Sandra Pulgarin v. Tristar Products, Inc. et al

Filing 51

PROTECTIVE ORDER by Magistrate Judge Karen L. Stevenson re Stipulation for Protective Order 50 (See order for further details) (rh)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, WESTERN DIVISION
Case No. 2:17-cv-04955-SJO-(KSx)

SANDRA PULGARIN,
Plaintiff,
vs.

STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER

TRISTAR PRODUCTS, INC.;
ZHONGSHAN USATA ELECTRIC
APPLIANCE CO., LTD; and DOES 1
to 100, inclusive,
Defendants.

Pursuant to Rule 26(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
and based on the parties’ Stipulation for Protective Order (“Stipulation”)
filed on March 1, 2018, the terms of the protective order to which the parties
have agreed are adopted as a protective order of this Court (which generally
shall govern the pretrial phase of this action) except to the extent, as set forth
below, that those terms have been modified by the Court’s amendment of
paragraphs 1, 2e, 4e, 4g, 6, and 11 of the Stipulation.
AGREED TERMS OF THE PROTECTIVE ORDER AS ADOPTED AND
MODIFIED BY THE COURT1
Upon agreement of the parties to the above-captioned action and this Honorable Court to
the entry of a protective order, and due to the likelihood that discovery and relief sought in this
1

The Court’s additions to the agreed terms of the Protective Order are generally indicated in
bold typeface, and the Court’s deletions are indicated by lines through the text being deleted.

action (“Action”) by Plaintiffs will require production of certain confidential, personal, private,
proprietary, commercial, financial, business, trade secret and/or otherwise sensitive information,
and due to the need to protect the confidentiality of such information, it is agreed by the parties
and ordered as follows:

1.

Scope.
(a)

Confidential Information: All documents, information, electronically

stored information, testimony, or other things furnished by Tristar Products, Inc. (“Tristar”) in
conjunction with this Action, which it considers in good faith to contain, reflect, or comment
upon trade secrets, proprietary, confidential, privileged, private, personal, sensitive, commercial,
financial or business information (“Confidential Information”) may be designated
CONFIDENTIAL and furnished to the parties pursuant to the terms of this Agreed Protective
Order (“Order”). The party receiving the Confidential Information shall treat it as proprietary
information and shall not use or disclose the information except as set forth in this Order. The
provisions of this Order extend to all Confidential Information regardless of the manner in which
it is disclosed, including but not limited to documents, interrogatory answers, responses to
requests for admission, deposition transcripts, deposition exhibits, and any other discovery
materials and tangible things that are produced, made available for inspection, disclosed, or filed
in this Action, including any copies, notes, abstracts, or summaries of the foregoing materials.
No documents shall be designated or remain “Confidential” that: (a) at the time of
disclosure hereunder are in the public domain; or (b) become available to the public after
disclosure hereunder through no fault of the receiving party; or (c) are in the possession of the
receiving party prior to disclosure hereunder, as evidenced by competent evidence; or (d) are
disclosed to the receiving party by a third party that has an independent right to disclose such
information.
Any use of Confidential Information at trial shall be governed by the orders of the
trial judge. This Order does not govern the use of Confidential Information at trial.
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2.

Designation of Confidentiality: Documents or information may be designated

CONFIDENTIAL within the meaning of this Order in the following ways:
(a)

Documents: In the case of documents and the information contained

therein, designation shall be made by means of the following legend placed on each page of any
such document: “CONFIDENTIAL” or “CONFIDENTIAL - SUBJECT TO PROTECTIVE
ORDER” or something similar thereto.
(b)

Other Discovery: In the case of interrogatory answers, responses to

requests for admissions and the information contained therein, designation shall be made by
means of a statement in the answers or responses specifying that the answers or responses or
specific parts thereof are designated CONFIDENTIAL. The following legend shall be placed on
the front of any set of interrogatory answers or responses to requests for admission containing
Confidential Information: “CONTAINS CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION. Designated parts
not to be used, copied or disclosed except as authorized by Court Order.”
(c)

