Lester James as Grandparent and Legal Guardian of K.J., a Minor Child v. Lyon...

District Court, D. Nevada

Lester James as Grandparent and Legal Guardian of K.J., a Minor Child v. Lyon...

Trial Court Opinion

1 Katherine F. Parks, Esq. Nevada Bar No. 6227 2 Thorndal Armstrong, PC 6590 S. McCarran Blvd., Suite B 3 Reno, Nevada 89509 Tel: (775) 786-2882 4 [email protected] Attorney for Defendants 5 LYON COUNTY and TAYLOR CUNNINGHAM 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 9 10 Lester James as Grandparent and Legal Guardian of K.J., a Minor Child, 11 Plaintiff, Case No. 3:24-cv-00247-ART-CSD 12 vs. 13 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER Lyon County; a political subdivision of the 14 State of Nevada; Lyon County Sheriff Deputy Doe 1 Taylor Cunningham; State of Nevada 15 on relation of the Department of Public Safety, Highway Patrol Division; Nevada 16 State Police Highway Patrol Officer Doe 2; Nevada State Police Highway Patrol Officer 17 Doe 3; and Does 4 through 10, inclusive, 18 Defendants. 19 20 In order to protect the confidentiality of confidential information obtained by the parties 21 identified in the above caption in connection with this case, the parties hereby agree as follows: 22 1. Any party may designate as “confidential” (by stamping the relevant page or 23 otherwise as set forth herein) any document or response to discovery which that party or non- 24 party considers in good faith to contain confidential information, subject to protection under the 25 Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, or state or federal law (“Confidential Information”). Where a 26 document or response consists of more than one page, the first page and each page on which 27 confidential information appears shall be so designated. 28 1 2. A party may designate information disclosed during a deposition or in response 2 to written discovery as “confidential” by so indicating in said response or a party may designate 3 in writing, within twenty (20) days after receipt of said responses or of the deposition transcript 4 for which the designation is proposed, that specific pages of the transcript and/or specific 5 responses be treated as “confidential” information. Any other party may object to such proposal, 6 in writing or on the record. Upon such objection, the parties shall follow the procedures 7 described in paragraph 8 below. After any designation made according to the procedure set 8 forth in this paragraph, the designated documents or information shall be treated according to the 9 designation until the matter is resolved according to the procedures described in paragraph 8 10 below, and counsel for all parties shall be responsible for marking all previously unmarked 11 copies of the designated material in their possession or control with the specific designation. 12 3. All information produced or exchanged in the course of this case (other than 13 information that is publicly available) shall be used by the party or parties to whom the 14 information is produced solely for the purpose of this case. 15 4. Except with the prior written consent of the party or parties who designated the 16 material “Confidential Information,” or upon the prior order of this Court obtained upon notice 17 to opposing counsel, Confidential Information shall not be disclosed to any person other than: 18 (a) counsel for the respective parties to this litigation, including in-house counsel and 19 co-counsel retained for this litigation; 20 (b) employees of such counsel; 21 (c) individual parties, class representatives, any officer or employee of a party, to the 22 extent deemed necessary by Counsel for the prosecution or defense of this litigation; 23 (d) consultants or expert witnesses retained for the prosecution or defense of this 24 litigation, provided that each such person shall execute a copy of the Certification annexed to this 25 Order as Exhibit “A” (which shall be retained by counsel to the party so disclosing the 26 Confidential Information and made available for inspection by opposing counsel during the 27 pendency or after the termination of the action only upon good cause shown and upon order of 28 the Court) before being shown or given any Confidential Information; 1 (e) any authors or recipients of the Confidential Information; 2 (f) the Court, Court personnel, and court reporters; and 3 (g) witnesses (other than persons described in paragraph 4(e)). A witness shall sign 4 the Certification before being shown a confidential document. Confidential Information may be 5 disclosed to a witness who will not sign the Certification only in a deposition at which the party 6 who designated the Confidential Information is represented or has been given notice that 7 Confidential Information shall be designated “Confidential” pursuant to paragraph 2 above. 8 Witnesses shown Confidential Information shall not be allowed to retain copies. 9 5. Any persons receiving Confidential Information shall not reveal or discuss such 10 information to or with any person who is not entitled to receive such information, except as set 11 forth herein. 12 6. Unless otherwise permitted by statute, rule or prior court order, papers filed with 13 the Court under seal shall be accompanied by a concurrently filed motion for leave to file those 14 documents under seal, and shall be filed consistent with the court’s electronic filing procedures 15 in accordance with Local Rule IA 10-5. Notwithstanding any agreement among the parties, the 16 party seeking to file a paper under seal bears the burden of overcoming the presumption in favor 17 of public access to papers filed in court. Kamakana v. City and County of Honolulu,

