Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-caed-1_19-cv-00600/USCOURTS-caed-1_19-cv-00600-3/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 110
Nature of Suit: Insurance
Cause of Action: 28:1332 Diversity-Breach of Contract

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4954275v1 -1- Case No. 1:19-cv-00600-DAD-JLT

STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

RP GOLDEN STATE MANAGEMENT, LLC 

DBA GARDEN SUITES INN,

Plaintiff,

v.

OHIO SECURITY INSURANCE COMPANY; 

and DOES 1 through 25, inclusive,

Defendants.

Case No. 1:19-cv-00600-DAD-JLT 

[Removed from Kern County Superior Court 

Case No. BCV-19-100825]

STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 

Pre-Trial Conference: December 14, 2020

Trial Date: February 9, 2021

1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS

Disclosure and discovery activity in this action are likely to involve production of 

confidential, proprietary, or private information for which special protection from public disclosure 

and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, 

the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the court to enter the following Stipulated Protective 

Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all 

disclosures or responses to discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use 

extends only to the limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the 

applicable legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3, below, that 

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STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER

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this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under seal; 

Eastern District of California Local Rule 141 sets forth the procedures that must be followed and the 

standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court to file material under 

seal.

2. DEFINITIONS

2.1 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of 

information or items under this Order.

2.2 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of how it is 

generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection under Federal Rule of 

Civil Procedure 26(c).

2.3 Counsel (without qualifier): Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well 

as their support staff).

2.4 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or items that it 

produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as “CONFIDENTIAL.”

2.5 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of the medium 

or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, among other things, testimony, 

transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or generated in disclosures or responses to 

discovery in this matter.

2.6 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter pertinent to 

the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an expert witness or as a 

consultant in this action.

2.7 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this action. House 

Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside counsel.

2.8 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal 

entity not named as a Party to this action.

2.9 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party to this action 

but are retained to represent or advise a party to this action and have appeared in this action on 

behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm which has appeared on behalf of that party.

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2.10 Party: any party to this action, including all of its officers, directors, employees, 

consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their support staffs).

2.11 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or Discovery 

Material in this action.

2.12 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support services 

(e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or demonstrations, and organizing, 

storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) and their employees and subcontractors.

2.13 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated as 

“CONFIDENTIAL.”

2.14 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material from a 

Producing Party.

3. SCOPE

The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected Material (as 

defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from Protected Material; (2) all 

copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, 

conversations, or presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 

However, the protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order do not cover the following 

information: (a) any information that is in the public domain at the time of disclosure to a Receiving 

Party or becomes part of the public domain after its disclosure to a Receiving Party as a result of 

publication not involving a violation of this Order, including becoming part of the public record 

through trial or otherwise; and (b) any information known to the Receiving Party prior to the 

disclosure or obtained by the Receiving Party after the disclosure from a source who obtained the 

information lawfully and under no obligation of confidentiality to the Designating Party. Any use of 

Protected Material at trial shall be governed by a separate agreement or order.

4. DURATION

Even after final disposition of this litigation, the confidentiality obligations imposed by this 

Order shall remain in effect until a Designating Party agrees otherwise in writing or a court order 

otherwise directs. Final disposition shall be deemed to be the later of (1) dismissal of all claims and 

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defenses in this action, with or without prejudice; and (2) final judgment herein after the completion 

and exhaustion of all appeals, rehearings, remands, trials, or reviews of this action, including the 

time limits for filing any motions or applications for extension of time pursuant to applicable law.

5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL

5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. Each Party or 

Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under this Order must take care to 

limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies under the appropriate standards. The 

Designating Party must designate for protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or 

oral or written communications that qualify – so that other portions of the material, documents, 

items, or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within 

the ambit of this Order.

Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations that are shown 

to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily 

encumber or retard the case development process or to impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on 

other parties) expose the Designating Party to sanctions.

If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it designated for 

protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must promptly notify all other Parties 

that it is withdrawing the mistaken designation.

5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this Order 

(see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, 

Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so 

designated before the material is disclosed or produced.

Designation in conformity with this Order requires:

(a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic documents, but 

excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), that the Producing Party 

affix the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” to each page that contains protected material. If only a portion 

or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must clearly 

identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins).

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A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents or materials available for inspection need not 

designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated which material it would 

like copied and produced. During the inspection and before the designation, all of the material made 

available for inspection shall be deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has 

identified the documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine which 

documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, before producing the 

specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the “CONFIDENTIAL” legend to each page 

that contains Protected Material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for 

protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making 

appropriate markings in the margins).

