1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, WESTERN DIVISION 9 10 COMPSTAR INSURANCE Case No. 2:25-cv-01096-CAS-AGR SERVICES, LLC, a California 11 corporation; and BENCHMARK INSURANCE COMPANY, a Kansas STIPULATED PROTECTIVE 12 corporation, ORDER 13 Plaintiffs, Judge: Hon. Christina A. Snyder 14 v. Magistrate: Hon. Alicia G. Rosenberg 15 SUMMIT SPECIALTY INSURANCE Complaint Filed: 02/07/2025 SOLUTIONS LLC, a California limited 16 liability company; BLAKE BAKER, an individual; CANDACE LONG, and 17 individual; and DOES 1 through 10, inclusive, 18 Defendants. 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 1 1. INTRODUCTION 2 A. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 3 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, 4 proprietary, or private information for which special protection from public 5 disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may 6 be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to 7 enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this 8 Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to 9 discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends 10 only to the limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment 11 under the applicable legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth 12 in Section 12.3, below, that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them 13 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 15 party seeks permission from the court to file material under seal. 16 B. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 17 This action is likely to involve trade secrets, customer and pricing lists and 18 other valuable research, development, commercial, financial, technical and/or 19 proprietary information for which special protection from public disclosure and 20 from use for any purpose other than prosecution of this action is warranted. Such 21 confidential and proprietary materials and information consist of, among other 22 things, confidential business or financial information, information regarding 23 confidential business practices, or other confidential research, development, or 24 commercial information (including information implicating privacy rights of third 25 parties), information otherwise generally unavailable to the public, or which may 26 be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure under state or federal 27 statutes, court rules, case decisions, or common law. Accordingly, to expedite the 1 confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately protect information the 2 parties are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted 3 reasonable necessary uses of such material in preparation for and in the conduct of 4 trial, to address their handling at the end of the litigation, and serve the ends of 5 justice, a protective order for such information is justified in this matter. It is the 6 intent of the parties that information will not be designated as confidential for 7 tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated without a good faith belief that 8 it has been maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, and there is good 9 cause why it should not be part of the public record of this case. 10 2. DEFINITIONS 11 2.1 Action: this pending federal law suit. 12 2.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation 13 of information or items under this Order. 14 2.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of 15 how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for 16 protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in 17 the Good Cause Statement. 18 2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as 19 their support staff). 20 2.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or 21 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as 22 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 23 2.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless 24 of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, 25 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or 26 generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter. 27 2.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter 1 an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action. 2 2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action. 3 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside 4 counsel. 5 2.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or 6 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 7 2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party 8 to this Action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this Action and have 9 appeared in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm which 10 has appeared on behalf of that party, and includes support staff. 11 2.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, 12 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their 13 support staffs). 14 2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or 15 Discovery Material in this Action. 16 2.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support 17 services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or 18 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) 19 and their employees and subcontractors. 20 2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 21 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 22 2.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material 23 from a Producing Party. 24 3. SCOPE 25 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only 26 Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or 27 extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or 1 presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 2 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the 3 trial judge. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial. 4 4. DURATION 5 Once a case proceeds to trial, all of the information that was designated as 6 confidential or maintained pursuant to this protective order becomes public and 7 will be presumptively available to all members of the public, including the press, 8 unless compelling reasons supported by specific factual findings to proceed 9 otherwise are made to the trial judge in advance of the trial. See Kamakana v. City 10 and County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1180-81 (9th Cir. 2006) (distinguishing 11 “good cause” showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from 12 “compelling reasons” standard when merits-related documents are part of court 13 record). Accordingly, the terms of this protective order do not extend beyond the 14 commencement of the trial. 15 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 16 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. 17 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under 18 this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that 19 qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for 20 protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written 21 communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, 22 items, or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept 23 unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. 24 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations 25 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper 26 purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to 27 impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the 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 3 must promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable 4 designation. 5 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in 6 this Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise 7 stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection 8 under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or 9 produced. 10 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 11 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic 12 documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial 13 proceedings), that the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend 14 “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL legend”), to each page that 15 contains protected material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page 16 qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected 17 portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 18 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection 19 need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has 20 indicated which documents it would like copied and produced. During the 21 inspection and before the designation, all of the material made available for 22 inspection shall be deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has 23 identified the documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must 24 determine which documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this 25 Order. Then, before producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must 26 affix the “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page that contains Protected 27 Material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for 1 (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 2 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identify 3 the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the 4 deposition all protected testimony. 5 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for 6 any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the 7 exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the legend 8 “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information warrants 9 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected 10 portion(s). 11 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent 12 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive 13 the Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material. 14 Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable 15 efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this 16 Order. 17 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 18 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a 19 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s 20 Scheduling Order. 21 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute 22 resolution process under Local Rule 37.1 et seq. 23 6.3 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on 24 the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper 25 purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other 26 parties) may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating 27 Party has waived or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall 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 19 well as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably 20 necessary to disclose the information for this Action; 21 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of 22 the 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 7 party requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) 8 they will not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign 9 the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless 10 otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of 11 transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected 12 Material may be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed 13 to anyone except 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 22 shall include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 23 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order 24 to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the 25 subpoena or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall 26 include a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and 27 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be 1 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served 2 with the subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in 3 this action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which 4 the subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating 5 Party’s permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of 6 seeking protection in that court of its confidential material and nothing in these 7 provisions should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in 8 this Action 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 12 Non-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- 21 Party that some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality 22 agreement with a Non-Party; 23 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated 24 Protective Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably 25 specific description of the information requested; and 26 / / / 27 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the 1 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this court within 2 14 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving 3 Party may produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the 4 discovery request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving 5 Party shall not produce any information in its possession or control that is subject 6 to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the 7 court. Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden 8 and expense of seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material. 9 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 10 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has 11 disclosed Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized 12 under this Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) 13 notify in writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its 14 best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) 15 inform the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all 16 the terms of this Order, and (d) request such person or persons to execute the 17 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit 18 A. 19 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE 20 PROTECTED MATERIAL 21 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain 22 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other 23 protection, the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal 24 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 26 production without prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 27 502(d) and (e), insofar as the parties reach an agreement on the effect of 1 privilege or work product protection, the parties may incorporate their agreement 2 in the stipulated 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 5 person to seek its modification by the Court in the future. 6 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this 7 Protective Order no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to 8 disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this 9 Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any 10 ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order. 11 12.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any 12 Protected Material must comply with Civil Local Rule 79-5. Protected Material may 13 only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the 14 specific Protected Material at issue. If a Party’s request to file Protected Material 15 under seal is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the information 16 in the public record unless otherwise instructed by the court. 17 13. FINAL DISPOSITION 18 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 4, within 19 60 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must 20 return all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As 21 used in this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, 22 compilations, summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of 23 the Protected Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, 24 the Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party 25 (and, if not the same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day 26 deadline that (1) identifies (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected 27 Material that was returned or destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party 1 || format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding 2 || this provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an archival copy of all pleadings, 3 || motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, legal memoranda, 4 || correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work 5 || product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such materials contain 6 || Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or constitute Protected 7 || Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in Section 4 8 (DURATION). 9 14. Any violation of this Order may be punished by any and all 10 || appropriate measures including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or 11 |} monetary sanctions.

IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD.

13 || DATED: August 26, 2025 14 /s/ Edwin M. Boniske James M. Peterson 15 || Edwin M. Boniske Steven M. Brunolli 16 | HIGGS FLETCHER & MACK LLP Attorneys for Plaintiffs COMPSTAR INSURANCE SERVICES, LLC and 17 || BENCHMARK INSURANCE COMPANY 18 19 DATED: August 26, 2025 /s/ John T. Duffey 20 || Melissa Muro Lamere John T. Duffey (Admitted Pro Hac Vice) 21 || MASON LLP Attorneys for Defendants SUMMIT SPECIALTY INSURANCE SOLUTIONS 22] LLC, BLAKE BAKER, and CANDACE LONG 23

FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED.

25 h - 6 DATED: August 27, 2025 ies . | reenlirgy 27 Honorable Alicia G Rosenberg 08 United States Magistrate Judge

FLETCHER &

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 that I have read in its 6 entirety and understand the Stipulated Protective Order that was issued by the 7 United States District Court for the Central District of California on [date] in the 8 case of COMPSTAR INSURANCE SERVICES, LLC, et al. v. SUMMIT 9 SPECIALTY INSURANCE SOLUTIONS LLC, et al., Central District Case No. 10 2:25-cv-01096-CAS-AGR. I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the 11 terms of this Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and acknowledge that 12 failure to so comply could expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of 13 contempt. I solemnly promise that I will not disclose in any manner any 14 information or item that is subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to any 15 person or entity except in strict compliance with the provisions of this Order. 16 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District 17 Court for the Central District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms 18 of this Stipulated Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur 19 after termination of this action. I hereby appoint [print 20 or type full name] of [print or 21 type full address and telephone number] as my California agent for service of 22 process in connection with this action or any proceedings related to enforcement 23 of this Stipulated Protective Order. 24 Date: 25 City and State where sworn and signed: 26 Printed name: 27 Signature: