Crump v. Hyatt Corporation

Filing 38

ORDER by Judge Haywood S. Gilliam, Jr. Granting 37 Proposed Stipulated Protective Order. (ndrS, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 2/17/2021)

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 SEYFARTH SHAW LLP Brian Long (SBN 232746) bplong@seyfarth.com 601 South Figueroa Street, Suite 3300 Los Angeles, California 90017 Telephone: (213) 270-9600 Facsimile: (213) 270-9601 SEYFARTH SHAW LLP Michael Afar (SBN 298990) mafar@seyfarth.com Romtin Parvaresh (SBN 301554) rparvaresh@seyfarth.com 2029 Century Park East, Suite 3500 Los Angeles, California 90067 Telephone: (310) 277-7200 Facsimile: (310) 201-5219 Attorneys for Defendant HYATT CORPORATION 12 13 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 14 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 15 16 17 18 CHRISTINE CRUMP, individually, and on behalf of other members of the general public similarly situated and on behalf of other aggrieved employees pursuant to the California Private Attorneys General Act, 19 20 21 22 Plaintiff, Case No. 4:20-cv-00295-HSG STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER Complaint Filed: FAC Filed: December 6, 2019 August 5, 2020 v. HYATT CORPORATION, an unknown business entity; and DOES 1 through 100, inclusive, Defendants. 23 24 25 26 27 28 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 67951858v.1 1 Plaintiff Christine Crump (“Plaintiff”) and Defendant Hyatt Corporation (“Defendant”) hereby 2 agree to and submit this stipulated protective order, regarding the production of confidential, proprietary, 3 or private information during the course of litigation in this matter. 4 1. 5 Disclosure and discovery activity in this action are likely to involve production of confidential, PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 6 proprietary, or private information for which special protection from public disclosure and from use for 7 any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby 8 stipulate to and petition the court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties 9 acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to 10 discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited 11 information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable legal principles. The 12 parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3, below, that this Stipulated Protective Order 13 does not entitle them to file confidential information under seal; Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets forth the 14 procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission 15 from the court to file material under seal. 16 2. DEFINITIONS 17 2.1 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of information 18 19 or items under this Order. 2.2 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of how it is 20 generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection under Federal Rule of Civil 21 Procedure 26(c). 22 2.3 23 their support staff). 24 2.4 25 26 27 Counsel (without qualifier): Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as 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, 28 1 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 67951858v.1 1 transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or generated in disclosures or responses to discovery 2 in this matter. 3 2.6 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter pertinent to the 4 litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an expert witness or as a consultant 5 in this action. 6 7 8 9 10 2.7 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this action. House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside counsel. 2.8 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 2.9 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party to this action but 11 are retained to represent or advise a party to this action and have appeared in this action on behalf of that 12 party or are affiliated with a law firm which has appeared on behalf of that party. 13 14 15 16 17 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). 2.11 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or Discovery Material in this action. 2.12 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support services (e.g., 18 photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or 19 retrieving data in any form or medium) and their employees and subcontractors. 20 21 22 2.13 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 2.14 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material from a 23 Producing Party. 24 3. 25 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected Material (as SCOPE 26 defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, 27 excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or 28 presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. However, the protections 2 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 67951858v.1 1 conferred by this Stipulation and Order do not cover the following information: (a) any information that 2 is in the public domain at the time of disclosure to a Receiving Party or becomes part of the public 3 domain after its disclosure to a Receiving Party as a result of publication not involving a violation of this 4 Order, including becoming part of the public record through trial or otherwise; and (b) any information 5 known to the Receiving Party prior to the disclosure or obtained by the Receiving Party after the 6 disclosure from a source who obtained the information lawfully and under no obligation of 7 confidentiality to the Designating Party. Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by a 8 separate agreement or order. 9 10 4. DURATION Even after final disposition of this litigation, the confidentiality obligations imposed by this 11 Order shall remain in effect until a Designating Party agrees otherwise in writing or a court order 12 otherwise directs. Final disposition shall be deemed to be the later of (1) dismissal of all claims and 13 defenses in this action, with or without prejudice; and (2) final judgment herein after the completion and 14 exhaustion of all appeals, rehearings, remands, trials, or reviews of this action, including the time limits 15 for filing any motions or applications for extension of time pursuant to applicable law. 16 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 17 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. Each Party or Non- 18 Party that designates information or items for protection under this Order must take care to limit any 19 such designation to specific material that qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating 20 Party must designate for protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written 21 communications that qualify – so that other portions of the material, documents, items, or 22 communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of 23 this Order. 24 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations that are shown to 25 be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber 26 or retard the case development process or to impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) 27 expose the Designating Party to sanctions. 28 3 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 67951858v.1 1 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it designated for 2 protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must promptly notify all other Parties 3 that it is withdrawing the mistaken designation. 4 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this Order (see, 5 e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or 6 Discovery Material that qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so designated before 7 the material is disclosed or produced. 8 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 9 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic documents, but excluding 10 transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), that the Producing Party affix the legend 11 “CONFIDENTIAL” to each page that contains protected material. If only a portion or portions of the 12 material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected 13 portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 14 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents or materials available for inspection need 15 not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated which material it would 16 like copied and produced. During the inspection and before the designation, all of the material made 17 available for inspection shall be deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified 18 the documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which documents, or 19 portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing the specified 20 documents, the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL” legend to each page that contains 21 Protected Material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the 22 Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate 23 markings in the margins). 