] 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 || RONALD HAINES, Case No. 2:25-cv-01132-DC-CSK 1] Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING MODIFIED y STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER (ECF No. 26) 13 || WINCO HOLDINGS, INC., et al., 14 Defendants. 15 16 The Court has reviewed the parties’ stipulated protective order below (ECF No. 17 || 26), and finds it comports with the relevant authorities and the Court’s Local Rule. See 18 |} L.R. 141.1. The Court APPROVES the protective order, subject to the following 19 || clarification. 20 The Court’s Local Rules indicate that once an action is closed, it “will not retain 21 || jurisdiction over enforcement of the terms of any protective order filed in that action.” 22 || L.R. 141.1(f); see Bylin Heating Sys., Inc. v. Thermal Techs., Inc., 2012 WL 13237584, 23 || at *2 (E.D. Cal. Oct. 29, 2012) (noting that courts in the district generally do not retain 24 || jurisdiction for disputes concerning protective orders after closure of the case). Thus, the 25 || Court will not retain jurisdiction over this protective order once the case is closed. 26 27 || Dated: October 6, 2025 CC; (i s 28 || 4, haini 132.25 CHI S00 KIM

UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

1 MILLER NASH LLP Matthew Tripp, Bar No. 357279 2 matthew.tripp@millernash.com 340 Golden Shore, Suite 450 3 Long Beach, CA 90802 Telephone: 562.435.8002 4 Facsimile: 562.435.7967 5 Attorneys for Defendant

WINCO HOLDINGS, INC.

LAW OFFICE OF MICHAEL FREIMAN

7 Michael Freiman mike@employlegal.com 8 100 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 700 Santa Monica, CA 90401 9 Telephone: 310.917.1022

