1 CALLAHAN & BLAINE, APLC David J. Darnell (Bar No. 210166) 2 ddarnell@callahan-law.com Brett E. Bitzer (Bar No. 264736) 3 bbitzer@callahan-law.com 3 Hutton Centre Drive, Ninth Floor 4 Santa Ana, California 92707 Telephone: (714) 241-4444 5 Facsimile: (714) 241-4445

EXEMPT FROM FEES - CALIFORNIA

6 Attorneys for Defendant GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION 6103

COAST COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT

7 8 DUCKWORTH & PETERS LLP Thomas E. Duckworth (Bar No. 152369) 9 tom@duckworthpeters.com Erika A. Heath (Bar No. 304683) 10 erika@duckworthpeters.com 351 California St., Ste. 700 11 Santa Francisco, California 94104 Telephone: (415) 433-0333 12 Attorneys for Plaintiff MARCO BAEZA 13 14

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

15

CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

16 17 CASE NO.: 8:24-cv-2044-JWH-KES

MARCO BAEZA,

18 Plaintiff, 19 v. STIPULATION AND 20 PROTECTIVE ORDER RE

COAST COMMUNITY COLLEGE

CONFIDENTIAL DESIGNATIONS

21 DISTRICT, 22 Defendant. Complaint Filed: September 20, 2024 Trial Date: Not set 23 24 25 26 27 1 I. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 2 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, 3 proprietary or private information for which special protection from public 4 disclosure and from use for any purpose other than pursuing this litigation may be 5 warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to 6 enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this 7 Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to 8 discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends 9 only to the limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment 10 under the applicable legal principles. 11 II. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 12 Discovery in this action is likely to involve the production of documents and 13 information that one or more parties contends will include sensitive financial, 14 confidential, proprietary, or private information for which special protection from 15 public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecution of this action 16 is warranted. Such confidential and proprietary materials and information may 17 consist of, among other things, confidential business or financial information or 18 information otherwise generally unavailable to the public, or which may be 19 privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure under state or federal statutes, 20 court rules, case decisions, or common law. Accordingly, to expedite the flow of 21 information, to facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes over confidentiality of 22 discovery materials, to adequately protect information the parties are entitled to keep 23 confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses of 24 such material in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their handling 25 at the end of the litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such 26 information is justified in this matter. It is the intent of the parties that information 27 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, 1 non-public manner, and there is good cause why it should not be part of the public 2 record of this case. 3 III. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF UNDER SEAL FILING PROCEDURE 4 The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 14.3, below, that this 5 Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information 6 under seal; Local Civil Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be followed 7 and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court 8 to file material under seal. There is a strong presumption that the public has a right 9 of access to judicial proceedings and records in civil cases. In connection with 10 nondispositive motions, good cause must be shown to support a filing under seal. 11 See Kamakana v. City and County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1176 (9th Cir. 12 2006), Phillips v. Gen. Motors Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1210-11 (9th Cir. 2002), 13 Makar-Welbon v. Sony Electrics, Inc., 187 F.R.D. 576, 577 (E.D. Wis. 1999) (even 14 stipulated protective orders require good cause showing), and a specific showing of 15 good cause or compelling reasons with proper evidentiary support and legal 16 justification, must be made with respect to Protected Material that a party seeks to 17 file under seal. The parties’ mere designation of Disclosure or Discovery Material as 18 CONFIDENTIAL does not— without the submission of competent evidence by 19 declaration, establishing that the material sought to be filed under seal qualifies as 20 confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable—constitute good cause. 21 Further, if a party requests sealing related to a dispositive motion or trial, then 22 compelling reasons, not only good cause, for the sealing must be shown, and the 23 relief sought shall be narrowly tailored to serve the specific interest to be protected. 24 See Pintos v. Pacific Creditors Ass’n., 605 F.3d 665, 677-79 (9th Cir. 2010). For 25 each item or type of information, document, or thing sought to be filed or introduced 26 under seal, the party seeking protection must articulate compelling reasons, 27 supported by specific facts and legal justification, for the requested sealing order. Again, competent evidence supporting the application to file documents under seal 1 must be provided by declaration. 2 Any document that is not confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable in 3 its entirety will not be filed under seal if the confidential portions can be redacted. If 4 documents can be redacted, then a redacted version for public viewing, omitting 5 only the confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable portions of the document, 6 shall be filed. Any application that seeks to file documents under seal in their 7 entirety should include an explanation of why redaction is not feasible. 8 IV. DEFINITIONS 9 1.1 Action: Marco Baeza v. Coast Community College District, 10 Central District Case No.: 8:24-cv-2044-JWH-KES. 11 1.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation 12 of information or items under this Order. 13 1.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of 14 how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for 15 protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in 16 the Good Cause Statement. 17 1.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as 18 their support staff). 19 1.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or 20 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as 21 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 22 1.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless 23 of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, 24 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or 25 generated in disclosures or responses to discovery. 26 1.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter 27 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action. 1 1.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action. 2 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside 3 counsel. 4 1.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association or 5 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 6 1.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party 7 to this Action but are retained to represent a party to this Action and have appeared 8 in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm that has 9 appeared on behalf of that party, and includes support staff. 10 1.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, 11 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their 12 support staffs). 13 1.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or 14 Discovery Material in this Action. 15 1.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support 16 services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or 17 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) 18 and their employees and subcontractors. 19 1.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 20 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 21 1.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material 22 from a Producing Party. 23 V. SCOPE 24 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only 25 Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or 26 extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or 27 compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 1 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the 2 trial judge and other applicable authorities. This Order does not govern the use of 3 Protected Material at trial. 4 VI. DURATION 5 Once a case proceeds to trial, information that was designated as 6 CONFIDENTIAL or maintained pursuant to this protective order used or introduced 7 as an exhibit at trial becomes public and will be presumptively available to all 8 members of the public, including the press, unless compelling reasons supported by 9 specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are made to the trial judge in advance 10 of the trial. See Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1180-81 (distinguishing “good cause” 11 showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from “compelling reasons” 12 standard when merits-related documents are part of court record). Accordingly, the 13 terms of this protective order do not extend beyond the commencement of the trial. 14 VII. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 15 7.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. 16 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection 17 under this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material 18 that qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate 19 for protection only those parts of material, documents, items or oral or written 20 communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, items 21 or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably 22 within the ambit of this Order. 23 Mass, indiscriminate or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations 24 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper 25 purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose 26 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating 27 Party to sanctions. If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it 1 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must 2 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation. 3 7.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in 4 this Order, or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, Disclosure of Discovery Material 5 that qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so designated before 6 the material is disclosed or produced. 7 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 8 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic documents, 9 but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), that 10 the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter 11 “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that contains protected material. If only a 12 portion of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also 13 must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings 14 in the margins). 