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10 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 11 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, WESTERN DIVISION 12 13 ESSAN SAHEL, an individual, Case No. 2:23-CV-04966-MWF(PDx)

14 Plaintiff, ORDER REGARDING PARTIES’

STIPULATED PROTECTIVE

15 v. ORDER CONCERNING

CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION

16 STATE FARM MUTUAL

AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE

17 COMPANY; and DOES 1-10,

18 Defendant.

19 20 The Court, having reviewed the stipulation of Essan Sahel (“Plaintiff”) and 21 State Farm General Insurance Company’s (“State Farm’s) for a protective order 22 concerning confidential information , hereby enters the Protective Order, which 23 shall now read as follows: 24 1. A. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 25 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, 26 proprietary or private information for which special protection from public 27 disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may 1 enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this 2 Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to 3 discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends 4 only to the limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment 5 under the applicable legal principles. 6 B. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 7 This action is likely to involve trade secrets, customer and pricing lists and 8 other valuable research, development, commercial, financial, technical and/or 9 proprietary information for which special protection from public disclosure and 10 from use for any purpose other than prosecution of this action is warranted. Such 11 confidential and proprietary materials and information consist of, among other 12 things, confidential business or financial information, information regarding 13 confidential business practices, or other confidential research, development, or 14 commercial information (including information implicating privacy rights of third 15 parties), information otherwise generally unavailable to the public, or which may be 16 privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure under state or federal statutes, 17 court rules, case decisions, or common law. Accordingly, to expedite the flow of 18 information, to facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes over confidentiality of 19 discovery materials, to adequately protect information the parties are entitled to keep 20 confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses of 21 such material in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their handling 22 at the end of the litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such 23 information is justified in this matter. It is the intent of the parties that information 24 will not be designated as confidential for tactical reasons and that nothing be so 25 designated without a good faith belief that it has been maintained in a confidential, 26 non-public manner, and there is good cause why it should not be part of the public 27 record of this case. 1 C. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF PROCEDURE FOR FILING UNDER SEAL 2 The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3, below, that this 3 Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information 4 under seal; Local Civil Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be followed 5 and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court 6 to file material under seal. 7 There is a strong presumption that the public has a right of access to judicial 8 proceedings and records in civil cases. In connection with non-dispositive motions, 9 good cause must be shown to support a filing under seal. See Kamakana v. City and 10 County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1176 (9th Cir. 2006); Phillips v. Gen. Motors 11 Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1210-11 (9th Cir. 2002); Makar-Welbon v. Sony Electrics, 12 Inc., 187 F.R.D. 576, 577 (E.D. Wis. 1999) (even stipulated protective orders 13 require good cause showing), and a specific showing of good cause or compelling 14 reasons with proper evidentiary support and legal justification, must be made with 15 respect to Protected Material that a party seeks to file under seal. The parties’ mere 16 designation of Disclosure or Discovery Material as CONFIDENTIAL does not— 17 without the submission of competent evidence by declaration, establishing that the 18 material sought to be filed under seal qualifies as confidential, privileged, or 19 otherwise protectable—constitute good cause. 20 Further, if a party requests sealing related to a dispositive motion or trial, then 21 compelling reasons, not only good cause, for the sealing must be shown, and the 22 relief sought shall be narrowly tailored to serve the specific interest to be protected. 23 See Pintos v. Pacific Creditors Ass’n, 605 F.3d 665, 677-79 (9th Cir. 2010). For 24 each item or type of information, document, or thing sought to be filed or introduced 25 under seal in connection with a dispositive motion or trial, the party seeking 26 protection must articulate compelling reasons, supported by specific facts and legal 27 justification, for the requested sealing order. Again, competent evidence supporting 1 Any document that is not confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable in 2 its entirety will not be filed under seal if the confidential portions can be redacted. 3 If documents can be redacted, then a redacted version for public viewing, omitting 4 only the confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable portions of the document 5 shall be filed. Any application that seeks to file documents under seal in their 6 entirety should include an explanation of why redaction is not feasible. 7 2. DEFINITIONS 8 2.1 Action: Essan Sahel v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance 9 Company, United States District Court, Central District of California, Case No. 10 2:23-CV-04966. 11 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation 12 of information or items under this Order. 13 2.3 “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 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as 18 their support staff). 19 2.5 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 2.6 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 in this matter. 26 2.7 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 1 2.8 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 2.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association or 5 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 6 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a 7 party to this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action and 8 have appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm 9 that has appeared on behalf of that party, and includes support staff. 10 2.11 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 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or 14 Discovery Material in this Action. 15 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation 16 support 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 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 20 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 21 2.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery 22 Material from a Producing Party. 23 3. 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 1 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the 2 trial judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial. 3 4. DURATION 4 Once a case proceeds to trial, information that was designated as 5 CONFIDENTIAL or maintained pursuant to this protective order used or introduced 6 as an exhibit at trial becomes public and will be presumptively available to all 7 members of the public, including the press, unless compelling reasons supported by 8 specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are made to the trial judge in advance 9 of the trial. See Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1180-81 (distinguishing “good cause” 10 showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from “compelling reasons” 11 standard when merits-related documents are part of court record). Accordingly, the 12 terms of this protective order do not extend beyond the commencement of the trial. 13 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 14 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. 15 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under 16 this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that 17 qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for 18 protection only those parts of material, documents, items or oral or written 19 communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, items 20 or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably 21 within the ambit of this Order. 22 Mass, indiscriminate or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations 23 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper 24 purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose 25 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating 26 Party to sanctions. 27 / / / 1 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it 2 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must 3 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation. 4 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in 5 this Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise 6 stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection 7 under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or 8 produced. 9 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 10 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic documents, 11 but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), that 12 the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter 13 “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that contains protected material. If only a 14 portion of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also 15 must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings 16 in the margins). 17 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection 18 need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated 19 which documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and 20 before the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be 21 deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the 22 documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which 23 documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, 24 before producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the 25 “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a 26 portion of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also 27 must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings 1 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identifies 2 the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the 3 deposition all protected testimony. 4 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for 5 any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the 6 exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the legend 7 “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information warrants 8 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected 9 portion(s). 10 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent 11 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive 12 the Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material. 