10 Attorney for Plaintiff

RONALD HAINES

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, SACRAMENTO DIVISION

13 14 RONALD HAINES, Case No. 2:25-CV-01132-DC-CSK 15 Plaintiff, [PROPOSED] MODIFIED 16 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER v. 17 WINCO HOLDINGS, INC., and DOES 1 18 through 20, inclusive, 19 Defendants. 20 21 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 22 Disclosure and discovery activity in this action are likely to involve production of 23 confidential, proprietary, or private information, including personnel and employment records, 24 and confidential business records and agreements, including business agreements and employee 25 pay information, for which special protection from public disclosure and from use for any 26 purpose other than this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to 27 and move the court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge 28 that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery 1 and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited 2 information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable legal 3 principles. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3, below, that this 4 Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under seal; Local 5 Rule 141 sets forth the procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied 6 when a party seeks permission from the court to file material under seal. 7 2. DEFINITIONS 8 2.1 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of 9 information or items under this Order. 10 2.2 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of how it is 11 generated, stored, or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection under Federal Rule 12 of Civil Procedure 26(c). 13 2.3 Counsel (without qualifier): Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as 14 well as their support staff) 15 2.4 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or items that it 16 produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 17 2.5 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of the 18 medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, among other things, 19 testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or generated in disclosures or 20 responses to discovery in this matter. 21 2.6 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter pertinent to 22 the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an expert witness or as a 23 consultant in this action. 24 2.7 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this action. House 25 Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside counsel. 26 2.8 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal 27 entity not named as a Party to this action. 28 2.9 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party to this 1 action but are retained to represent or advise a party to this action and have appeared in this action 2 on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm which has appeared on behalf of that party. 3 2.10 Party: any party to this action, including all of its officers, directors, employees, 4 consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their support staffs). 5 2.11 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or Discovery 6 Material in this action. 7 2.12 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support services 8 (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or demonstrations, and 9 organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) and their employees and 10 subcontractors. 11 2.13 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated as 12 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 13 2.14 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material from a 14 Producing Party. 15 3. SCOPE 16 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected Material 17 (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from Protected Material; (2) 18 all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, 19 conversations, or presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 20 However, the protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order do not cover the following 21 information: (a) any information that is in the public domain at the time of disclosure to a 22 Receiving Party or becomes part of the public domain after its disclosure to a Receiving Party as 23 a result of publication not involving a violation of this Order, including becoming part of the 24 public record through trial or otherwise; and (b) any information known to the Receiving Party 25 prior to the disclosure or obtained by the Receiving Party after the disclosure from a source who 26 obtained the information lawfully and under no obligation of confidentiality to the Designating 27 Party. Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by a separate agreement or order. 28 4. DURATION 1 Even after final disposition of this litigation, the confidentiality obligations imposed by 2 this Order shall remain in effect until a Designating Party agrees otherwise in writing or a court 3 order otherwise directs. Final disposition shall be deemed to be the later of (1) dismissal of all 4 claims and defenses in this action, with or without prejudice; and (2) final judgment herein after 5 the completion and exhaustion of all appeals, rehearings, remands, trials, or reviews of this action, 6 including the time limits for filing any motions or applications for extension of time pursuant to 7 applicable law. 8 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 9 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. Each Party 10 or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under this Order must take care 11 to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies under the appropriate standards. 12 The Designating Party must designate for protection only those parts of material, documents, 13 items, or oral or written communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, 14 documents, items, or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept 15 unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are 16 prohibited. 17 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it designated 18 for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must promptly notify all other 19 Parties that it is withdrawing the mistaken designation. 20 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this Order, 21 or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for 22 protection under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or 23 produced. 24 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 25 (a) For information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic documents, but 26 excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), that the Producing 27 Party affix the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” to each page that contains protected material, if 28 practicable to do so. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, 1 the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making 2 appropriate markings in the margins), if practicable to do so. A Party or Non-Party that makes 3 original documents or materials available for inspection need not designate them for protection 4 until after the inspecting Party has indicated which material it would like copied and produced. 5 During the inspection and before the designation, all of the material made available for inspection 6 shall be deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the documents it 7 wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which documents, or portions 8 thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing the specified documents, 9 the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL” legend to each page that contains 10 Protected Material, if practicable to do so. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page 11 qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) 12 (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins), if practicable to do so. 13 (b) for testimony given in deposition or in other pretrial or trial proceedings, that the 14 Designating Party designate testimony as confidential after the deposition, by notifying the parties 15 and those who were present at the deposition within 30 days after the deposition transcript 16 becomes available, unless otherwise agreed. 17 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for any other 18 tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the exterior of the container 19 or containers in which the information or item is stored the legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a 20 portion or portions of the information or item warrant protection, the Producing Party, to the 21 extent practicable, shall identify the protected portion(s). 22 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent failure to 23 designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the Designating Party’s 24 right to secure protection under this Order for such material. Upon timely correction of a 25 designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts to assure that the material is 26 treated in accordance with the provisions of this Order. 27 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 28 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a designation of 1 confidentiality at any time. Unless a prompt challenge to a Designating Party’s confidentiality 2 designation is necessary to avoid foreseeable, substantial unfairness, unnecessary economic 3 burdens, or a significant disruption or delay of the litigation, a Party does not waive its right to 4 challenge a confidentiality designation by electing not to mount a challenge promptly after the 5 original designation is disclosed. 6 6.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute resolution 7 process by providing written notice of each designation it is challenging and describing the basis 8 for each challenge. To avoid ambiguity as to whether a challenge has been made, the written 9 notice must recite that the challenge to confidentiality is being made in accordance with this 10 specific paragraph of the Protective Order. The parties shall attempt to resolve each challenge in 11 good faith and must begin the process by conferring within 14 days of the date of service of 12 notice. In conferring, the Challenging Party must explain the basis for its belief that the 13 confidentiality designation was not proper and must give the Designating Party an opportunity to 14 review the designated material, to reconsider the circumstances, and, if no change in designation 15 is offered, to explain the basis for the chosen designation. A Challenging Party may proceed to 16 the next stage of the challenge process only if it has engaged in this meet and confer process first 17 or establishes that the Designating Party is unwilling to participate in the meet and confer process 18 in a timely manner. 19 6.3 Judicial Intervention. If the Parties cannot resolve a challenge without court 20 intervention, the Designating Party shall file and serve a motion to retain confidentiality under 21 within 21 days of the initial notice of challenge or within 14 days of the parties agreeing that the 22 meet and confer process will not resolve their dispute, whichever is later. Each such motion must 23 be accompanied by a competent declaration affirming that the movant has complied with the meet 24 and confer requirements imposed in the preceding paragraph. Failure by the Designating Party to 25 make such a motion including the required declaration within 21 days (or 14 days, if applicable) 26 shall automatically waive the confidentiality designation for each challenged designation. The 27 Challenging Party may file a motion challenging a confidentiality designation at any time if there 28 is good cause for doing so, including a challenge to the designation of a deposition transcript or 1 any portions thereof. Any motion brought pursuant to this provision must be accompanied by a 2 competent declaration affirming that the movant has complied with the meet and confer 3 requirements imposed by the preceding paragraph. 