Depositions: In the case of depositions and the information contained in

depositions (including exhibits), designation of the portions of the transcript (including exhibits)
which contain Confidential Information shall be made by a statement to such effect on the record
in the course of the deposition by counsel for the party or witness producing such information, or
by letter from counsel to the court reporter, with copies to Counsel of Record, within thirty (30)
days of receipt of the final deposition transcript or copy thereof. To retain any designations
beyond the provisional period, a Designating Party must designate specific pages and lines of
deposition testimony before the provisional period has expired. The entire deposition transcript
(including exhibits) shall be treated as Confidential under this Order until the expiration of the
above-referenced thirty-day period for designation by letter, except that the deponent may review
the transcript of his or her own deposition during this thirty-day period. Counsel also may agree
to extend the time period for providing such designations. Before the above-referenced thirtyday period (and any agreed-to extension thereof) has passed, the following legend shall be placed
on the front of the original deposition transcript and each copy of the transcript: “TREAT AS
CONFIDENTIAL UNTIL FURTHER DESIGNATION.” After the above-referenced thirty-day
period (and any agreed-to extension thereof) has passed, the following legend shall be placed on
the front of the original deposition transcript and each copy of the transcript containing
Confidential Information: “CONTAINS CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION. Designated parts

not to be used, copied or disclosed except as authorized by Court Order.” If all or part of a
videotaped deposition is designated as CONFIDENTIAL, the videocassette or other videotape
container shall be labeled with the legend provided for in paragraph 2(a) above.
(d)

Electronically Stored Information: To the extent that matter stored or

recorded in the form of electronically stored information (including information, databases or
programs stored on computers, discs, networks or tapes) (“Electronically Stored Information”) is
produced by any party in such form, the producing party may designate such matter as
CONFIDENTIAL by cover letter referring generally to such matter. Whenever any party to
whom Computerized Information designated as CONFIDENTIAL is produced reduces such
material to hard-copy form, such party shall mark such hard-copy form with the legend provided
for in paragraph 2(a) above. To the extent that any party or counsel for any party creates,
develops or otherwise establishes any Electronically Stored Information, including any database,
disc or tape, which contains information designated CONFIDENTIAL, that party and/or its
counsel must take all necessary steps to insure that access to that Electronically Stored
Information is properly restricted to those persons who, by the terms of this Order, may have
access to Confidential Information.
(e)

Information Filed with the Court: Any party seeking to file with the Court

documents and/or materials designated CONFIDENTIAL will comply with local rule 79-5.
Protected material may only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the
sealing of the specific Protected Material at issue. If a Party’s request to file Protected
Material under seal is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the
information in the public record unless otherwise instructed by the court. If the Court
grants an application to seal, all documents and materials filed with the Court containing or
reflecting the contents of Confidential Information shall be endorsed with the caption of the
Action, a generic designation of the contents, and the words “CONFIDENTIAL
INFORMATION -- SUBJECT TO COURT ORDER” .
No party or other person may have access to any sealed document from the files of the
Court without an order of the Court. The “Judge’s Copy” of a sealed document may be opened
by the presiding Judge, law clerks and other Court personnel without further Order of the Court.
Each document filed under seal may be returned to the party which filed it (1) if no appeal is
taken, within ninety days after a final judgment is rendered or (2) within thirty days after the

mandate of the last reviewing court which disposes of this Action in its entirety is filed (“the
final resolution of this Action”). If the party which filed a sealed document fails to remove the
document within the appropriate time frame, then, after notice from the Clerk of Court, the
document shall be destroyed by the Clerk.

3.

Use of Confidential Information: Confidential Information shall be used by any

party, other than the producing party, solely for the purpose of conducting this Action, and shall
in no event be used for any business, competitive, personal, private, public or other purpose,
except as required by law.

4.

Disclosure of Confidential Information: Access to information designated

CONFIDENTIAL pursuant to this Order shall be limited to:
(a)

the parties and counsel for the parties (including members or associates of

such counsel’s firm) or in-house and outside counsel for the parties, as well as their paralegal,
investigative, secretarial and clerical personnel who are engaged in assisting such counsel in this
Action;
(b)

outside photocopying, data processing, graphic production, stenographers,

or videographers employed by the parties or their counsel to assist in this Action;
(c)

any outside expert who is not employed by or affiliated with any party or

an affiliate of a party and is retained by counsel for the purposes of consulting and/or testifying
in this Action;
(d)

any party or any director, officer or employee of a party charged with the

responsibility for making business decisions dealing directly with the resolution of this Action;
(e)

any person whose testimony is taken or is to be taken by deposition or at

trial in this Action who in good faith is required to be shown or questioned about such material in
order to assist such attorney in the preparation or the conduct of this Action, provided disclosing
counsel determines in good faith that the disclosure is appropriate to the effective prosecution or
defense of the Action;
(f)

any person who authored or received the particular material sought to be

disclosed to that person (provided that the document has not been altered since that person
authored or received the material);

(g)

this Court or any other Court exercising jurisdiction with respect to this

Action, Court personnel, jurors, alternate jurors, and qualified persons (including necessary
clerical personnel) recording, taking or transcribing testimony or argument at any deposition,
hearing, trial or appeal or pre-trial hearing in this Action; and
(h)

any other person to whom the party producing the information agrees in

writing.