(b) for testimony given in deposition or in other pretrial or trial proceedings, that the 

Designating Party identify on the record, before the close of the deposition, hearing, or other 

proceeding, all protected testimony. 

(c) for information produced in some form other than documentary and for any other 

tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the exterior of the container or 

containers in which the information or item is stored the legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a 

portion or portions of the information or item warrant protection, the Producing Party, to the extent 

practicable, shall identify the protected portion(s).

5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent failure to 

designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the Designating Party’s 

right to secure protection under this Order for such material. Upon timely correction of a 

designation, the Receiving Party must make reasonable efforts to assure that the material is treated in 

accordance with the provisions of this Order.

6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS

If a Receiving Party believes in good faith that any information is improperly designated 

under this Order, it may, at any time, contest such designation by sending written notice to the 

Producing Party. The Producing Party shall then have a reasonable time not to exceed 30 days 

(unless otherwise agreed to by the Parties) to review the designated material and to inform the 

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challenging Party in writing of its decision to change the designation or to explain its basis for 

declining to change the designation. If, at that point, the Challenging Party still contends that the 

information is improperly designated, that Party may seek Court intervention to address the dispute, 

including requesting an Informal Telephonic Conference. Until a dispute over the asserted 

designation is finally resolved by the Parties or the Court, all Parties and persons shall treat the 

information or materials in question as designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.”

7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL

7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is disclosed or 

produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this case only for prosecuting, 

defending, or attempting to settle this litigation. Such Protected Material may be disclosed only to 

the categories of persons and under the conditions described in this Order. When the litigation has 

been terminated, a Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 13 below (FINAL 

DISPOSITION).

Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a location and in a 

secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons authorized under this Order.

7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless otherwise ordered 

by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a Receiving Party may disclose any 

information or item designated “CONFIDENTIAL” only to:

(a) Outside Counsel of Record in this Action (including other attorneys at the same law 

firm as counsel of record in this Action) and Outside Counsel of Record’s support staff, legal 

assistants, and clerical personnel necessary to assist such counsel in preparation and trial of this 

Action;

(b) The Court and its personnel;

(c) Officer, directors, and employees of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is 

reasonably necessary for this litigation;

(d) House Counsel of the Receiving Party, together with their paralegals, assistants, 

and staff, provided that each such person is involved in the prosecution or defense of this Action 

and has a need to know such information;

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(e) Experts (as defined in this Order) retained by a party or its representative attorneys in 

connection with this Action, provided the persons shall agree in writing in the form attached hereto 

as Exhibit A, “Acknowledgement and Agreement to Be Bound.”

(f) During the depositions or at trial, witnesses in the Action to whom disclosure is 

reasonably necessary and who have signed the form attached hereto as Exhibit A, 

“Acknowledgement and Agreement to Be Bound,” unless otherwise agreed by the Designating Party 

or ordered by the Court. Pages of transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that 

reveal Protected Material must be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to 

anyone except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order.

(g) Non-litigation support services, including outside copying services, court reporting 

services, court reporters, and data storage or retrieval services, translating services, demonstrative 

exhibit services, videographers, professional jury or trial consultants, mock jury members, or any 

other expressly agreed upon the parties as may be reasonably necessary in connection with the 

preparation or conduct of this Action, provided the persons shall agree in writing in the form 

attached hereto as Exhibit A.

(h) The author or recipient of a document containing the information or a custodian or 

other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information.

8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED IN OTHER 

LITIGATION 

If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation that compels 

disclosure of any information or items designated in this action as “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party 

must: 

(a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall include a 

copy of the subpoena or court order; 

(b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to issue in the 

other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or order is subject to this 

Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and 

/ / /

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(c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by the 

Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected.

If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with the subpoena 

or court order shall not produce any information designated in this action as “CONFIDENTIAL”

before a determination by the court from which the subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has 

obtained the Designating Party’s permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and 

expense of seeking protection in that court of its confidential material – and nothing in these 

provisions should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this action to 

disobey a lawful directive from another court.

9. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE PRODUCED IN 

THIS LITIGATION

(a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non-Party in this 

action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information produced by Non-Parties in 

connection with this litigation is protected by the remedies and relief provided by this Order. 

Nothing in these provisions should be construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional 

protections. 

(b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to produce a NonParty’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is subject to an agreement with the 

Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s confidential information, then the Party shall: 

(1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party that some or 

all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement with a Non-Party;

(2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated Protective Order in 

this litigation, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably specific description of the 

information requested; and 

(3) make the information requested available for inspection by the Non-Party. 

