Cole Asia Business Center Inc v. Robert D Manning et al

Filing 66

INTERIM STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER by Magistrate Judge Carla Woehrle. [Note changes made by court] In connection with the production of documents made pursuant to this interim protective order, the parties shall designate documents, or other information derived therefrom, as "Confidential" under the terms of this Interim Stipulated Protective Order (hereinafter "Order"). [SEE ORDER FOR FURTHER DETAILS] 62 (gr)

1 Frank A. Conner, SBN 90909
Wordes, Wilshin & Conner, LLP
2 20151 SW Birch Street
Suite 175
3 Newport Beach, CA 92660
Tel. [phone]
4 Fax [phone]
e-mail: [e-mail]
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6 Attorneys for Cole Asia Business Center Inc.,
Sevan Aslanyan, and Cole Group Inc.
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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11 COLE ASIA BUSINESS CENTER,
INC., a Philippine Corporation,
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Plaintiff,
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v.
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ROBERT D. MANNING, an
15 individual; DEBTORWISE
FOUNDATION, a Delaware
16 corporation; and DOES 1-100,
inclusive,
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Defendants.
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19 ROBERT D. MANNING, an
individual; DEBTORWISE
20 FOUNDATION, a Delaware
corporation,
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Counterclaimants,
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v.
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COLE ASIA BUSINESS CENTER,
24 INC., a Philippine Corporation;
ACCESS COUNSELING , INC., a
25 Delaware corporation; COLE GROUP,
INC., a Nevada corporation; SEVAN
26 ASLAYAN, an individual; and ROES
1-10,
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Counter and Third
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Party defendants.
W ORDES, W ILSHIN & CONNER, LLP
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
ORANGE COUNTY

CASE NO. 2:12-cv-00956-DDP-CW
ASSIGNED TO: Judge Dean D.
Pregerson
Note changes made by court
INTERIM STIPULATED PROTECTIVE
ORDER

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ORDER
1.

In connection with the production of documents made pursuant to this

interim protective order, the parties shall designate documents, or other
information derived therefrom, as “Confidential” under the terms of this Interim
Stipulated Protective Order (hereinafter “Order”). Confidential information is
information which has not been made public and which concerns or relates to the
processes, operations, type or work, or apparatus, or to the production, sales,
shipments, purchases, transfers, identification of customers, inventories, amount or
source of any income, profits, losses, or expenditures of any persons, firm,
partnership, corporation, or other organization, the disclosure of which information
may have the effect of causing harm to the competitive position of the person,
firm, partnership, corporation, or to the organization from which the information
was obtained.
2.

By designating a document, thing, material, testimony or other

information derived therefrom as “confidential,” under the terms of this order, the
party making the designation is certifying to the court that there is a good faith
basis both in law and in fact for the designation within the meaning of Federal Rule
of Civil Procedure 26(g). Confidential documents shall be so designated by
stamping copies of the document produced to a party with the legend
“CONFIDENTIAL.” Stamping the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” on the cover of any
multipage document shall designate all pages of the document as confidential,
unless otherwise indicated by the producing party.
3.

Any document or other information derived therefrom which

identifies customers (including law firms or individual customers/clients) shall be
considered confidential, whether or not it is stamped “CONFIDENTIAL”. Unless
further designated as “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL – ATTORNEY’S EYES
ONLY” pursuant to paragraph 6, any document or other information derived

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W ORDES, W ILSHIN & CONNER, LLP
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
ORANGE COUNTY

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therefrom which identifies customers (including law firms or individual
consumers/clients) shall be treated as confidential and all provisions of paragraph 4
and 5 shall be followed. Any document and information derived therefrom which
identifies an individual consumer/client is entitled to the utmost care and their
name and/or personal information must be redacted or filed under seal if it is to be
filed with the Court.
4.

Material designated as confidential under this Order, the information

contained therein, and any summaries, copies, abstracts, or other documents
derived in whole or in part from material designated as confidential (hereinafter
“Confidential Material”) shall be used only for the purpose of the prosecution,
defense, or settlement of this action, and for no other purpose.
5.

Confidential Material produced pursuant to this Order may be

disclosed or made available only to the Court, to counsel for a party (including the
paralegal, clerical, and secretarial staff employed by such counsel), and to the
“qualified persons” designated below:
a. a party, or an officer, director, or employee of a party deemed
necessary by counsel to aid in the prosecution, defense, or settlement
of this action;
b. experts or consultants (together with their clerical staff) retained by
such counsel to assist in the prosecution, defense, or settlement of this
action (for the purposes of the interim stipulated protective order,
“expert” shall refer to a person with specialized knowledge or
experience in a matter pertinent to the litigation who has been retained
by a party or its counsel to serve as an expert witness or as a
consultant in this action and who is not a past or current employee of a
party or of a competitor of a party and who, at the time of retention, is
not anticipated to become an employee of a party or of a competitor’s

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W ORDES, W ILSHIN & CONNER, LLP
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
ORANGE COUNTY

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of a party);

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c. court reporter(s) employed in this action;

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d. a witness at any deposition or other proceeding in this action; and

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e. any other person as to whom the parties in writing agree.
Prior to receiving any Confidential Material, each “qualified person” shall be
provided with a copy of this Order and shall execute a nondisclosure agreement in
the form of Attachment A, a copy of which shall be provided forthwith to counsel
for each other party and for the parties.
6.

