions, 22 or common law. Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the 23 prompt resolution of disputes over confidentiality of discovery materials, to 24 adequately protect information the parties are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure 25 that the parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses of such material in 26 preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their handling at the end of the 27 litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such information is 1 designated as confidential for tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated 2 without a good faith belief that it has been maintained in a confidential, non-public 3 manner, and there is good cause why it should not be part of the public record of this 4 case. 5 3. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF UNDER SEAL FILING PROCEDURE 6 The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 14.3, below, that this 7 Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information 8 under seal; Local Civil Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be followed 9 and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court 10 to file material under seal. There is a strong presumption that the public has a right 11 of access to judicial proceedings and records in civil cases. In connection with non- 12 dispositive motions, good cause must be shown to support a filing under seal. See 13 Kamakana v. City and County of Honolulu,

, 1176 (9th Cir. 2006), 14 Phillips v. Gen. Motors Corp.,

, 1210-11 (9th Cir. 2002), 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 that 17 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 filed 20 under seal qualifies as confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable—constitute 21 good cause. 22 Further, if a party requests sealing related to a dispositive motion or trial, then 23 compelling reasons, not only good cause, for the sealing must be shown, and the 24 relief sought shall be narrowly tailored to serve the specific interest to be protected. 25 See Pintos v. Pacific Creditors Ass’n.,