15 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection 16 need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated 17 which documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and 18 before the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be 19 deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the 20 documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which 21 documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before 22 producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the 23 “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a 24 portion of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also 25 must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings 26 in the margins). 27 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identifies the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the deposition all 1 protected testimony. 2 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for 3 any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the 4 exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the legend 5 “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information warrants 6 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected 7 portion(s). 8 7.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent 9 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive 10 the Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material. 11 Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable 12 efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this 13 Order. 14 VIII. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 15 8.1. Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a 16 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s 17 Scheduling Order. 18 7.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute 19 resolution process under Local Rule 37-1 et seq. 20 7.3 Joint Stipulation. Any challenge submitted to the Court shall be via a 21 joint stipulation pursuant to Local Rule 37-2. 22 8.4 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on 23 the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper 24 purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other 25 parties) may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating 26 Party has waived or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall 27 continue to afford the material in question the level of protection to which it is entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on the 1 challenge. 2 IX. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 3 9.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is 4 disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this 5 Action only for prosecuting, defending or attempting to settle this Action. Such 6 Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the 7 conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a 8 Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 15 below (FINAL 9 DISPOSITION). 10 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a 11 location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons 12 authorized under this Order. 13 9.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless 14 otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a 15 Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated 16 “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 17 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as well as 18 employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary to 19 disclose the information for this Action; 20 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of the 21 Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action; 22 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom 23 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the 24 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 25 (d) the court and its personnel; 26 (e) court reporters and their staff; 27 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have 1 signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 2 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a 3 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; 4 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in the 5 Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing party 6 requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they 7 will not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the 8 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise 9 agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed 10 deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may 11 be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except 12 as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and 13 (i) any mediators or settlement officers and their supporting personnel, 14 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions. 15 X. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED 16 IN OTHER LITIGATION 17 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation 18 that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as 19 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: 20 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall 21 include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 22 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to 23 issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena 24 or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of 25 this Stipulated Protective Order; and 26 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued 27 by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with the 1 subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in this action 2 as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the 3 subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s 4 permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking 5 protection in that court of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions 6 should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action 7 to disobey a lawful directive from another court. 8 XI. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE 9 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION 10 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non- 11 Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information 12 produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the 13 remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be 14 construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections. 15 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to 16 produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is 17 subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s 18 confidential information, then the Party shall: 19 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party that 20 some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement 21 with a Non-Party; 22 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated Protective 23 Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably specific 24 description of the information requested; and 25 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non-Party, 26 if requested. 27 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this court within 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party 1 may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery 2 request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall 3 not produce any information in its possession or control that is subject to the 4 confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the court. 5 Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and 6 expense of seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material. 7 XII. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 8 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed 9 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this 10 Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in 11 writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts 12 to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or 13 persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order, 14 and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment an 15 Agreement to Be Bound” attached hereto as Exhibit A. 16 XIII. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE 17 PROTECTED MATERIAL 18 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain 19 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, 20 the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil\ 21 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure 22 may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production without 23 prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar 24 as the parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or 25 information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the 26 parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted 27 to the court. 1 XIV. MISCELLANEOUS 2 14.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any 3 person to seek its modification by the Court in the future. 4 14.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this 5 Protective Order, no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to 6 disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this 7 Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any 8 ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order. 9 14.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any 10 Protected Material must comply with Local Civil Rule 79-5. Protected Material may 11 only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the 12 specific Protected Material. If a Party’s request to file Protected Material under seal 13 is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the information in the 14 public record unless otherwise instructed by the court. 15 XV. FINAL DISPOSITION 16 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 6, within 60 17 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return 18 all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in 19 this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, 20 summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected 21 Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving 22 Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same 23 person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60-day deadline that (1) identifies 24 (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or 25 destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, 26 abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any 27 of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing 1|| transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert 2|| reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if suct 3 || materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or 4| constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in Section 6 (DURATION). 6| XVI. VIOLATION 7 Any violation of this Order may be punished by appropriate measures 8 | including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary sanctions. 10 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 1] 28 12 | Dated: December 9, 2024 CALLAHAN & BLAINE, APLC

By: _/s/ David J. Darnell 14 David J. Darnell Brett B. Bitzer 15 Attorneys for Defendant COAST

COMM JNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT

18 Dated: December 9, 2024 DUCKWORTH & PETERS LLP 19 By: _/s/ Thomas E. Duckworth 20 Thomas E. Duckworth Erika A. Heath 1 Attorneys for Plaintiff MARCO BAEZA 22 33 FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED. 24 25 DATED: 12/11/2024 db fs Scot

KAREN E. SCOTT

26 United States Magistrate Judge 27 28 -13-