4 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the Designating 5 Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose (e.g., to harass or impose 6 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Challenging Party to 7 sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived the confidentiality designation by failing to 8 file a motion to retain confidentiality as described above, all parties shall continue to afford the 9 material in question the level of protection to which it is entitled under the Producing Party’s 10 designation until the court rules on the challenge. 11 7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 12 7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is disclosed or 13 produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this case only for prosecuting, 14 defending, or attempting to settle this litigation. Such Protected Material may be disclosed only to 15 the categories of persons and under the conditions described in this Order. When the litigation has 16 been terminated, a Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL 17 DISPOSITION). 18 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a location and 19 in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons authorized under this Order. 20 7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless otherwise ordered 21 by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a Receiving Party may disclose any 22 information or item designated “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 23 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this action, as well as 24 employees of said Outside Counsel of Record, and House Counsel; 25 (b) the officers, directors, and employees of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is 26 reasonably necessary for this litigation; 27 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is 28 reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and 1 Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A);; 2 (d) the court and its personnel; 3 (e) court reporters and their staff, professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, 4 and Professional Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who 5 have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 6 (f) during their depositions, witnesses in the action to whom disclosure is reasonably 7 necessary and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), 8 unless otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed 9 deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material must be separately 10 bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted under this 11 Stipulated Protective Order; and 12 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a custodian or 13 other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information. 14 8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED IN OTHER 15 LITIGATION 16 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation that compels 17 disclosure of any information or items designated in this action as “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party 18 must: 19 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall include a 20 copy of the subpoena or court order; 21 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to issue in 22 the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or order is subject to 23 this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; 24 and 25 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by the 26 Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. 27 If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with the 28 subpoena or court order shall not produce any information designated in this action as 1 “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the subpoena or order 2 issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s permission. The Designating Party 3 shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in that court of its confidential material, 4 and nothing in these provisions should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving 5 Party in this action to disobey a lawful directive from another court. 6 9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE PRODUCED IN THIS 7 LITIGATION 8 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non-Party in 9 this action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information produced by Non-Parties in 10 connection with this litigation is protected by the remedies and relief provided by this Order. 11 Nothing in these provisions should be construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking 12 additional protections. 13 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to produce a 14 Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is subject to an agreement 15 with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s confidential information, then the Party shall: 16 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party that 17 some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement with a Non- 18 Party; 19 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated Protective 20 Order in this litigation, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably specific description of 21 the information requested; and 22 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non-Party. 23 (c) If the Non-Party fails to object or seek a protective order from this court within 14 24 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may produce the 25 Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery request. If the Non-Party timely 26 seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall not produce any information in its possession 27 or control that is subject to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a 28 determination by the court. Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the 1 burden and expense of seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material. 2 10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 3 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed Protected 4 Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this Stipulated Protective 5 Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in writing the Designating Party of the 6 unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the 7 Protected Material, (c) inform the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were 8 made of all the terms of this Order, and (d) request such person or persons to execute the 9 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 10 11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE PROTECTED 11 MATERIAL 12 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain inadvertently 13 produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, the obligations of the 14 Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This 15 provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure may be established in an e-discovery 16 order that provides for production without prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of 17 Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a 18 communication or information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product 19 protection, the parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order 20 submitted to the court. 21 12. MISCELLANEOUS 22 12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any person to 23 seek its modification by the court in the future. 24 12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this Protective 25 Order no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to disclosing or producing any 26 information or item on any ground not addressed in this Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no 27 Party waives any right to object on any ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered 28 by this Protective Order. 1 12.3 Filing Protected Material. Without written permission from the Designating Party 2 or a court order secured after appropriate notice to all interested persons, a Party may not file in 3 the public record in this action any Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any 4 Protected Material must comply with Local Rule 141. Protected Material may only be filed under 5 seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific Protected Material at issue. 6 13. FINAL DISPOSITION 7 Within 60 days after the final disposition of this action, as defined in paragraph 4, upon 8 written request by the Producing Party, each Receiving Party must return all Protected Material to 9 the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in this subdivision, “all Protected Material” 10 includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries, and any other format reproducing or 11 capturing any of the Protected Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, 12 the Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the 13 same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60 day deadline that (1) identifies (by 14 category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or destroyed and (2) 15 affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries 16 or any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this 17 provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, 18 deposition, and hearing transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial 19 exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if 20 such materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or constitute 21 Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in Section 4 (DURATION). 22

28 1

2 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD.

3 4 Dated: October 2, 2025 MILLER NASH LLP

5 6 By: /s/ Matthew Tripp Matthew Tripp 7 Attorneys for Defendant

WINCO HOLDINGS, INC.

10 11 Dated: October 2, 2025 LAW OFFICE OF MICHAEL FREIMAN

12 13 By: /s/ Michael Freiman Michael Freiman 14 (with permission to e-sign) Attorney for Plaintiff 15

RONALD HAINES

19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 EXHIBIT A 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 3 I, _______________________[print or type full name], of __________________________[print 4 or type full address], declare under penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and 5 understand the Stipulated Protective Order that was issued by the United States District Court for 6 the Eastern District of California on [date] in the case if Ronald Haines v. WinCo Holdings, Inc., 7 et al., Case No. 2:25-cv-01132-DC-CSK. I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms 8 of this Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and acknowledge that failure to so comply 9 could expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise that I 10 will not disclose in any manner any information or item that is subject to this Stipulated 11 Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance with the provisions of this 12 Order. I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the 13 Eastern District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this Stipulated Protective 14 Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of this action. 15 Date: _______________________ 16 City and State where sworn and signed: _____________________________ 17 Printed name: __________________________ 18 Signature: ____________________________ 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28