Miles Morales v. City of Gardena et al

Filing 69

PROTECTIVE ORDER by Magistrate Judge Michael R. Wilner. (See Order for details) re Stipulation for Protective Order 68 (vm)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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10 MILES MORALES, an individual
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Plaintiff,

Case No.: 2:14-cv-07514-DMG-MRW
[DISCOVERY MATTER]
PROTECTIVE ORDER RE
CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS

vs.

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14 CITY OF GARDENA and DOE
DEFENDANTS 1 THROUGH 30.
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Defendant.
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Complaint Filed:

July 30. 2014

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Plaintiff MILES MORALES, through his counsel of record herein, The Law

19 Offices of Dale K. Galipo, Esq., and defendants, CITY OF GARDENA and
20 OFFICER MICHAEL BERGERON, through their counsel of record herein,
21 Manning and Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez and Trester, LLP, submitted a Stipulation for
22 Protective Order before this Court.
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The Court has read and considered all of the papers filed in support of this

24 stipulation. Good Cause appearing, this Court makes the following orders.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the Stipulation for Protective Order
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26 Thereon is GRANTED as follows:
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TERMS OF THE PROTECTIVE ORDER
1.

Plaintiff’s counsel shall have sole custody and control over the

3 documents identified in paragraph 1 of the parties' Stipulation for Protective Order.
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2.

Documents set forth in paragraph 1 of the parties' Stipulation for

5 Protective Order are deemed confidential, except to the extent set forth in the
6 Stipulation for Protective Order, and shall be used solely in connection with this
7 litigation and the preparation and trial of this case, or any related appellate
8 proceedings, and not for any other purpose, including any other litigation, and may
9 not be disclosed or disseminated to other persons, including any other counsel other
10 than as set forth herein;
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3.

Plaintiff’s counsel alone will have custody, control and access to the

12 documents, reports and writings, and will be prohibited from releasing or
13 disseminating the reports or files, or the information contained within the reports or
14 files to other persons including legal counsel other than set forth in paragraph 18 of
15 the parties' Stipulation for Protective Order;
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4.

Plaintiff’s counsel may make copies of the reports and files, but

17 plaintiff’s counsel will be prohibited from releasing or disseminating such copies or
18 the information contained within such copies other than as set forth herein;
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5.

The documents identified in paragraph 1 of the parties' Stipulation for

20 Protective Order may be submitted in all law and motion proceedings if done so
21 pursuant to Local Rule 79-5 which states:
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L.R. 79-5.1 Filing Under Seal or In Camera-Procedures. Except
when authorized by statute or federal rule, or the Judicial Conference
of the United States, no case or document shall be filed under seal or
in camera without prior approval by the Court. Where approval is
required, a written application and a proposed order shall be
presented to the judge along with the document submitted for filing
under seal or in camera. The proposed order shall address the sealing
of the application and order itself, if appropriate. The original and
judge’s copy of the document shall be sealed in separate envelopes

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with a copy of the title page attached to the front of each envelope.
Conformed copies need not be placed in sealed envelopes. Where
under-seal or in-camera filings are authorized by statute or rule, the
authority therefor shall appear on the title page of the proposed filing.
Applications and proposed orders to seal or file in camera, along with
the material to be sealed or submitted in camera, shall not be
electronically filed but shall be presented to the Clerk for filing in
paper format, in the manner prescribed by Local Rule 79-5. Unless
the filer is exempted from electronic filing pursuant to L.R. 5-4.2(a), a
Notice of Manual Filing shall first be electronically filed identifying
the materials being manually filed. A copy of the Notice of Manual Filing,
together with its NEF (see L.R. 5-3.3), shall be presented with the documents
presented for filing.
L.R. 79-5.2 Confidential Court Records - Disclosure. No sealed or
confidential record of the Court maintained by the Clerk shall be
disclosed except upon written order of the Court.
L.R. 79-5.3 Procedure for Disclosure of Confidential Court
Records. An application for disclosure of sealed or confidential court
records shall be made to the Court in writing and filed by the person
seeking disclosure. The application shall set forth with particularity
the need for specific information in such records. The procedures of
L.R. 7-3 et seq. shall govern the hearing of any such application.
6.

All disputes regarding this Protective Order shall be handled pursuant

to Local Rule 37.
7.

The documents may be disclosed to the following persons:

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a.
b.

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c.