The parties may further designate certain discovery material of a

highly confidential and/or proprietary nature as “CONFIDENTIAL-ATTORNEY'S EYES ONLY” (hereinafter “Attorney's Eyes Only Material”), in
the manner described in paragraphs 2 and 3 above. Attorney's Eyes Only Material,
and the information contained therein, shall be disclosed only to the Court, to
counsel for the parties (including the paralegal, clerical, and secretarial staff
employed by such counsel), and to the “qualified persons” listed in subparagraphs
5(b) through (e) above, but shall not be disclosed to a party, or to an officer,
director or employee of a party, unless otherwise agreed or ordered. If disclosure of
Attorney's Eyes Only Material is made pursuant to this paragraph, all other
provisions in this order with respect to confidentiality shall also apply.
7.

Nothing herein shall impose any restrictions on the use or disclosure

by a party of material obtained by such party independent of discovery in this
action, whether or not such material is also obtained through discovery in this
action, or from disclosing its own Confidential Material as it deems appropriate.
8.

In the event that the producing party or a third party fails to designate

a document or testimony as Confidential Information or Attorney’s Eyes Only, that
party or third party, or any party, may make such a designation subsequently by
notifying the other parties in writing as soon as practicable. Until such

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W ORDES, W ILSHIN & CONNER, LLP
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
ORANGE COUNTY

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notification, however, disclosure of any such document or testimony shall not
constitute a violation of this Interim Stipulated Protective Order.
9.

If Confidential Material is included in any papers to be filed in Court,

such papers shall be labeled “Confidential--Subject to Court Order” and submitted
for filing filed under seal in accordance with Local Rule 79-5.1 until further
order of this Court or redacted to the satisfaction of the party designating such
information as confidential or Highly Confidential Information.
10.

In the event that any Confidential Material is used in any court

proceeding in this action, it shall not lose its confidential status through such use,
and the party using such shall take all reasonable steps to maintain its
confidentiality during such use.
11.

This Order shall be without prejudice to the right of the parties (i) to

bring before the Court in compliance with Local Rule 37 at any time the question
of whether any particular document or information is confidential or whether its
use should be restricted or (ii) to present a motion to the Court under FRCP 26(c)
for a separate protective order as to any particular document or information,
including restrictions differing from those as specified herein. This Order shall not
be deemed to prejudice the parties in any way in any future application for
modification of this Order.
12.

This Order is entered solely for the purpose of facilitating the

exchange of documents and information between the parties to this action without
involving the Court unnecessarily in the process. Nothing in this Order nor the
production of any information or document under the terms of this Order nor any
proceedings pursuant to this Order shall be deemed to have the effect of an
admission or waiver by either party or of altering the confidentiality or nonconfidentiality of any such document or information or altering any existing
obligation of any party or the absence thereof.

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W ORDES, W ILSHIN & CONNER, LLP
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
ORANGE COUNTY

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13.

The parties are not intending to waive any and all rights as to the trade

secret, confidential, proprietary and/or privilege nature of any such records by
permitting access to the records.
14.

This Interim Stipulated Protective Order shall not waive any

objections otherwise available and shall be without prejudice to the right of any
party to oppose production of any information on any such grounds, such as lack of
timeliness or relevance.
15.

Nothing in this Interim Stipulates Protective Order shall be deemed to

limit or waive any right of any Party or third party to resist or compel discovery
with respect to documents which may be claimed to be privileged or otherwise
protected or protectable. Nothing contained in the foregoing provisions of this
Interim Stipulated Protective Order shall be deemed to preclude any party or third
party at any time from seeking and obtaining from the Court, on an appropriate
showing, additional protection, including an order that material shall not be
produced at all.
16.

The parties agree that documents and information derived therefrom

produced pursuant to this Interim Stipulated Protective Order shall be exchanged
between the Parties Represented by Frank A. Conner and the Parties Represented
by Patricia Cymerman only. The document production by DebtorWise Foundation
and Robert D. Manning shall not be produced to Ms. Talavera, pending resolution
of the Motion to Disqualify and subsequent protective order as described in the
Recitals. The Parties Represented by Frank A. Conner and Mr. Conner agree and
warrant that they will not provide the documents produced by DebtorWise
Foundation and Robert D. Manning or any information derived therefrom to Ms.
Talavera or to Access or any officer, director, or employee of Access.
17.

The parties hereto agree to be bound by the terms of this Interim

Stipulated Protective Order pending entry of the Order herein.

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W ORDES, W ILSHIN & CONNER, LLP
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
ORANGE COUNTY

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18.

This Order shall survive the final termination of this action, to the

extent that the information contained in Confidential Material is not or does not
become known to the public, and the Court shall retain jurisdiction to resolve any
dispute concerning the use of information disclosed hereunder.
19.

Upon termination of this case, counsel for the parties shall assemble

and return to each other all documents, material and deposition transcripts
designated as confidential and all copies of same, or shall certify the destruction
thereof.

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Dated: September 12, 2012

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By

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W ORDES, W ILSHIN & CONNER, LLP
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
ORANGE COUNTY

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Magistrate Judge Carla Woehrle
United States District Magistrate
Judge

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ATTACHMENT A

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NONDISCLOSURE AGREEMENT

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I, _____________________________ do solemnly swear that I am fully familiar
with the terms of the Stipulated Protective Order enter in Cole Asia Business
Center v. Robert Manning, etc., et al., United States District Court for the Central
District of California, CASE NO. 2:12-cv-00956-DDP-, and hereby agree to
comply with and be bound by the terms and conditions of that Order unless and
until modified by further Order of this Court. I hereby consent to the jurisdiction
of that Court for purposes of enforcing this Order.

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Dated:

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_________________________

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W ORDES, W ILSHIN & CONNER, LLP
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
ORANGE COUNTY

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