Silvester, et al. v. Harris, et al.

Filing 20

ORDER GRANTING STIPULATION for Protective Order. Order signed by Magistrate Judge Sheila K. Oberto on 4/18/2013. (Timken, A)

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 FRESNO DIVISION 10 11 12 13 14 JEFF SILVESTER, MICHAEL POESCHL, BRANDON COMBS, THE CALGUNS FOUNDATION, INC. a non-profit organization, and SECOND AMENDMENT FOUNDATION, INC. a non-profit organization, STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER Plaintiff, 15 16 Case No. 1:11-CV-02137-AWI-SKO v. 17 KAMALA HARRIS, Attorney General of California (in her official capacity), and DOES 1 to 20, 18 Defendant. 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Page 1 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 1 1. Disclosure and discovery activity in this action are likely to involve production of confidential, 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS proprietary, or private information for which special protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3, below, that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under seal; Civil Local Rule 141 sets forth the procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks privacy and permission from the court to file material under seal. 2. DEFINITIONS 2.1 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of information or items under this Order. 2.2 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of how it is generated, stored or maintained) or things that qualify for protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c). Plaintiffs believe, and, for purposes of this case, the Attorney General does not contest, that such information includes the makes, models, serial numbers, features, action, or other description of, and quantity of firearms identified by Designating Party. 2.3 Counsel (without qualifier): Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as their support staff). 2.4 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 2.5 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter. Page 2 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 1 2.6 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter pertinent to the 2 litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an expert witness or as a consultant in 3 this action. 4 2.7 5 does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside counsel. 6 7 2.8 10 2.9 party or are affiliated with a law firm which has appeared on behalf of that party. 2.10 Party: any party to this action, including all of its officers, directors, employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their support staffs). 13 14 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party to this action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this action and have appeared in this action on behalf of that 11 12 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 8 9 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this action. House Counsel 2.11 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or Discovery Material in this action. 15 2.12 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support services (e.g., 16 photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or 17 retrieving data in any form or medium) and their employees and subcontractors. 18 2.13 19 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 20 2.14 21 3. Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material from a Producing Party. 22 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated as 23 SCOPE The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected Material (as 24 defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, 25 excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or 26 presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. However, the protections 27 conferred by this Stipulation and Order do not cover the following information: (a) any information that is 28 in the public domain at the time of disclosure to a Receiving Party or becomes part of the public domain Page 3 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 1 after its disclosure to a Receiving Party as a result of publication not involving a violation of this Order, 2 including becoming part of the public record through trial or otherwise; and (b) any information known to 3 the Receiving Party prior to the disclosure or obtained by the Receiving Party after the disclosure from a 4 source who obtained the information lawfully and under no obligation of confidentiality to the Designating 5 Party. Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by a separate agreement or order. 6 4. 7 DURATION Even after final disposition of this litigation, the confidentiality obligations imposed by this Order 8 shall remain in effect until a Designating Party agrees otherwise in writing or a court order otherwise 9 directs. Final disposition shall be deemed to be the later of (1) dismissal of all claims and defenses in this 10 action, with or without prejudice; and (2) final judgment herein after the completion and exhaustion of all 11 appeals, rehearings, remands, trials, or reviews of this action, including the time limits for filing any 12 motions or applications for extension of time pursuant to applicable law. 13 5. 14 DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. Each Party or Non- 15 Party that designates information or items for protection under this Order must take care to limit any such 16 designation to specific material that qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must 17 designate for protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written communications 18 that qualify – so that other portions of the material, documents, items, or communications for which 19 protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. 20 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations that are shown to be 21 clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber or 22 retard the case development process or to impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) 23 expose the Designating Party to sanctions. 24 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it designated for 25 protection do not qualify for protection that Designating Party must promptly notify all other Parties that it 26 is withdrawing the mistaken designation. 27 28 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Page 4 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 1 Discovery Material that qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so designated before the 2 material is disclosed or produced. 3 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 4 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic documents, but 5 excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), that the Producing Party affix 6 the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” to each page that contains protected material. If only a portion or portions 7 of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the 8 protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 9 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents or materials available for inspection need not 10 designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated which material it would like 11 copied and produced. During the inspection and before the designation, all of the material made available 12 for inspection shall be deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the 13 documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which documents, or 14 portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing the specified documents, 15 the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL” legend to each page that contains Protected 16 Material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing 17 Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the 18 margins). 19 (b) for testimony given in deposition or in other pretrial or trial proceedings, that the 20 Designating Party identify on the record, before the close of the deposition, hearing, or other proceeding, 21 all protected testimony. 