(c) If the Non-Party fails to object or seek a protective order from this court within 14 

days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may produce the 

Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery request. If the Non-Party timely 

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seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall not produce any information in its possession or 

control that is subject to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by 

the court. Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and expense of 

seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material.

10. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL

If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed Protected 

Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this Stipulated Protective Order, 

the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized 

disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) 

inform the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this 

Order, and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to 

Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A.

11. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE PROTECTED 

MATERIAL

When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain inadvertently produced 

material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, the obligations of the Receiving Parties 

are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to 

modify whatever procedure may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production 

without prior privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the 

parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or information covered by 

the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the parties may incorporate their agreement 

in the stipulated protective order submitted to the court.

12. MISCELLANEOUS

12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any person to seek 

its modification by the court in the future.

12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this Protective Order 

no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to disclosing or producing any 

information or item on any ground not addressed in this Stipulated Protective Order. Similarly, no 

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Party waives any right to object on any ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by 

this Protective Order.

12.3 Filing Protected Material. Without written permission from the Designating Party or 

a court order secured after appropriate notice to all interested persons, a Party may not file in the 

public record in this action any Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any 

Protected Material must comply with Eastern District of California Local Rule 141. Protected 

Material may only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific 

Protected Material at issue. 

13. FINAL DISPOSITION

Within 60 days after the final disposition of this action, as defined in paragraph 4, the 

undersigned Parties shall either (1) promptly return to counsel for each Designating Party all 

Confidential Materials and all copies thereof (except that counsel for each Party may maintain an 

archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, legal 

memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, and 

consultant and expert work product, even if such materials contain Protected Material); (2) agree 

with counsel for the Designating Party upon appropriate methods and certification of destruction or 

other disposition of such Confidential Materials; or (3) as to any Documents, Testimony or other 

Information not addressed by (1) and (2), file a motion seeking a Court order regarding proper

preservation of such Materials. Any party that is unable to comply with (1) or (2) because of law, 

statute, or regulation, will maintain Confidential Materials in its files, in continuing compliance with 

the terms of this Stipulation and Protective Order until such time that the Party is permitted to 

/ / /

/ / /

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destroy the Confidential Materials, under the applicable law, statute, or regulation. To the extent 

permitted by law the Court shall retain continuing jurisdiction to review and rule upon the motion 

referred to in sub-paragraph (3) herein.

IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD.

DATED: February 28, 2020 /s/ Jessie J. Thaler

Jesse J. Thaler

THALER LAW

Attorney for Plaintiff RP GOLDEN STATE, LLC 

DBA GARDEN SUITES INN

DATED: February 28, 2020 /s/ Brett C. Safford

Susan Koehler Sullivan

Brett C. Safford

Attorneys for Defendant OHIO SECURITY 

INSURANCE COMPANY

SIGNATURE ATTESTATION

I hereby attest that all signatories listed above, on whose behalf this stipulation is 

submitted, concur in the filing’s content and have authorized the filing.

DATED: February 28, 2020 CLYDE & CO US LLP

By: /s/ Brett C. Safford

SUSAN KOEHLER SULLIVAN

GRETCHEN S. CARNER

Attorneys for Defendant

OHIO SECURITY INSURANCE COMPANY

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IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: March 2, 2020 /s/ Jennifer L. Thurston 

UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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EXHIBIT A

ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND

I, _____________________________ [print or type full name], of _________________ 

[print or type full address], declare under penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and 

understand the Stipulated Protective Order that was issued by the United States District Court for the 

Eastern District of California on [date] in the case of RP Golden State Management, LLC DBA 

Garden Suites Inn v. Ohio Security Insurance Company, Case No. 1:19-cv-00600-DAD-JLT. I agree 

to comply with and to be bound by all the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order and I understand 

and acknowledge that failure to so comply could expose me to sanctions and punishment in the 

nature of contempt. I solemnly promise that I will not disclose in any manner any information or 

item that is subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict 

compliance with the provisions of this Order.

I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the Eastern 

District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order, even 

if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of this action.

I hereby appoint __________________________ [print or type full name] of 

_______________________________________ [print or type full address and telephone number] as 

my California agent for service of process in connection with this action or any proceedings related 

to enforcement of this Stipulated Protective Order.

Date: ______________________________________

City and State where sworn and signed: _________________________________

Printed name: _______________________________

Signature: __________________________________

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