5.

Notification of Confidentiality Order: Confidential Information shall not be

disclosed to persons described in paragraphs 4(b), 4(c), 4(d), or 4(e) unless and until such person
has executed an Agreement of Confidentiality in substantially the form attached hereto as
Exhibit A. However, Confidential Information may be disclosed to non-parties and former
employees (this does not include current employees of any party to this Action) pursuant to
paragraph 4(e) provided that such persons are provided a copy of this Order, they represent that
they have read and understand the provisions of this Order or its summary, and they are advised
by the disclosing counsel that such persons are bound by the provisions of this Order. The
originals of such Agreements shall be maintained by counsel for the party who obtained them
until the final resolution of this Action. Upon a showing of good cause to the Court, copies of all
executed Agreements shall be provided to the counsel for opposing parties within 30 days. This
prohibition includes either direct or indirect disclosure, including but not limited to any
disclosure by counsel or experts.

6.

Objections to Designations: A party shall not be obligated to object to the

propriety of a Confidential Information designation at the time made, and a failure to do so shall
not preclude a subsequent objection thereto. In the event a party objects to the designation under
this Order by another party of any material, the objecting party shall consult with the other party
to attempt to resolve their differences. The objecting party shall advise the designating party in
writing of the objection and identify the document or material with sufficient specificity to
permit the other to identify it. Within five business days of receiving the written objection, the
designating party shall advise whether the designation will be removed. The party responding to
the objection must have a good faith basis for defending its designation. If the parties are unable
to reach an accord as to the proper designation of the material, the objecting party, after

complying with the Court’s pre-motion procedures, may apply to the Court for a ruling that
the material shall not be so treated, giving notice to the party which has produced the material.
The producing party has the burden of supporting its designation. If the parties are unable to
reach an accord and if no application to the Court is made, the material will remain as
designated. Any information which had been produced and designated CONFIDENTIAL, but
which is subject to a dispute as to its proper designation, shall remain CONFIDENTIAL pending
resolution of the dispute. In the event the court determines that non-confidential information has
improperly and in bad faith been designated as “Confidential”, the challenging party may seek an
award of reasonable attorneys’ fees and expenses associated with such challenge.

7.

Preservation of Rights and Privileges: Nothing contained in this Order shall

affect the right, if any, of any party or witness to make any other type of objection, claim, or
other response to discovery requests, including, without limitation, interrogatories, requests for
admissions, requests for production of documents or questions at a deposition. Nor shall this
Order be construed as a waiver by any party of any legally cognizable privilege to withhold any
Confidential Information, or of any right which any party may have to assert such privilege at
any stage of this Action.

8.

Return of Materials: At the conclusion of this Action, all Confidential

Information, and copies of such materials, shall be surrendered to the designated party (or its
counsel) or destroyed. All notes arising from the examination of such Confidential Information
shall be treated with the same degree of confidentiality as the Confidential Information and may
only be disseminated pursuant to the terms of this Protective Order. Such notes shall be
destroyed by Recipients or their attorneys at the conclusion of this Action. Recipients’ attorneys
shall certify, within twenty (20) days of the conclusion of this Action, that the requirements of
this paragraph have been met by all signatories to this Protective Order.

9.

Inadvertent or Unintentional Disclosure: The inadvertent or unintentional

disclosure by the producing party of Confidential Information, or information subject to a claim
of privilege, including, but not limited to, the attorney-client privilege or work product doctrine
(an “Inadvertently Produced Privileged Document”), regardless of whether the information was

so designated at the time of disclosure, shall not be deemed a waiver in whole or in part of a
party’s claim of confidentiality or privilege, either as to the specific information disclosed or as
to any other information relating thereto or on the same or related subject matter. Nothing
contained within this paragraph prevents a party from challenging such a designation of
documents or information as Confidential pursuant to the procedures contained in paragraph 6.

10.

No Admissions: A party’s compliance with the terms of this Order shall not

operate as an admission regarding the confidentiality, admissibility, or privileged nature of any
particular document or information.

11.