22 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for any other 23 tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the exterior of the container or 24 containers in which the information or item is stored the legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or 25 portions of the information or item warrant protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall 26 identify the protected portion(s). 27 28 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the Designating Party’s right to secure Page 5 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 1 protection under this Order for such material. Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party 2 must make reasonable efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this 3 Order. 4 6. 5 CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a designation of 6 confidentiality at any time. Unless a prompt challenge to a Designating Party’s confidentiality designation 7 is necessary to avoid foreseeable, substantial unfairness, unnecessary economic burdens, or a significant 8 disruption or delay of the litigation, a Party does not waive its right to challenge a confidentiality 9 designation by electing not to mount a challenge promptly after the original designation is disclosed. 10 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute resolution process by 11 providing written notice of each designation it is challenging and describing the basis for each challenge. 12 To avoid ambiguity as to whether a challenge has been made, the written notice must recite that the 13 challenge to confidentiality is being made in accordance with this specific paragraph of the Protective 14 Order. The parties shall attempt to resolve each challenge in good faith and must begin the process by 15 conferring directly (in voice to voice dialogue for the first direct conferral session for a particular dispute; 16 other forms of communication are not sufficient) within 14 days of the date of service of notice or less 17 time as may be needed to allow for both expedited meeting and conferring and the filing of a discovery 18 motion, in the specific circumstance that the pertinent motion cut-off deadline is approaching. In 19 conferring, the Challenging Party must explain the basis for its belief that the confidentiality designation 20 was not proper and must give the Designating Party an opportunity to review the designated material, to 21 reconsider the circumstances, and, if no change in designation is offered, to explain the basis for the 22 chosen designation. A Challenging Party may proceed to the next stage of the challenge process only if it 23 has engaged in this meet and confer process first or establishes that the Designating Party is unwilling to 24 participate in the meet and confer process in a timely manner. 25 6.3 Judicial Intervention. If the Parties cannot resolve a challenge without court intervention, 26 the Designating Party shall file and serve a motion to retain confidentiality under Civil Local Rule 141.1 27 within 21 days of the initial notice of challenge or within 14 days of the parties agreeing that the meet and 28 confer process will not resolve their dispute, whichever is earlier. Each such motion must be accompanied Page 6 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 1 by a competent declaration affirming that the movant has complied with the meet and confer requirements 2 imposed in the preceding paragraph. Failure by the Designating Party to make such a motion including the 3 required declaration within 21 days (or 14 days, if applicable) shall automatically waive the confidentiality 4 designation for each challenged designation. In addition, the Challenging Party may file a motion 5 challenging a confidentiality designation at any time if there is good cause for doing so, including a 6 challenge to the designation of a deposition transcript or any portions thereof. Any motion brought 7 pursuant to this provision must be accompanied by a competent declaration affirming that the movant has 8 complied with the meet and confer requirements imposed by the preceding paragraph. 9 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the Designating Party. 10 Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary 11 expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the 12 Designating Party has waived the confidentiality designation by failing to file a motion to retain 13 confidentiality as described above, all parties shall continue to afford the material in question the level of 14 protection to which it is entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the court rules on the 15 challenge. 16 7. 17 ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is disclosed or 18 produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this case only for prosecuting, defending, 19 or attempting to settle this litigation. Such Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of 20 persons and under the conditions described in this Order. When the litigation has been terminated, a 21 Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL DISPOSITION). 22 23 24 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons authorized under this Order. 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless otherwise ordered by the 25 court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a Receiving Party may disclose any information or 26 item designated “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 27 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this action, as well as employees 28 of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary to disclose the information for this Page 7 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 1 litigation and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto 2 as Exhibit A; 3 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of the Receiving 4 Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the 5 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 6 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is 7 reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be 8 Bound” (Exhibit A); 9 (d) the court and its personnel; 10 (e) court reporters and their staff, professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and 11 Professional Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed 12 the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 13 (f) during their depositions, witnesses in the action to whom disclosure is reasonably 14 necessary and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless 15 otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed deposition 16 testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material must be separately bound by the court 17 reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order. 18 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a custodian or 19 other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information. 20 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED IN OTHER 21 LITIGATION 22 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation that compels 23 24 25 26 disclosure of any information or items designated in this action as “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall include a copy of the subpoena or court order; (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to issue in the 27 other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or order is subject to this 28 Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and Page 8 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 1 2 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 3 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with the subpoena or 4 court order shall not produce any information designated in this action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a 5 determination by the court from which the subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the 6 Designating Party’s permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking 7 protection in that court of its confidential material – and nothing in these provisions should be construed as 8 authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this action to disobey a lawful directive from another 9 court. 