Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-casd-3_15-cv-02139/USCOURTS-casd-3_15-cv-02139-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 890
Nature of Suit: Other Statutory Actions
Cause of Action: 15:1692 Fair Debt Collection Act

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15cv2139 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 

FELIKS SARKISYAN, 

Plaintiff, 

vs. 

SYNCHRONY BANK, and 

EQUIFAX INFORMATION SERVICES, 

LLC, 

Defendants. 

Case No. 3:15-cv-02139-WQH-JMA

ORDER GRANTING JOINT MOTION 

FOR ENTRY OF PROTECTIVE 

ORDER [ECF NO. 38] 

FAC Filed: December 14, 2015 

Hon. William Q. Hayes 

Mag. Judge Jan M. Adler 

 

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15cv2139 

ORDER 

Pursuant to the parties’ Joint Motion for Entry of Protective Order, and 

good cause appearing, it is hereby ordered that: 

The Stipulated Protective Order agreed to by the Parties, and attached 

hereto, be ordered effective by the Court. 

IT IS SO ORDERED. 

Dated: July 15, 2016

 

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15cv2139 

STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 

Pursuant to Rule 26(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Plaintiff, 

Feliks Sarkisyan and Defendant, Synchrony Bank, by undersigned counsel, 

hereby jointly agree and stipulate to the following provisions with respect to all 

Parties' confidential documents and information in the above-captioned 

litigation: 

DEFINITIONS 

A. “Plaintiff” means Feliks Sarkisyan, and any of Plaintiff’s 

agents, employees, or her representatives acting on Plaintiff’s behalf in this 

lawsuit. 

B. "Synchrony" means Defendant, Synchrony, and/or any agents, 

employees or representatives acting on Synchrony’s behalf. 

C. “Party” or "Parties" means Plaintiff, Feliks Sarkisyan and 

Defendant, Synchrony, collectively. 

CONFIDENTIALITY PROVISIONS

1. This Stipulated Protective Order shall be applicable to and govern 

all depositions, documents produced in response to requests for 

production of documents, answers to interrogatories, responses to 

requests for admissions, responses to requests for inspection, and all other 

discovery taken in this matter pursuant to the Federal Rules of Civil 

Procedure, as well all documents produced by any party in response to 

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15cv2139 

informal discovery requests and computerized records which the disclosing 

party designates as "Protected Material" hereafter furnished, directly or 

indirectly, by or on behalf of any party in connection with this action. 

Protected Material shall be designated as follows: 

(i) Protected Material in the form of tangible property 

shall be designated by physically marking it with the label 

"Protected Material." If the tangible property is a document, each 

page as to which Protected Material status is claimed shall be so 

marked; 

(ii) Protected Material in the form of intangible property 

(e.g., electronic mail, electronic documents, electronic 

spreadsheets) shall be designated by including "Protected 

Material" in the file name and labeling the medium on which the 

files are delivered "Protected Material"; 

(iii) Protected Material in verbal form, such as testimony 

of a witness, shall be designated by contemporaneous verbal 

designation and by directing the reporter in accordance with 

paragraph 6(a) below. 

2. In designating any tangible, intangible, or verbal material as 

Protected Material, a party shall make such a designation of Protected 

Material only for such documents or materials which that party in good faith 

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15cv2139 

believes (i) contain trade secret or other confidential, competitive or 

proprietary business information, (ii) contain confidential personal or financial 

information, or (iii) contain other information which the party is otherwise 

required to keep confidential by agreement or law. 

3. The only categories of persons who may be given access to 

Protected Material, as defined herein, are court personnel and those who 

agree to be bound by the terms of this Protective Order and are also 

within one of the following categories: (a) legal counsel (and their support 

personnel) for the Parties; (b) the Parties, (c) any third-party experts (and their 

support personnel) retained by the Parties ("Third-Party Experts"), or (d) court 

reporters or videographers engaged for depositions. 