(9th Cir. 2010). For 26 each item or type of information, document, or thing sought to be filed or introduced 27 under seal, the party seeking protection must articulate compelling reasons, 1 Again, competent evidence supporting the application to file documents under seal 2 must be provided by declaration. 3 Any document that is not confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable in 4 its entirety will not be filed under seal if the confidential portions can be redacted. If 5 documents can be redacted, then a redacted version for public viewing, omitting 6 only the confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable portions of the document, 7 shall be filed. Any application that seeks to file documents under seal in their 8 entirety should include an explanation of why redaction is not feasible. 9 4. DEFINITIONS 10 4.1 Action: This pending federal lawsuit entitled Derakhshan v. Wells 11 Fargo Bank, N.A., Central District of California Case No. 2:23-cv-05900-MRA-PD. 12 4.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the 13 designation of information or items under this Order. 14 4.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of 15 how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for 16 protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in 17 the Good Cause Statement. 18 4.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as 19 their support staff). 20 4.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or 21 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as 22 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 23 4.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless 24 of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, 25 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or 26 generated in disclosures or responses to discovery. 27 1 4.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter 2 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as 3 an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action. 4 4.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action. 5 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside 6 counsel. 7 4.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association or 8 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 9 4.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a 10 party to this Action but are retained to represent a party to this Action and have 11 appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm that 12 has appeared on behalf of that party, and includes support staff. 13 4.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, 14 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their 15 support staffs). 16 4.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or 17 Discovery Material in this Action. 18 4.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation 19 support services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or 20 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) 21 and their employees and subcontractors. 22 4.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 23 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 24 4.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material 25 from a Producing Party. 26 5. SCOPE 27 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only 1 extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or 2 compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or 3 presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 4 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the 5 trial judge and other applicable authorities. This Order does not govern the use of 6 Protected Material at trial. 7 6. DURATION 8 Once a case proceeds to trial, information that was designated as 9 CONFIDENTIAL or maintained pursuant to this protective order used or introduced 10 as an exhibit at trial becomes public and will be presumptively available to all 11 members of the public, including the press, unless compelling reasons supported by 12 specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are made to the trial judge in advance 13 of the trial. See Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1180-81 (distinguishing “good cause” 14 showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from “compelling reasons” 15 standard when merits-related documents are part of court record). Accordingly, the 16 terms of this protective order do not extend beyond the commencement of the trial. 17 7. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 18 7.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. 19 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under 20 this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that 21 qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for 22 protection only those parts of material, documents, items or oral or written 23 communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, items 24 or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably 25 within the ambit of this Order. 26 Mass, indiscriminate or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations 27 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper 1 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating 2 Party to sanctions. 3 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it 4 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must 5 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation. 6 7.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in 7 this Order, or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, Disclosure of Discovery Material 8 that qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so designated before 9 the material is disclosed or produced. 10 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 11 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic 12 documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial 13 proceedings), that the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend 14 “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that 15 contains protected material. If only a portion of the material on a page qualifies for 16 protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) 17 (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 18 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection 19 need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated 20 which documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and 21 before the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be 22 deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the 23 documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which 24 documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before 25 producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the 26 “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a 27 portion of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also 1 must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings 2 in the margins). 3 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party 4 identifies the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the 5 deposition all protected testimony. 6 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and 7 for any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on 8 the exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the 9 legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information 10 warrants protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the 11 protected portion(s). 12 7.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent 13 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive 14 the Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material. 15 Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable 16 efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this 17 Order. 18 8. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 19 8.1. Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a 20 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s 21 Scheduling Order. 22 8.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute 23 resolution process under Local Rule 37-1 et seq. 24 8.3 Joint Stipulation. Any challenge submitted to the Court shall be via a 25 joint stipulation pursuant to Local Rule 37-2. 26 8.4 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on 27 the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper 1 parties) may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating 2 Party has waived or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall 3 continue to afford the material in question the level of protection to which it is 4 entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on the 5 challenge. 6 9. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 7 9.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is 8 disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this 9 Action only for prosecuting, defending or attempting to settle this Action. Such 10 Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the 11 conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a 12 Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 15 below (FINAL 13 DISPOSITION). 14 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a 15 location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons 16 authorized under this Order. 17 9.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless 18 otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a 19 Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated 20 “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 21 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as 22 well as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably 23 necessary to disclose the information for this Action; 24 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of 25 the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action; 26 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom 27 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the 1 (d) the court and its personnel; 2 (e) court reporters and their staff; 3 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional 4 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have 5 signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 6 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or 7 a custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew he information; 8 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in 9 the Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing 10 party requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) 11 they will not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the 12 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise 13 agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed 14 deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may 15 be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except 16 as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and 17 (i) any mediators or settlement officers and their supporting personnel, 18 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions. 19 10. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED 20 PRODUCED IN OTHER LITIGATION 21 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation 22 that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as 23 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: 24 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification 25 shall include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 26 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or 27 order to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the 1 subpoena or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include 2 a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and 3 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be 4 pursued by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. If the 5 Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with the 6 subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in this action 7 as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the 8 subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s 9 permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking 10 protection in that court of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions 11 should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action 12 to disobey a lawful directive from another court. 13 11. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE 14 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION 15 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a 16 Non-Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information 17 produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the 18 remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be 19 construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections. 20 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to 21 produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is 22 subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s 23 confidential information, then the Party shall: 24 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party 25 that some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality 26 agreement with a Non-Party; 27 1 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated 2 Protective Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably 3 specific description of the information requested; and 4 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non- 5 Party, if requested. 6 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this court 7 within 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving 8 Party may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the 9 discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving 10 Party shall not produce any information in its possession or control that is subject to 11 the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the 12 court. Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and 13 expense of seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material. 14 12. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 15 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed 16 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this 17 Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in 18 writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts 19 to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or 20 persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order, 21 and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment an 22 Agreement to Be Bound” attached hereto as Exhibit A. 23 13. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR 24 OTHERWISE PROTECTED MATERIAL 25 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain 26 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, 27 the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil\ 1 may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production without 2 prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar 3 as the parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or 4 information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the 5 parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted 6 to the court. 7 14. MISCELLANEOUS 8 14.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any 9 person to seek its modification by the Court in the future. 10 14.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this 11 Protective Order, no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to 12 disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this 13 Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any 14 ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order. 15 14.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any 16 Protected Material must comply with Local Civil Rule 79-5. Protected Material may 17 only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the 18 specific Protected Material. If a Party’s request to file Protected Material under seal 19 is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the information in the 20 public record unless otherwise instructed by the court. 21 15. FINAL DISPOSITION 22 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 6, within 30 23 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return 24 all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in 25 this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, 26 summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected 27 Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving 1 person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 30-day deadline that (1) identifies 2 (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or 3 destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, 4 abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any 5 of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to 6 retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing 7 transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert 8 reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such 9 materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or 10 constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in 11 Section 6 (DURATION). 12 16. VIOLATION 13 Any violation of this Order may be punished by appropriate measures 14 including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary sanctions. 15 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 16 DATED: August 22, 2025

17

18 By: /s/ Sohaila Derakhshan SOHAILA DERAKHSHAN 19

20 Plaintiff in Pro Per 21 DATED: August 22, 2025 STINSON LLP 22 23 By: /s/ Matthew J. Esposito 24 Matthew J. Esposito 25 Attorneys for Defendant 26 WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A. 27 (erroneously sued as Wells Fargo Bank) FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED.

3 . 4 By: AP aluce Lona kue_ Patricia Donahue 5 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 28 07685.2382/15291125.1 14

1 SIGNATURE CERTIFICATION 2 I, Matthew J. Esposito, am the ECF user whose identification and password 3 are being used to file this stipulation. Pursuant to Local Rule 5-4.3.4(a)(2)(i) and 4 (Fed. R. Civ. P. 7-1), I hereby certify that the content of this document is acceptable 5 to Plaintiff Sohalia Derakhshan, and that I have obtained Ms. Derakhshan’s 6 authorization to affix her electronic signature to this document and she concurs in 7 this filing. 8 DATED: August 22, 2025 SEVERSON & WERSON 9 A Professional Corporation 10

11 By: /s/ Matthew J. Esposito 12 Matthew J. Esposito

13 Attorneys for Defendant 14 WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A.

15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27