10 11 12 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non-Party in 13 this action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information produced by Non-Parties in 14 connection with this litigation is protected by the remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in 15 these provisions should be construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections. 16 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to produce a 17 Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is subject to an agreement with the 18 Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s confidential information, then the Party shall: 19 20 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party that some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement with a Non-Party; 21 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated Protective 22 Order in this litigation, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably specific description of the 23 information requested; and 24 (3) 25 (c) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non-Party. If the Non-Party fails to object or seek a protective order from this court within 14 26 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may produce the Non- 27 Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a 28 protective order, the Receiving Party shall not produce any information in its possession or control that is Page 9 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 1 subject to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the court.1 Absent a 2 court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in this 3 court of its Protected Material. 4 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 5 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed Protected Material 6 to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving 7 Party must immediately (a) notify in writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use 8 its best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or 9 persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order, and (d) request such 10 person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto 11 as Exhibit A. 12 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE PROTECTED 13 MATERIAL 14 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain inadvertently produced 15 material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, the obligations of the Receiving Parties are 16 those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify 17 whatever procedure may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production without prior 18 privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the parties reach an 19 agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or information covered by the attorney-client 20 privilege or work product protection, the parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated 21 protective order submitted to the court. 22 12. 23 24 MISCELLANOUS 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any person to seek its modification by the court in the future. 25 26 27 28 1 The purpose of this provision is to alert the interested parties to the existence of confidentiality rights of a Non-Party and to afford the Non-Party an opportunity to protect its confidentiality interests in this court. Page 10 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 1 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this Protective Order no 2 Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to disclosing or producing any information or 3 item on any ground not addressed in this Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right 4 to object on any ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order. 5 12.3 Filing Protected Material. Without written permission from the Designating Party or a 6 court order secured after appropriate notice to all interested persons, a Party may not file in the public 7 record in this action any Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any Protected Material 8 must comply with Civil Local Rule 141. Protected Material may only be filed under seal pursuant to a 9 court order authorizing the sealing of the specific Protected Material at issue. Pursuant to Civil Local Rule 10 141, a sealing order will issue only upon a request establishing that the Protected Material at issue is 11 privileged, protectable as a trade secret, or otherwise entitled to protection under the law. If a Receiving 12 Party's request to file Protected Material under seal pursuant to Civil Local Rule 141 is denied by the 13 court, then the Receiving Party may file the information in the public record unless otherwise instructed by 14 the court. 15 13. 16 FINAL DISPOSITION Within 60 days after the final disposition of this action, as defined in paragraph 4, each Receiving 17 Party must return all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in this 18 subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries, and any other 19 format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned 20 or destroyed, the Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the 21 same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day deadline that (1) identifies (by category, 22 where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or destroyed and (2)affirms that the 23 Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format 24 reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are 25 entitled to retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, 26 legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, and 27 consultant and expert work product, even if such materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival 28 copies that contain or constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in Page 11 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 1 Section 4 (DURATION). 2 3 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 4 5 6 7 8 DATED: _April 12, 2013__________ ____s/Jason A. Davis_____________________ Jason A. Davis, Attorneys for Plaintiffs DATED: _April 12, 2013__________ ____s/Jonathan Eisenberg_________________ Jonathan Eisenberg, Attorneys for Defendant 9 EXHIBIT A 10 11 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 12 I, _____________________________ [print or type full name], of _________________ 13 [print or type full address], declare under penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and understand 14 the Stipulated Protective Order that was issued by the United States District Court for the Eastern District 15 of California on ___________ [date] in the case of Silvester, et al. v. Harris, Case No. 1:11-CV-02137- 16 AWI-SKO. I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order 17 and I understand and acknowledge that failure to so comply could expose me to sanctions and punishment 18 in the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise that I will not disclose in any manner any information or 19 item that is subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance 20 with the provisions of this Order. 21 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the 22 Eastern District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order, 23 even if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of this action. 24 I hereby appoint __________________________ [print or type full name] of 25 _______________________________________ [print or type full address and telephone number] as my 26 California agent for service of process in connection with this action or any proceedings related to 27 enforcement of this Stipulated Protective Order. 28 Page 12 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 1 Date: _________________________________ 2 City and State where sworn and signed: _________________________________ 3 4 5 Printed name: ______________________________ [printed name] Signature: __________________________________ [signature] 6 ORDER 7 8 The parties' stipulated request for a protective order is GRANTED. 9 10 11 IT IS SO ORDERED. Dated: 12 13 14 April 18, 2013 /s/ Sheila K. Oberto UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE DEAC_Signature-END: ie14hje 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Page 13 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER

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