4. Before any Third-Party Experts or court reporters or 

videographers engaged for depositions may inspect, view or copy Protected 

Material produced or provided to them, each Third Party Expert, court 

reporter, or videographer must sign and provide to the disclosing party's 

counsel a copy of the ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE 

BOUND attached as Exhibit “A” to this Protective Order. Copies of any 

Protected Material shall be provided to Third-Party Experts, court reporters 

or videographers with the "Protective Material" designation duplicated. 

5. Third-Party Experts shall use Protected Material inspected, 

viewed or copied by them only for purposes of preparation, prosecution, trial 

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or settlement of this action, and shall use Protected Material for no other 

purpose, nor shall they disclose such Protected Material to any person not 

encompassed by paragraph 3 above. 

6. Whenever a deposition involves a disclosure of Protected 

Material, the following procedures shall be implemented: 

(a) The reporter shall mark those pages of the transcript 

containing Protected Material. The cover of any deposition 

transcript that contains Protected Material shall be prominently 

marked with the legend: "PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBJECT TO 

PROTECTIVE ORDER." Dissemination of any deposition 

transcript portions so designated or the content thereof shall be 

limited to the persons given access in accordance with paragraph 

3. The disclosing party shall be responsible for directing the 

reporter to perform the tasks set forth in this subparagraph. 

(b) No one other than persons given access in 

accordance with paragraph 3 of this Protective Order may review 

the portions of a deposition transcript that have been marked as 

containing Protected Material. If any Protected Material is shown 

or discussed at a deposition, any person other than persons given 

access in accordance with paragraph 3 of this Protective Order 

(and the court reporter and witness) must leave the deposition. 

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Such person(s) may return to the deposition immediately after the 

discussion relating to the Protected Material ceases. The 

disclosing party shall be responsible for requesting deposition 

attendees to leave the room and advising when they may return to 

the room, as set forth in this subparagraph. 

7. Protected Material may be included with, or disclosed in, 

pleadings, motions, deposition transcripts or other papers filed with the Court, 

and at trial or at any other proceeding, as long as the party having 

disclosed and/or designated the Protected Material is given reasonable 

notice and an opportunity to object. If there is an objection, the disclosing 

party’s counsel shall meet and confer in good faith to attempt to resolve the 

differences and decide on an appropriate course of action with regard to the 

disclosure of the Protected Material. If counsel cannot resolve their 

differences, a motion may be filed with the Court seeking further protection. 

8. Each person covered by this Protective Order shall take 

reasonable precaution to prevent disclosure of Protected Material, including 

but not limited to physically securing, safeguarding and restricting access to 

the Protected Material. The confidentiality of information learned pursuant to 

this Protective Order shall be maintained in perpetuity, subject to revision at 

any time by the Court and cessation of protection when the information 

becomes public knowledge through means other than violation of this 

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Protective Order. 

9. If the disclosing party inadvertently discloses any document or 

thing containing information that it deems confidential without designating it as 

Protected Material, the disclosing party shall inform opposing counsel in 

writing within seven days of discovery of such inadvertent disclosure, and 

the information shall thereafter be treated as Protected Material under the 

Protective Order. To the extent such information may have been disclosed to 

persons other than persons given access in accordance with paragraph 3 of 

this Protective Order, reasonable efforts to retrieve the information 

promptly from such person(s) and to avoid any further disclosure to the 

non-authorized person(s) shall be made. 

10. If the receiving party or parties determines that attorney-client 

privileged, work product protected, or other privileged material has been 

inadvertently produced, that party or parties shall notify the disclosing party in 

writing with seven days of discovery of such inadvertent production. The 

receiving party or parties shall provide the disclosing party with an opportunity 

to designate the material produced as Protected Material, as attorney-client 

privileged, as work product protected, and/or as otherwise privileged, and to 

ask for return of the material inadvertently disclosed. Any party or parties 

receiving any of the above identified privileged material as a result of an 

inadvertent production shall not seek to use, admit, benefit, rely on, or 

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otherwise take advantage of the information contained therein. 