Notice: Any party or person in possession of Confidential Information or an

Inadvertently Produced Privileged Document with respect to which the producing party has
asserted a claim of privilege in accordance with paragraph 9 who receives a subpoena (or other
process) from any person (including natural persons, corporations, partnerships, firms,
governmental agencies, departments or bodies, boards or associations) who is not a party to this
Order, which subpoena seeks production or other disclosure of such Confidential Information or
an Inadvertently Produced Privileged Document, shall promptly give written notice by e-mail to
counsel for the party who produced or designated the materials as confidential or privileged
identifying the materials sought and enclosing a copy of the subpoena or other process. The
party or person receiving the subpoena shall also inform the person seeking the Confidential
Information or an Inadvertently Produced Privileged Document that such Information is either
confidential or privileged, subject to Protective Order and may not be disclosed without the
consent of the party that produced the Confidential Information or designated the document as
privileged. The person subject to the subpoena or other process shall not produce or disclose the
requested information until ordered to do so by a court of competent jurisdiction. Nothing in
this Protective Order should be construed as authorizing a Receiving Party in this action to
disobey a lawful directive from another court.

12.

Non-Parties: This Protective Order shall apply to non-parties who are obliged to

provide discovery, by deposition, production of documents or otherwise, in this Action, unless
the non-party waives the protection of this Protective Order. This Protective Order shall also

apply to non-parties who are afforded access to documents or information produced during
discovery in this Action, whether by deposition, production of documents or otherwise.

13.

Continuing Jurisdiction: Upon the final resolution of this Action, the provisions

of this Order shall continue to be binding. This Court expressly retains jurisdiction over this
action for enforcement of the provisions of this Order following the final resolution of this
Action.
14.

Violation: Any party to this action may file a motion requesting the Court to

sanction or hold in contempt of Court anyone who violates the terms of this Protective Order.

15.

This Order shall remain in force and effect until modified, superseded, or

terminated by consent of the parties, or by order of the Court made upon reasonable written
request.

16.

Good Cause Statement: This action is likely to involve valuable research,

development, commercial, financial, technical and/or proprietary information for which special
protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecution of this
action is warranted. Such confidential and proprietary materials and information consist of,
among other things, confidential business or financial information, information regarding
confidential business practices, or other confidential research, development, or commercial
information (including information implicating privacy rights of third parties), information
otherwise generally unavailable to the public, or which may be privileged or otherwise protected
from disclosure under state or federal statutes, court rules, case decisions, or common law.
Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes
over confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately protect information the parties are
entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses of
such material in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their handling at the end of
the litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such information is justified in
this matter. It is the intent of the parties that information will not be designated as confidential
for tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated without a good faith belief that it has been

maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause why it should not be
part of the public record of this case

SO STIPULATED:
MOKRI, VANIS & JONES, LLP

_______/s/_____________________
Brian C. Merges, Esquire
Attorney for Defendant,
Tristar Products, Inc.
BISNAR & CHASE

______/s/_________________________
H. Gavin Long, Esquire
Attorney for Plaintiff,
Sandra Pulgarin

APPROVED AND FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED:

DATED: March 12, 2018
_______________________________
Karen L. Stevenson
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, WESTERN DIVISION
SANDRA PULGARIN,

Case No. 2:17-cv-04955-SJO-KS

Plaintiff,
vs.

CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT

TRISTAR PRODUCTS, INC.;
ZHONGSHAN USATA ELECTRIC
APPLIANCE CO., LTD; and DOES 1
to 100, inclusive,
Defendants.

1.

I, _____________________________, am employed as ____________________

by ________________________ located at _______________________________________.

2.

I have been given a copy of the Protective Order in this case (“Order”) and have

read it. I agree to be bound by the Order. I understand that information and/or documents which
are disclosed to me by counsel of record for ____________________________, which are
designated as “Confidential” are CONFIDENTIAL and to be used by me solely to assist in the
matter Sandra Pulgarin v. Tristar Products, Inc. Case No. 2:17-cv-04955-SJO-KS. I further
understand that the Protective Order entered by the Court, prohibits me from revealing such

information or documents to any person, except as specifically allowed by the Order. I further
acknowledge that I am not presently a competitor or employed by a competitor of Tristar
Products, Inc. and that I will not use any Confidential document, transcript, or information
obtained from my involvement in the matter of Pulgarin v. Tristar for any purpose other than
assisting with the matter. I will maintain all such Confidential Information in a secure manner to
prevent unauthorized access to it. No later than thirty (30) days after the conclusion of this
matter, I will return the Confidential Information to the counsel who provided me with the
Confidential Information or destroy the Confidential Information.
3.

In accepting disclosure of information and/or documents designated as

Confidential, I agree to be subject to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the
Central District of California for the purpose of the Protective Order’s enforcement and the
enforcement of my obligations under this Confidentiality Agreement.

I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.
Executed on ________ (date) at ______________________ (time/location).

_________________________________
Signature: ________________________

Printed Name: _____________________