447 F.2d 18 1172

(9th Cir. 2006) and Center for Auto Safety v. Chrysler Group, LLC.,

809 F.3d 1092

, 1097 19 (9th Cir. 2016). 20 7. A party may designate as “Confidential” documents or discovery materials 21 produced by a non-party by providing written notice to all parties of the relevant document 22 numbers of other identification within thirty (30) days after receiving such documents or 23 discovery materials. Any party or non-party may voluntarily disclose to others without 24 restriction any information designated by that party or non-party as confidential, although a 25 document may lose its confidential status if it is made public. 26 8. If a party contends that any material is not entitled to confidential treatment, such 27 party may at any time give written notice to the party or non-party who designated the material. 28 The party or non-party who designated the material shall have twenty-five (25) days from the 1 receipt of such written notice to apply to the Court for an order designating the material as 2 confidential. The party seeking the order has the burden of establishing that the document is 3 entitled to protection. 4 9. Notwithstanding any challenge to the designation of material as Confidential 5 Information, all documents shall be treated as such and shall be subject to the provisions hereof 6 unless and until one of the following occurs: 7 (a) the party who claims that the material is Confidential Information withdraws 8 such designation in writing; or 9 (b) the party who claims that the material is Confidential Information fails to apply to 10 the Court for an order designating the material confidential within the time period specified 11 above after receipt of a written challenge to such designation; or 12 (c) the Court rules the material is not confidential. 13 10. All provisions of this Order restricting the communication or use of Confidential 14 Information shall continue to be binding after the conclusion of this action, unless otherwise 15 agreed or ordered. Upon conclusion of the litigation, a party in the possession of Confidential 16 Information, other than that which is contained in pleadings, correspondence, and deposition 17 transcripts, shall either (a) return such documents no later than thirty (30) days after conclusion 18 of this action to counsel for the party who provided such information, or (b) destroy such 19 documents within the time period upon consent of the party who provided the information and 20 certify in writing within thirty (30) days that the documents have been destroyed. 21 11. The terms of this Order do not preclude, limit, restrict, or otherwise apply to the 22 use of documents at trial. 23 12. Nothing herein shall be deemed to waive any applicable privilege or work product 24 protection, or to affect the ability of a party to seek relief for an inadvertent disclosure of material 25 protected by privilege or work protection. 26 /// 27 /// 28 /// 1 13. Any witness or other person, firm or entity from which discovery is sought may 2 || be informed of and may obtain the protection of this Order by written advice to the parties’ 3 || respective counsel or by oral advice at the time of any deposition or similar proceeding. 5 Dated this 1“ day of October, 2025. Dated this 1“ day of October, 2025. 6 KESTREL LAW PLLC STATE OF NEVADA, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 8 By: __ /s/ Leah Kestrel Finke By: __ /s/ Laura Ginn LEAH KESTREL FINKE, ESQ. LAURA M. GINN, ESQ. 9 5470 Kietzke Lane, Suite 300 Senior Deputy Attorney General Reno, NV 89511 555 Wright Way 10 Attorney for Plaintiff Carson City, NV 89711 ll Attorney for Defendant STATE OF NEVADA EX REL. THE 12 DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, HIGHWAY PATROL 13 DIVISION 14 Dated this 1“ day of October, 2025. 15 THORNDAL ARMSTRONG, PC 16 17 By: __ /s/ Katherine Parks KATHERINE F. PARKS, ESQ. 18 State Bar. No. 6227 19 6590 S. McCarran Blvd, Suite B Reno, NV 89509 20 Attorney for Defendants LYON COUNTY and 21 TAYLOR CUNNINGHAM 22 23 ORDER 24 25 IT IS SO ORDERED. 26 DATED: This 1St___ day of October 2025. CS 28 UNITED STATES M TRATE JUDGE _5-

1 EXHIBIT “A” 2 CERTIFICATION 3 I hereby certify my understanding that Confidential Information is being provided to me 4 pursuant to the terms and restrictions of the Protective Order dated _________________, 5 20____, in “Lester James as Grandparent and Legal Guardian of K.J., a Minor Child, Plaintiff, 6 vs. Lyon County; a political subdivision of the State of Nevada; Lyon County Sheriff Deputy 7 Doe 1 Taylor Cunningham; State of Nevada on relation of the Department of Public Safety, 8 Highway Patrol Division; Nevada State Police Highway Patrol Officer Doe 2; Nevada State 9 Police Highway Patrol Officer Doe 3; and Does 4 through 10, inclusive, Defendants, Civil No. 10 3:24-cv-00247-ART-CSD.” I have been given a copy of that Order and read it. I agree to be 11 bound by the Order. I will not reveal the Confidential Information to anyone, except as allowed 12 by the Order. I will maintain all such Confidential Information – including copies, notes, or 13 other transcriptions made therefrom – in a secure manner to prevent unauthorized access to it. 14 No later than thirty (30) days after the conclusion of this action, I will return the Confidential 15 Information – including copies, notes, or other transcriptions made therefrom – to the counsel 16 who provided me with the Confidential Information. I hereby consent to the jurisdiction of the 17 United States District Court for the purpose of enforcing the Protective Order. 18 DATED: __________________. 19 20 _____________________________ 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

Reference

Full Case Name
Lester James as Grandparent and Legal Guardian of K.J., a Minor Child v. Lyon County; a political subdivision of the State of Nevada; Lyon County Sheriff Deputy Doe 1 Taylor Cunningham; State of Nevada on relation of the Department of Public Safety, Highway Patrol Division; Nevada State Police Highway Patrol Officer Doe 2; Nevada State Police Highway Patrol Officer Doe 3; and Does 4
Status
Unknown