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d.
e.
f.

counsel for any party to this action;
paralegal, stenographic, clerical and secretarial personnel
regularly employed by counsel referred to in paragraph (a);
court personnel including stenographic reporters engaged in such
proceedings as are necessary incident to preparation for the trial
in this action;
any outside expert or consultant retained in connection with this
action, and not otherwise employed by either parties;
any “in-house” or outside experts designated by the defendants
to testify at trial in this matter; and
any party to this action.

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8.

The documents MAY NOT BE DISCLOSED to any of the following

2 persons: Any documents pursuant to paragraph 1 of the parties' Stipulation for
3 Protective Order are expressly prohibited from being disclosed and/or provided to
4 any members of the press and/or media or anyone who is not directly involved in the
5 instant lawsuit.
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9.

Any documents so disclosed will explicitly require inclusion of a copy

7 of this Protective Order and as well as the parties' Stipulation for Protective Order
8 written instructions from counsel directing compliance with same.
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10.

If, in connection with any deposition taken in this action, plaintiff’s

10 attorneys question a witness regarding materials subject to this Protective Order, or
11 uses confidential material as deposition exhibits, at the request of defense counsel,
12 the transcripts of such deposition testimony and the attached exhibits shall be
13 designated as confidential material and shall be subject to the provisions of the
14 parties' Stipulation for Protective Order.
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11.

All documents disclosed to plaintiff's counsel must be returned to the

16 CITY OF GARDENA's attorneys at Manning and Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez and
17 Trester, LLP, no later than thirty (30) days after the conclusion of this lawsuit with
18 verification that any documents disclosed uploaded to plaintiff's computer system
19 has been removed.
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12.

The purpose of the parties' Stipulation for Protective Order is not

21 intended to prevent officials or employees of the CITY OF GARDENA or other
22 authorized government officials from having access to the documents if they would
23 have had access in the normal course of their job duties.
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13.

The Court notes as follows: Defendants' decision to enter into the

25 parties' Stipulation for Protective Order is made without waiver of the privileges and
26 rights afforded to them, including, but not limited to, the right to privacy embodied
27 by the United States Constitution or the right to object at the time of trial to the
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1 admissibility of such or to preclude defendants from filing pre-trial motions with
2 regard to the admissibility thereof or the information contained therein.
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14.

The Court further notes: Plaintiff’s counsel agrees and stipulates that

4 any privilege as asserted by defendant herein applies or attaches to the documents
5 which are the subject of the parties' Stipulation for Protective Order. Further, in the
6 interest of case momentum and conserving judicial resources, plaintiff’s counsel
7 agrees to maintain the documents in agreement with the terms of the parties'
8 Stipulation for Protective Order.
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15.

This Order shall not extend to any specific incident-related documents,

10 recordings, or records that were already in the possession of Plaintiff before the date
11 of Plaintiff's service in this action of Plaintiff's initial disclosures (pursuant Fed. R.
12 Civ. P. 26) – including but not necessarily limited to: incident scene or aerial
13 photographs; incident witness and/or officer interviews/statements; incident-related
14 global positioning system ("GPS") tracking digital data; and incident police dispatch
15 radio and/or dispatch/9-1-1 call recordings. This Order is primarily intended to
16 apply to the incident officer-involved shooting ("OIS") file-book prepared by the
17 Gardena Police Department. However, confidential documents as defined in the
18 parties' Stipulation and this Order – except as specifically exempted by this
19 paragraph – may be designated by any of the signatory parties as confidential
20 documents subject to the protection of the parties' Stipulation and this Order
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16.

The provisions of this Protective Order shall be in effect until further

22 Order of the Court or Stipulation by counsel for the parties.
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IT IS SO ORDERED.
January 9, 2017
DATED: ________________

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UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
MICHAEL R. WILNER

1 Respectfully Submitted By:
2 Eugene P. Ramirez, Esq. (State Bar No. 134865)
Courtney R. Arbucci Esq. (State Bar No. 266036)
3 MANNING & KASS
ELLROD, RAMIREZ, TRESTER, LLP
4 801 South Figueroa Street
15th Floor at 801 Tower
5 Los Angeles, CA 90017
Telephone: [phone]
6 Facsimile: [phone]
[e-mail] and [e-mail]
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Attorneys for Defendants,
8 CITY OF GARDENA AND OFFICER
MICHAEL BERGERON
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