Allen, et al v. County of Lake, et al

Filing 160

NOTICE OF AMENDED DISCOVERY PROCEDURES. Signed by Magistrate Judge Donna M. Ryu on 1/28/16. (ig, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 1/28/2016)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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MONA ALLEN, et al.,

Case No. 3:14-cv-03934-TEH (DMR)

Plaintiffs,
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v.

NOTICE OF AMENDED DISCOVERY
PROCEDURES

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COUNTY OF LAKE, et al.,
Defendants.

United States District Court
Northern District of California

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TO ALL PARTIES AND COUNSEL OF RECORD:

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The above matter was referred to Magistrate Judge Donna M. Ryu for resolution of

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discovery matters. Judge Ryu’s amended discovery procedures are set forth below, and should be

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followed in all joint discovery letters or discovery motions filed after the date of this notice. The

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new five-page limit for joint discovery letters has been adopted to conform with district-wide

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practice.

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RESOLUTION OF DISCOVERY DISPUTES
In order to respond to discovery disputes in a flexible, cost-effective and efficient manner,

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the court uses the following procedure. The parties shall not file formal discovery motions.

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Instead, as required by the federal and local rules, the parties shall first meet and confer to try to

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resolve their disagreements. The meet and confer session must be in person or by telephone, and

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may not be conducted by letter, e-mail, or fax. If disagreements remain, the parties shall file a

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joint letter no later than five business days after the meet and confer session, unless otherwise

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directed by the court. Lead trial counsel for both parties must sign the letter, which shall

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include an attestation that the parties met and conferred in person or by telephone regarding all

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issues prior to filing the letter. The letter must also include a paragraph listing relevant case

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management deadlines, including (1) the fact and expert discovery cut-off dates; (2) the last day

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to hear or file dispositive motions; (3) claim construction or class certification briefing deadlines

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and hearing dates; and (4) pretrial conference and trial dates. Going issue-by-issue, the joint letter

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shall describe each unresolved issue, summarize each party’s position with appropriate legal

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authority, and provide each party’s final proposed compromise before moving to the next issue.

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The joint letter shall not exceed five pages (12-point font or greater; margins no less than one

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inch) without leave of court. Parties are expected to plan for and cooperate in preparing the

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joint letter so that each side has adequate time to address the arguments. In the rare instance

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that a joint letter is not possible, each side may submit a letter not to exceed two pages, which
shall include an explanation of why a joint letter was not possible. The parties shall submit one

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United States District Court
Northern District of California

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exhibit that sets forth each disputed discovery request in full, followed immediately by the

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objections and/or responses thereto. No other information shall be included in the exhibit. No

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other exhibits shall be submitted without prior court approval. The court will review the

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submission(s) and determine whether formal briefing or proceedings are necessary. Discovery

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letter briefs must be e-filed under the Civil Events category of Motions and Related Filings >

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Motions - General > “Discovery Letter Brief.”

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All exhibits to discovery disputes should be separately filed on ECF (for example, if the

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motion is Docket No. 30, and the declaration with 10 exhibits is Docket No. 31, Exhibit A would

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be filed as Docket No. 31-1, Exhibit B would be Docket No. 31-2, and so on). All exhibits shall

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also be filed in a searchable OCR format where possible.

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The court has found that it is often efficient and beneficial for counsel to appear in person

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at discovery hearings. This provides the opportunity to engage counsel, where appropriate, in

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resolving aspects of the discovery dispute while remaining available to rule on disputes that

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counsel are not able to resolve themselves. For this reason, the court expects counsel to appear

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in person. Permission to attend by telephone may be granted upon written request made at least

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one week in advance of the hearing if the court determines that good cause exists to excuse

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personal attendance, and that personal attendance is not needed in order to have an effective

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discovery hearing. The facts establishing good cause must be set forth in the request.
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In emergencies during discovery events (such as depositions), any party may, after exhausting

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good faith attempts to resolve disputed issues, seek judicial intervention pursuant to Civil L.R. 37-

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1(b) by contacting the court through the courtroom deputy. If the court is unavailable, the

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discovery event shall proceed with objections noted for the record.
MOTIONS TO FILE UNDER SEAL

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Parties are reminded that court proceedings are presumptively public, and no document

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shall be filed under seal without request for a court order that is narrowly tailored to cover only the

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document, the particular portion of the document, or category of documents for which good cause

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exists for filing under seal. If a party wishes to file a document under seal, that party shall first file

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an administrative motion to seal in accordance with Local Rule 79-5.

United States District Court
Northern District of California

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The parties need not file paper copies of the administrative motion to seal with the clerk’s

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office. The parties only need to submit chambers copies of the administrative motion to seal and

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related filings. Chambers copies should include all material — both redacted and unredacted —

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so that the chambers staff does not have to re-assemble the whole brief or declaration, although

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chambers copies should clearly delineate which portions are confidential (via highlighting).

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Chambers copies with confidential materials will be handled like all other chambers copies of

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materials without special restriction, and will typically be recycled, not shredded. If the parties

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wish to dispose of documents filed under seal in some other way, they must expressly indicate as

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much in their sealing motion and make arrangements to pick up the documents upon disposition of

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the motion.

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PROTECTIVE ORDERS
If parties believe a protective order is necessary, they shall, where practicable, use one of

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the model stipulated protective orders (available at http://cand.uscourts.gov/model-protective-

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orders). Parties shall file one of the following with their proposed protective order: (a) a

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declaration stating that the proposed order is identical to one of the model orders except for the

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addition of case-identifying information or the elimination of language denoted as optional; (b) a

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declaration explaining each modification to the model order, along with a redline version

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comparing the proposed protective order with the model order; or (c) a declaration explaining why
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use of one of the model orders is not practicable.

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CHAMBERS COPIES AND PROPOSED ORDERS

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Pursuant to Civil L.R. 5-1(e)(7) and 5-2(b), parties must lodge an extra paper copy of

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certain filings and mark it as a copy for “Chambers.” All chambers copies should be double-sided

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(when possible), three-hole punched along the left side of the page, and should bear the ECF filing

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“stamp” (case number, docket number, date, and ECF page number) along the top of the page. All

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exhibits shall be clearly delineated with labels along the right side. If the filing includes exhibits

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over two inches thick, the parties shall place the chambers copy in a binder.

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Any stipulation or proposed order submitted by an e-filing party shall be submitted by
email to [e-mail] as a word processing attachment on the same day the

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United States District Court
Northern District of California

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document is e-filed. This address should only be used for this stated purpose unless otherwise

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directed by the court.
PRIVILEGE LOGS

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If a party withholds responsive information by claiming that it is privileged or otherwise

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protected from discovery, that party shall produce a privilege log as quickly as possible, but no

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later than fourteen days after its disclosures or discovery responses are due, unless the parties

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stipulate to or the court sets another date. Privilege logs must be sufficiently detailed for the

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opposing party to assess whether the assertion of privilege is justified. Unless the parties agree to

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alternative logging methods, the log should include: (a) the title and description of the document,

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including number of pages or Bates-number range; (b) the subject matter addressed in the

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document; (c) the identity and position of its author(s); (d) the identity and position of all

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addressees and recipients; (e) the date the document was prepared and, if different, the date(s) on

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which it was sent to or shared with persons other than its author(s); and (f) the specific basis for

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the claim that the document is privileged or protected.

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Communications involving trial counsel that post-date the filing of the complaint need not

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be placed on a privilege log. Failure to promptly furnish a privilege log may be deemed a waiver

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of the privilege or protection.

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IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: January 28, 2016
______________________________________
DONNA M. RYU
United States Magistrate Judge

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United States District Court
Northern District of California

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