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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

8 9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 SOUTHERN DIVISION 11

12 MARIA SILANG, CASE NO.: 8:19-cv-02400-JLS (JDEx) 13 Plaintiff, STIPULATION AND PROPOSED 14

PROTECTIVE ORDER

15 vs. 16

PORTFOLIO RECOVERY

17 ASSOCIATES, LLC, 18 Defendant. 19

20 21 22 Pursuant to the Stipulation of the Parties (Dkt. 26), and for good cause 23 shown, the Court finds and orders as follows. 24 / / / 25 / / / / / / 26 / / / 27 / / / 28 1 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 2 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, proprietary or 3 private information for which special protection from public disclosure and from use for any 4 purpose other than pursuing this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby 5 stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties 6 acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses 7 to discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the 8 limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable legal 9 principles. 10 2. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 11 This action is likely to involve trade secrets, private financial information, or company 12 specific policies and procedures and/or proprietary information for which special protection from 13 public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecution of this action is warranted. 14 Such confidential and proprietary materials and information consist of, among other things, 15 confidential business or financial information, information regarding confidential business 16 practices, or commercial information (including information implicating privacy rights of third 17 parties), information otherwise generally unavailable to the public, or which may be privileged 18 or otherwise protected from disclosure under state or federal statutes, court rules, case decisions, 19 or common law. Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt 20 resolution of disputes over confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately protect 21 information the parties are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted 22 reasonable necessary uses of such material in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to 23 address their handling at the end of the litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a protective order 24 for such information is justified in this matter. It is the intent of the parties that information will 25 not be designated as confidential for tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated without a 26 good faith belief that it has been maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, and there is 27 good cause why it should not be part of the public record of this case. 28 // 1 3. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF UNDER SEAL FILING PROCEDURE 2 The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 14.3, below, that this Stipulated 3 Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under seal; Local Civil 4 Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied 5 when a party seeks permission from the court to file material under seal. There is a strong 6 presumption that the public has a right of access to judicial proceedings and records in civil 7 cases. In connection with non-dispositive motions, good cause must be shown to support a filing 8 under seal. See Kamakana v. City and County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1176 (9th Cir. 2006), 9 Phillips v. Gen. Motors Corp., 307 F.3d 1206, 1210-11 (9th Cir. 2002), Makar-Welbon v. Sony 10 Electrics, Inc., 187 F.R.D. 576, 577 (E.D. Wis. 1999) (even stipulated protective orders require 11 good cause showing), and a specific showing of good cause or compelling reasons with proper 12 evidentiary support and legal justification, must be made with respect to Protected Material that a 13 party seeks to file under seal. The parties’ mere designation of Disclosure or Discovery Material 14 as CONFIDENTIAL does not— without the submission of competent evidence by declaration, 15 establishing that the material sought to be filed under seal qualifies as confidential, privileged, or 16 otherwise protectable—constitute good cause. 17 Further, if a party requests sealing related to a dispositive motion or trial, then compelling 18 reasons, not only good cause, for the sealing must be shown, and the relief sought shall be 19 narrowly tailored to serve the specific interest to be protected. See Pintos v. Pacific Creditors 20 Ass’n., 605 F.3d 665, 677-79 (9th Cir. 2010). For each item or type of information, document, or 21 thing sought to be filed or introduced under seal, the party seeking protection must articulate 22 compelling reasons, supported by specific facts and legal justification, for the requested sealing 23 order. Again, competent evidence supporting the application to file documents under seal must 24 be provided by declaration. 25 Any document that is not confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable in its entirety 26 will not be filed under seal if the confidential portions can be redacted. If documents can be 27 redacted, then a redacted version for public viewing, omitting only the confidential, privileged, 28 or otherwise protectable portions of the document, shall be filed. Any application that seeks to 1 file documents under seal in their entirety should include an explanation of why redaction is not 2 feasible. 3 4. DEFINITIONS 4 4.1 Action: Maria Silang v. Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC, United States 5 District Court, Central District of California, Case No. 8:19-cv-02400-JLS-JDE. 6 4.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the 7 designation of information or items under this Order. 8 4.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of how it is 9 generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection under Federal Rule 10 of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in the Good Cause Statement. 11 4.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as their support 12 staff). 13 4.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or items that 14 it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 15 4.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of the 16 medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, among other things, 17 testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or generated in disclosures or 18 responses to discovery. 19 4.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter pertinent to 20 the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an expert witness or as a 21 consultant in this Action. 22 4.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action. House 23 Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside counsel. 24 4.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association or other legal 25 entity not named as a Party to this action. 26 4.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party to this 27 Action but are retained to represent a party to this Action and have appeared in this Action on 28 behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm that has appeared on behalf of that party, and 1 includes support staff. 2 4.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, employees, 3 consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their support staffs). 4 4.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or Discovery 5 Material in this Action. 6 4.13 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support services 7 (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or demonstrations, and 8 organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) and their employees and 9 subcontractors. 10 4.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated as 11 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 12 4.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery 13 Material from a Producing Party. 14 5. SCOPE 15 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected Material 16 (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from Protected Material; (2) 17 all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, 18 conversations, or presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 19 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the trial judge 20 and other applicable authorities. This Order does not govern the use of Protected Material at trial. 