24 (b) for testimony given in deposition or in other pretrial or trial proceedings, that the 25 Designating Party identify on the record, before the close of the deposition, hearing, or other proceeding, 26 all protected testimony. 27 28 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the exterior of the container or containers 4 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 67951858v.1 1 in which the information or item is stored the legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions 2 of the information or item warrant protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall 3 identify the protected portion(s). 4 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent failure to designate 5 qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the Designating Party’s right to secure 6 protection under this Order for such material. Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving 7 Party must make reasonable efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the 8 provisions of this Order. 9 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 10 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a designation of 11 confidentiality at any time. Unless a prompt challenge to a Designating Party’s confidentiality 12 designation is necessary to avoid foreseeable, substantial unfairness, unnecessary economic burdens, or 13 a significant disruption or delay of the litigation, a Party does not waive its right to challenge a 14 confidentiality designation by electing not to mount a challenge promptly after the original designation 15 is disclosed. 16 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute resolution process by 17 providing written notice of each designation it is challenging and describing the basis for each challenge. 18 To avoid ambiguity as to whether a challenge has been made, the written notice must recite that the 19 challenge to confidentiality is being made in accordance with this specific paragraph of the Protective 20 Order. The parties shall attempt to resolve each challenge in good faith and must begin the process by 21 conferring directly (in voice to voice dialogue; other forms of communication are not sufficient) within 22 14 days of the date of service of notice. In conferring, the Challenging Party must explain the basis for 23 its belief that the confidentiality designation was not proper and must give the Designating Party an 24 opportunity to review the designated material, to reconsider the circumstances, and, if no change in 25 designation is offered, to explain the basis for the chosen designation. A Challenging Party may proceed 26 to the next stage of the challenge process only if it has engaged in this meet and confer process first or 27 establishes that the Designating Party is unwilling to participate in the meet and confer process in a 28 timely manner. 5 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 67951858v.1 1 6.3 Judicial Intervention. If the Parties cannot resolve a challenge without court intervention, 2 the Designating Party shall file and serve a motion to retain confidentiality under Civil Local Rule 7 3 (and in compliance with Civil Local Rule 79-5, if applicable) within 21 days of the initial notice of 4 challenge or within 14 days of the parties agreeing that the meet and confer process will not resolve their 5 dispute, whichever is earlier. Each such motion must be accompanied by a competent declaration 6 affirming that the movant has complied with the meet and confer requirements imposed in the preceding 7 paragraph. Failure by the Designating Party to make such a motion including the required declaration 8 within 21 days (or 14 days, if applicable) shall automatically waive the confidentiality designation for 9 each challenged designation. In addition, the Challenging Party may file a motion challenging a 10 confidentiality designation at any time if there is good cause for doing so, including a challenge to the 11 designation of a deposition transcript or any portions thereof. Any motion brought pursuant to this 12 provision must be accompanied by a competent declaration affirming that the movant has complied with 13 the meet and confer requirements imposed by the preceding paragraph. 14 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the Designating Party. 15 Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary 16 expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the 17 Designating Party has waived the confidentiality designation by failing to file a motion to retain 18 confidentiality as described above, all parties shall continue to afford the material in question the level 19 of protection to which it is entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the court rules on the 20 challenge. 21 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 22 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is disclosed or 23 produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this case only for prosecuting, 24 defending, or attempting to settle this litigation. Such Protected Material may be disclosed only to the 25 categories of persons and under the conditions described in this Order. When the litigation has been 26 terminated, a Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL 27 DISPOSITION). 28 6 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 67951858v.1 1 2 3 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 4 court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a Receiving Party may disclose any information 5 or item designated “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 6 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this action, as well as employees of said 7 Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary to disclose the information for this 8 litigation and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached 9 hereto as Exhibit A; 10 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of the Receiving Party to 11 whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the “Acknowledgment 12 and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 13 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably 14 necessary for this litigation and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” 15 (Exhibit A); 16 (d) the court and its personnel; 17 (e) court reporters and their staff, professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and 18 Professional Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed 19 the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 20 (f) during their depositions, witnesses in the action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary 21 and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise 22 agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed deposition testimony or 23 exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material must be separately bound by the court reporter and 24 may not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order. 25 26 27 28 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information. 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED IN OTHER LITIGATION 7 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 67951858v.1 1 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation that compels 2 disclosure of any information or items designated in this action as “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: 3 4 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 5 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to issue in the other 6 litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or order is subject to this Protective 7 Order. Such notification shall include a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and 8 9 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 10 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with the subpoena or 11 court order shall not produce any information designated in this action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a 12 determination by the court from which the subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the 13 Designating Party’s permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking 14 protection in that court of its confidential material – and nothing in these provisions should be construed 15 as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this action to disobey a lawful directive from another 16 court. 