11. Nothing in this Protective Order shall be deemed to expand 

the scope of discovery. Nothing in this Protective Order shall be deemed to 

preclude any party or parties from seeking and obtaining, on an 

appropriate showing, additional protection with respect to the 

confidentiality of documents or other discovery material or relief from this 

Protective Order, with respect to particular designated material. 

12. The Parties may agree in writing to modifications to the 

disclosure of Protected Material permitted or covered by this Protective Order. 

Such modification(s) shall be incorporated in a written consent order and 

submitted to the Court. 

13. If any of the parties object to the designation of documents or 

materials as Protected Material, their counsel shall inform opposing counsel of 

their position in writing. Thereafter, counsel shall meet and confer in good faith 

to attempt to resolve their differences. If counsel cannot resolve their 

differences, a motion may be filed with the Court seeking to re-designate the 

documents or materials at issue. 

14. If any entity subpoenas or orders production of Protected Material 

that a party or parties have obtained subject to this order, the party or parties 

subpoenaed or ordered shall promptly notify opposing counsel of the 

pendency of the subpoena or order and shall not produce the information until 

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opposing counsel shall have reasonable time (which shall be no less than 10 

business days) to object or take other appropriate steps to protect the 

information. 

15. If any party or parties subpoenas documents from a third party for 

purposes of this litigation, that party or parties shall notify opposing counsel of 

the issuance of the subpoena at least 10 business days prior to the receipt of 

any documents pursuant to that subpoena in order to allow opposing counsel 

to designate any responsive material as Protected Material or otherwise object 

to the production. 

16. Nothing in this Protective Order shall restrict the use or disclosure 

by Plaintiff or Defendant of their own documents or information, including but 

not limited to deposition testimony of employees or experts. 

17. This Protective Order shall survive the final termination of the 

action (including all appeals). 

18. Within thirty (30) days of the date of final disposition or resolution 

of this litigation, including all appeals, counsel for the receiving party or 

parties and any other authorized persons holding Protected Material shall 

return to counsel for the disclosing party, or certify the destruction of, all 

such Protected Material previously furnished by the disclosing party, including 

all copies, extracts, and summaries made from or containing Protected 

Material, which the exception of such copies which have been filed with the 

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Court. Notwithstanding the provisions of this paragraph, counsel for any party 

shall be entitled to retain all pleadings, motion papers, legal memoranda, 

correspondence, and work product. 

19. Subject to public policy, and further court order, nothing shall be 

filed under seal, and the Court shall not be required to take any action, without 

separate prior order by the Judge before whom the hearing or proceeding will 

take place, after application by the affected party with appropriate notice to 

opposing counsel. 

If the Court grants a party permission to file an item under seal, a 

duplicate disclosing all nonconfidential information, if any, shall be filed and 

made part of the public record. The item may be redacted to eliminate 

confidential material from the document. The document shall be titled to show 

that it corresponds to an item filed under seal, e.g., "Redacted Copy of Sealed 

Declaration of John Smith in Support of Motion for Summary Judgment." The 

sealed and redacted documents shall be filed simultaneously. 

 

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15cv2139 

EXHIBIT A 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 

I, ________________________ [Name – Print or Type], have been given and 

read a copy of the Protective Order, dated _________________, in this case. 

I understand and will strictly adhere to the contents of said order. I 

understand that produced material disclosed to me is subject to the order of 

this Court and that I am prohibited from copying, disclosing or otherwise using 

such material except as provided by said court order. I understand that 

unauthorized disclosure of the stamped confidential documents may constitute 

contempt of court and agree to be subject to personal jurisdiction of this Court 

for the purpose of enforcing my obligations under this Agreement, the order, 

and any contempt proceeding that may be instituted for alleged violation 

thereto. I understand also that my execution of this Agreement to Maintain 

Confidentiality, indicating my agreement to be bound by said order, is a 

prerequisite to my review of any produced document and materials. 

 

 _______________________________________ 

 [Name] 

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