21 6. DURATION 22 Once a case proceeds to trial, information that was designated as CONFIDENTIAL or 23 maintained pursuant to this protective order used or introduced as an exhibit at trial becomes 24 public and will be presumptively available to all members of the public, including the press, 25 unless compelling reasons supported by specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are made 26 to the trial judge in advance of the trial. See Kamakana, 447 F.3d at 1180-81 (distinguishing 27 “good cause” showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from “compelling reasons” 28 1 standard when merits-related documents are part of court record). Accordingly, the terms of this 2 protective order do not extend beyond the commencement of the trial. 3 7. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 4 7.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. Each Party 5 or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under this Order must take care 6 to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies under the appropriate standards. 7 The Designating Party must designate for protection only those parts of material, documents, 8 items or oral or written communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, 9 documents, items or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept 10 unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. 11 Mass, indiscriminate or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations that are 12 shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper purpose (e.g., to 13 unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose unnecessary expenses and 14 burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating Party to sanctions. 15 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it designated 16 for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must promptly notify all other 17 Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation. 18 7.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this Order, 19 or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, Disclosure of Discovery Material that qualifies for 20 protection under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material is disclosed or 21 produced. 22 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 23 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic documents, but 24 excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), that the Producing 25 Party affix at a minimum, the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” (hereinafter “CONFIDENTIAL 26 legend”), to each page that contains protected material. If only a portion of the material on a page 27 qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) 28 (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 1 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection need not 2 designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated which documents it 3 would like copied and produced. During the inspection and before the designation, all of the 4 material made available for inspection shall be deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting 5 Party has identified the documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must 6 determine which documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, 7 before producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the 8 “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a portion of the 9 material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the 10 protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 11 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party identifies the 12 Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the deposition all protected 13 testimony. 14 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for any 15 other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the exterior of the 16 container or containers in which the information is stored the legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only 17 a portion or portions of the information warrants protection, the Producing Party, to the extent 18 practicable, shall identify the protected portion(s). 19 7.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent failure to 20 designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the Designating Party’s 21 right to secure protection under this Order for such material. Upon timely correction of a 22 designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts to assure that the material is 23 treated in accordance with the provisions of this Order. 24 8. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 25 8.1. Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a designation of 26 confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s Scheduling Order. 27 8.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute resolution 28 process under Local Rule 37-1 et seq. 1 8.3 Joint Stipulation. Any challenge submitted to the Court shall be via a joint 2 stipulation pursuant to Local Rule 37-2. 3 8.4 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the 4 Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose (e.g., to harass 5 or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Challenging Party 6 to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party has waived or withdrawn the confidentiality 7 designation, all parties shall continue to afford the material in question the level of protection to 8 which it is entitled under the Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on the 9 challenge. 10 9. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 11 9.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is disclosed or 12 produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this Action only for prosecuting, 13 defending or attempting to settle this Action. Such Protected Material may be disclosed only to 14 the categories of persons and under the conditions described in this Order. When the Action has 15 been terminated, a Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 15 below 16 (FINAL DISPOSITION). 17 Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a location and 18 in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons authorized under this Order. 19 9.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless 20 otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a Receiving 21 Party may disclose any information or item designated 22 “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 to whom it is reasonably necessary to disclose the 25 information for this Action; 26 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of the 27 Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action; 28 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is 1 reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement 2 to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 3 (d) the court and its personnel; 4 (e) court reporters and their staff; 5 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional Vendors to 6 whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the 7 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 8 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a 9 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; 10 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in the Action 11 to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing party requests that the 12 witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they will not be permitted to keep any 13 confidential information unless they sign the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” 14 (Exhibit A), unless otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the court. Pages of 15 transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may be 16 separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted 17 under this Stipulated Protective Order; and 18 (i) any mediators or settlement officers and their supporting personnel, mutually 19 agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions. 20 10. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED IN OTHER 21 LITIGATION 22 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation that compels 23 disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as “CONFIDENTIAL,” that 24 Party must: 25 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall 26 include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 27 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to issue 28 in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or order is subject 1 to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of this Stipulated Protective 2 Order; and 3 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by 4 the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. If the Designating Party timely 5 seeks a protective order, the Party served with the subpoena or court order shall not produce any 6 information designated in this action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court 7 from which the subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s 8 permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in 9 that court of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions should be construed as 10 authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action to disobey a lawful directive from 11 another court. 12 11. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE PRODUCED IN THIS 13 LITIGATION 14 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non-Party 15 in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information produced by Non-Parties 16 in connection with this litigation is protected by the remedies and relief provided by this Order. 17 Nothing in these provisions should be construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking 18 additional protections. 19 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to produce a 20 Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is subject to an agreement 21 with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s confidential information, then the Party shall: 22 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party that some 23 or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement with a Non-Party; 24 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated Protective Order 25 in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably specific description of the 26 information requested; and 27 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non-Party, if 28 requested. 1 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this court within 14 days 2 of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may produce the 3 Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery request. If the Non-Party 4 timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall not produce any information in its 5 possession or control that is subject to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a 6 determination by the court. Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the 7 burden and expense of seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material. 8 12. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 9 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed Protected 10 Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this Stipulated Protective 11 Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in writing the Designating Party of the 12 unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the 13 Protected Material, (c) inform the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were 14 made of all the terms of this Order, and (d) request such person or persons to execute the 15 “Acknowledgment an Agreement to Be Bound” attached hereto as Exhibit A. 16 13. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE PROTECTED 17 MATERIAL 18 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain inadvertently produced 19 material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, the obligations of the Receiving 20 Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil\ Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not 21 intended to modify whatever procedure may be established in an e-discovery order that provides 22 for production without prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and 23 (e), insofar as the parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or 24 information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the parties may 25 incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted to the court. 26 14. MISCELLANEOUS 27 14.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any person to 28 seek its modification by the Court in the future. 1 14.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this 2 Protective Order, no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to disclosing or 3 producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this Stipulated Protective 4 Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any ground to use in evidence of any of 5 the material covered by this Protective Order. 6 14.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any 7 Protected Material must comply with Local Civil Rule 79-5. Protected Material may only be 8 filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific Protected 9 Material. If a Party’s request to file Protected Material under seal is denied by the court, then the 10 Receiving Party may file the information in the public record unless otherwise instructed by the 11 court. 12 15. FINAL DISPOSITION 13 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 6, within 60 days of a 14 written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return all Protected Material 15 to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in this subdivision, “all Protected 16 Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries, and any other format 17 reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Whether the Protected Material is 18 returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the Producing 19 Party (and, if not the same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60-day deadline that 20 (1) identifies (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or 21 destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts, 22 compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected 23 Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an archival copy of all 24 pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, legal memoranda, 25 correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, and 26 consultant and expert work product, even if such materials contain Protected Material. Any such 27 archival copies that contain or constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective 28 Order as set forth in Section 6 (DURATION). 1 VIOLATION 2 Any violation of this Order may be punished by appropriate measures including, without 3 || limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary sanctions. 4 5 FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN, IT IS SO ORDERED. 7 |}\DATED: June 12, 2020

D. EARLY

8 ited States Magistrate Jud 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

1 EXHIBIT A 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 3 4 I, _____________________________ [print or type full name], of _________________ [print or 5 type full address], declare under penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and understand 6 the Stipulated Protective Order that was issued by the United States District Court for the Central 7 8 District of California on June 12, 2020 in the case of Maria Silang v. Portfolio Recovery 9 Associates, LLC, Case No. 8:19-cv-02400-JLS-JDE. I agree to comply with and to be bound by 10 all the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and acknowledge that failure to 11 so comply could expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. I solemnly 12 promise that I will not disclose in any manner any information or item that is subject to this 13 14 Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance with the 15 provisions of this Order. I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District 16 Court for the Central District of California for enforcing the terms of this Stipulated Protective 17 Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of this action. 18 I hereby appoint __________________________ [print or type full name] of 19 20 _______________________________________ [print or type full address and 21 telephone number] as my California agent for service of process in connection with this action or 22 any proceedings related to enforcement of this Stipulated Protective Order. 23 Date: ______________________________________ 24 City and State where sworn and signed: _________________________________ 25 26 Printed name: _______________________________ 27 Signature: __________________________________ 28 1 2 3

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