17 18 19 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 this action 20 and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information produced by Non-Parties in connection with 21 this litigation is protected by the remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions 22 should be construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections. 23 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to produce a Non-Party’s 24 confidential information in its possession, and the Party is subject to an agreement with the Non-Party 25 not to produce the Non-Party’s confidential information, then the Party shall: 26 27 (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; 28 8 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 67951858v.1 1 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated Protective Order in this 2 litigation, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably specific description of the information 3 requested; and 4 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non-Party. 5 (c) If the Non-Party fails to object or seek a protective order from this court within 14 days of 6 receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may produce the Non-Party’s 7 confidential information responsive to the discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective 8 order, the Receiving Party shall not produce any information in its possession or control that is subject to 9 the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the court. Absent a court 10 order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in this court 11 of its Protected Material. 12 10. 13 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed Protected Material UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 14 to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this Stipulated Protective Order, the 15 Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized 16 disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, 17 (c) inform the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this 18 Order, and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be 19 Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 20 21 22 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE PROTECTED MATERIAL When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain inadvertently produced 23 material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, the obligations of the Receiving Parties are 24 those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify 25 whatever procedure may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production without 26 prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the parties reach 27 an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or information covered by the attorney- 28 9 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 67951858v.1 1 client privilege or work product protection, the parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated 2 protective order submitted to the court. 3 12. MISCELLANEOUS 4 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any person to seek its 5 6 modification by the court in the future. 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this Protective Order no 7 Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to disclosing or producing any information or 8 item on any ground not addressed in this Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any 9 right to object on any ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order. 10 12.3 Filing Protected Material. Without written permission from the Designating Party or a 11 court order secured after appropriate notice to all interested persons, a Party may not file in the public 12 record in this action any Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any Protected Material 13 must comply with Civil Local Rule 79-5. Protected Material may only be filed under seal pursuant to a 14 court order authorizing the sealing of the specific Protected Material at issue. Pursuant to Civil Local 15 Rule 79-5, a sealing order will issue only upon a request establishing that the Protected Material at issue 16 is privileged, protectable as a trade secret, or otherwise entitled to protection under the law. If a 17 Receiving Party's request to file Protected Material under seal pursuant to Civil Local Rule 79-5(d) is 18 denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the information in the public record pursuant to 19 Civil Local Rule 79-5(e) unless otherwise instructed by the court. 20 13. 21 Within 60 days after the final disposition of this action, as defined in paragraph 4, each 22 Receiving Party must return all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As 23 used in this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries, 24 and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Whether the Protected 25 Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the 26 Producing Party (and, if not the same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day deadline 27 that (1) identifies (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or 28 destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts, compilations, FINAL DISPOSITION 10 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 67951858v.1 1 summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding 2 this provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, 3 deposition, and hearing transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, 4 expert reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such materials 5 contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or constitute Protected Material 6 remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in Section 4 (DURATION). 7 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 8 9 10 11 DATED: February 16, 2021 /s/ Michael Afar Michael Afar Attorneys for Defendant 12 13 DATED: February 16, 2021 14 /s/ Ryan Crist Ryan Crist Attorneys for Plaintiff 15 16 17 18 PURSUANT TO STIPULATION, IT IS SO ORDERED. 19 20 DATED: 2/17/2021 21 _____________________________________ United States District Judge 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 11 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 67951858v.1 1 EXHIBIT A 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 3 I, __________________________________________________ [print or type full name], of 4 _________________________________________________ [print or type full address], declare under 5 penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and understand the Stipulated Protective Order that was 6 issued by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on _______________, 7 2021 in the case of Christine Crump v. Hyatt Corporation, Case No. 4:20-cv-00295-HSG. 8 I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order and I 9 understand and acknowledge that failure to so comply could expose me to sanctions and punishment in 10 the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise that I will not disclose in any manner any information or 11 item that is subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance 12 with the provisions of this Order. 13 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the Northern 14 District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order, even if 15 such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of this action. 16 I hereby appoint __________________________ [print or type full name] of 17 _______________________________________ [print or type full address and telephone number] as my 18 California agent for service of process in connection with this action or any proceedings related to 19 enforcement of this Stipulated Protective Order. 20 21 Date: ______________________________________ 22 City and State where sworn and signed: _________________________________ 23 24 Printed name: _______________________________ 25 26 Signature: __________________________________ 27 28 12 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 67951858v.1

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