13 Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable 14 efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this 15 Order. 16 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 17 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a 18 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s 19 Scheduling Order. 20 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute 21 resolution process under Local Rule 37.1 et seq. 22 6.3 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 1 entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on the 2 challenge. 3 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 4 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is 5 disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this 6 Action only for prosecuting, defending or attempting to settle this Action. Such 7 Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the 8 conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a 9 Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL 10 DISPOSITION). 11 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a 12 location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons 13 authorized under this Order. 14 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless 15 otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a 16 Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated 17 “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 18 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as well 19 as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably necessary 20 to disclose the information for this Action; 21 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of the 22 Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action; 23 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom 24 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the 25 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 26 (d) the court and its personnel; 27 (e) court reporters and their staff; 1 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have 2 signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 3 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a 4 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; 5 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in the 6 Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing party 7 requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they 8 will not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the 9 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise 10 agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed 11 deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may 12 be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except 13 as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and 14 (i) any mediator or settlement officer, and their supporting personnel, 15 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions. 16 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED 17 IN OTHER LITIGATION 18 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation 19 that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as 20 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: 21 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall 22 include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 23 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to 24 issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena 25 or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of 26 this Stipulated Protective Order; and 27 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued 1 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with 2 the subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in this 3 action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the 4 subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s 5 permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking 6 protection in that court of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions 7 should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action 8 to disobey a lawful directive from another court. 9 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE 10 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION 11 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non- 12 Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information 13 produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the 14 remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be 15 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 17 produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is 18 subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s 19 confidential information, then the Party shall: 20 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party that 21 some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement 22 with a Non-Party; 23 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated Protective 24 Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably specific 25 description of the information requested; and 26 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non- 27 Party, if requested. 1 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party 2 may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery 3 request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall 4 not produce any information in its possession or control that is subject to the 5 confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the court. 6 Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and 7 expense of seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material. 8 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 9 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed 10 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this 11 Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in 12 writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts 13 to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or 14 persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order, 15 and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and 16 Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 17 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE 18 PROTECTED MATERIAL 19 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain 20 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, 21 the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil 22 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever 23 procedure may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production 24 without prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and 25 (e), insofar as the parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a 26 communication or information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work 27 product protection, the parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated 1 12. MISCELLANEOUS 2 12.1 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 12.2 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 12.3 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 11 may only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the 12 specific Protected Material at issue. If a Party’s request to file Protected Material 13 under seal is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the information 14 in the public record unless otherwise instructed by the court. 15 13. FINAL DISPOSITION 16 A. After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 4, 17 within 60 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party 18 must return all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. 19 As used in this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, 20 compilations, summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the 21 Protected Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the 22 Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if 23 not the same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day deadline that 24 (1) identifies (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was 25 returned or destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any 26 copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or 27 capturing any of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are 1 and hearing transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial 2 exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work 3 product, even if such materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival 4 copies that contain or constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective 5 Order as set forth in Section 4. 6 B. Nothing in this Order disallows State Farm Mutual Automobile 7 Insurance Company from: 8 a. complying with any state or federal law or regulation, including 9 reporting of information to a regulator or government entity as permitted and/or 10 required by applicable state and federal law; 11 b. adding information discovered that is relevant to a claim to the relevant 12 electronic record in its electronic claim system; 13 c. disclosing evidence of a crime or fraud; retaining information necessary 14 to meet mandated retention requirements; or, 15 d. retaining copies of Protected Material that may exists on back-up media 16 or other computer or archive storage not regularly accessed by business users in the 17 ordinary course provided that should a copy of the Confidential Information be 18 accessed it will not be used for a purpose inconsistent with this Order. 19 14. VIOLATION 20 Any violation of this Order may be punished by appropriate measures 21 including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary sanctions. 22 23 24 25 26 27 1 EXHIBIT A 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 3 4 I, _____________________________ [print or type full name], of 5 _________________ [print or type full address], declare under penalty of perjury 6 that I have read in its entirety and understand the Stipulated Protective Order that 7 was issued by the United States District Court for the Central District of California 8 on [date] in the case of Essan Sahel v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance 9 Company, Case No. 2:23-CV-04966. 10 I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms of this Stipulated 11 Protective Order and I understand and acknowledge that failure to so comply could 12 expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. I solemnly 13 promise that I will not disclose in any manner any information or item that is subject 14 to this Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance 15 with the provisions of this Order. 16 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court 17 for the Central District of California for enforcing the terms of this Stipulated 18 Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of 19 this action. I hereby appoint __________________________ [print or type full 20 name] of _______________________________________ [print or type full address 21 and telephone number] as my California agent for service of process in connection 22 with this action or any proceedings related to enforcement of this Stipulated 23 Protective Order. 24 25 Date: ______________________________________ 26 City and State where sworn and signed: ________________________________ 27 Printed name: _______________________________ 1 ORDER 2 3 FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED. 4 . 5 || Dated: February 04, 2025 Fabia Danakue_ 6 HON. PATRICIA DONAHUE

UINITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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