Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-5_18-cv-01911/USCOURTS-cand-5_18-cv-01911-1/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 440
Nature of Suit: Other Civil Rights
Cause of Action: 28:1331 Fed. Question

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 5819766.2 5:18-CV-01911-EJD

ORDER RE: DISCOVERY PLAN 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, SAN JOSE DIVISION 

KAREN MOU, ANITA WILLIS, on behalf of 

themselves and those similarly situated, 

Plaintiffs, 

vs. 

SSC SAN JOSE OPERATING COMPANY 

LP, SSC PITTSBURG OPERATING 

COMPANY LP, SSC OAKLAND EXCELL 

OPERATING COMPANY LP, SSC 

NEWPORT BEACH OPERATING 

COMPANY LP, SSC CARMICHAEL 

OPERATING COMPANY LP, SSC 

TARZANA OPERATING COMPANY LP, 

SAVASENIORCARE LLC, SAVASENIOR 

CARE ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES, 

LLC, SAVASENIORCARE CONSULTING, 

LLC, SSC DISBURSEMENT COMPANY, 

LLC and DOES 1-10, 

 Defendants. 

 Case No. 5:18-cv-01911-EJD (NC) 

CLASS ACTION 

ORDER RE: DISCOVERY PLAN AND 

RESOLVING DISCOVERY DISPUTE

Judge: Hon. Nathanael M. Cousins

Case 5:18-cv-01911-EJD Document 80 Filed 09/11/19 Page 1 of 6
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 5819766.2 5:18-CV-01911-EJD

ORDER RE: DISCOVERY PLAN 

ORDER 

1. PURPOSE 

This Order resolves a discovery dispute (ECF 71, 73) with dueling proposed orders (ECF 

75, 76) for an ESI discovery plan in this case. The Court held a hearing on the dispute on 

September 11. This Order is derived from the proposed order filed by defendants. It is guided by 

the need for an ESI discovery plan to guide the parties justly and efficiently through the discovery 

process, with discovery of information proportional to the needs of the case under Fed. R. Civ. P. 

26. The Court set a further discovery hearing for October 30, 2019, at 1:00 p.m. to follow up on 

the implementation of this plan. No costs or fees are awarded. 

2. COOPERATION 

The parties must be mindful of the importance the Court places on cooperation and commit 

to cooperate in good faith throughout the matter. With respect to ESI, cooperation must be 

consistent with this Court’s Guidelines for the Discovery of ESI. 

3. LIAISONS 

The parties have previously identified and consulted with liaisons (e.g., in-house counsel, 

members of Defendants’ information technology systems executive team, and third party ediscovery vendors) who are and will be knowledgeable about and responsible for discussing their 

respective ESI. The parties’ e-discovery liaisons must be, or have access to those who are, 

knowledgeable about the technical aspects of e-discovery, including the location, nature, 

accessibility, format, collection, search methodologies, and production of ESI in this matter. The 

parties must rely on the liaisons, as needed, to confer about ESI and to help resolve disputes 

without court intervention. 

4. PRESERVATION 

The Court finds that the preservation obligations described below are reasonable and 

proportionate to the needs of this matter. To reduce the costs and burdens of preservation and to 

ensure proper ESI is preserved, the Court orders: 

1.1. ESI created or received after February 20, 2014, through June 6, 2018 will 

be preserved; 

Case 5:18-cv-01911-EJD Document 80 Filed 09/11/19 Page 2 of 6
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5819766.2 2 5:18-CV-01911-EJD

ORDER RE: DISCOVERY PLAN 

1.2. Defendants will preserve ESI for the following custodians: 

 Remedios Tibayan, Administrator 

 Corazon Obillo, Administrator 

 Antonio Moya, Administrator 

 Teodora Chua, Director of Nursing 

 Glenda Cabrera, Director of Nursing 

 Zenaida Francisco, Director of Nursing 

 Agnes Romito, Social Services Manager 

 Mary Ruvalcaba, District Director of Clinical 

 Lisa Favre - Manager, Policy & Procedure Development 

 Wynn Sims, Vice President and Secretary 

 Michael Ruback, District Director of Operations 

 Wayne Sanner, former President 

 Michael Oxford, SVP Operations 

1.3. The parties shall add or remove custodians as reasonably necessary, after 

conferring in accordance with Sections (2) and (3), set forth above. 

5. SEARCH 

The search parameters for this initial phase of discovery, which this Court finds meet the 

immediate needs of this matter, are set forth in Section (7), below. With respect to subsequent 

searches, if any are warranted, the parties must meet and confer about methods to search ESI in 

order to identify ESI that is subject to production in discovery and filter out ESI that is not subject 

to discovery. Plaintiffs, for example, have proposed additional search terms in their proposed 

order, ECF 76. The Court has not ordered these terms to be searched at this time, but the parties 

must continue to confer with each other as the discovery process unfolds. 

6. PRODUCTION FORMATS 

The parties will produce documents in standardized TIFF Concordance load files and PDF 

format otherwise. If particular documents warrant a different format, the parties will cooperate to 

arrange for the mutually acceptable production of such documents. The parties must not degrade 

Case 5:18-cv-01911-EJD Document 80 Filed 09/11/19 Page 3 of 6
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5819766.2 3 5:18-CV-01911-EJD

ORDER RE: DISCOVERY PLAN 

the searchability of documents as part of the document production process. 

7. PHASING 

In accordance with this Court’s Guidelines for the Discovery of ESI, the Court finds that 

the initial phase of discovery described below is reasonably aimed at producing information from 

sources most likely to contain relevant information, while postponing or avoiding discovery from 

sources less likely to contain relevant and discoverable information. See ESI Discovery 

Guidelines, Guideline 2.02(d). Further, the Court finds that, to the extent additional discovery is 

warranted, the parties should utilize this initial production as a sample for assessing how to 

structure further discovery (e.g., revised search terms, additional custodians, additional sources of 

information, etc.). See ESI Discovery Guidelines, Guideline 2.02(f). 

With respect to email discovery, Defendants will run the following search terms, which are 

narrowly tailored to subject matter of Plaintiff’s lawsuit: 

 "facility initiated" 

 "Last covered day" 

 "Mrs. Mou" 

 "Ms. Mou" 

 "plan of correction” w/20 “discharge" 

 "POC" w/20 discharge 

 "resident initiated" 

 Chin-Li w/10 Mou 

 Discharge 

 Karen w/10 Mou 

These search terms will be run against the following facility level custodians, who may 

have been involved in any communications about discharge decisions at the facility, including 

communications about Plaintiff’s discharge and communications with other corporate defendants 

about all discharges from the facility: 

 Remedios Tibayan, Administrator 

 Corazon Obillo, Administrator 

Case 5:18-cv-01911-EJD Document 80 Filed 09/11/19 Page 4 of 6
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5819766.2 4 5:18-CV-01911-EJD

ORDER RE: DISCOVERY PLAN 

 Antonio Moya, Administrator 

 Teodora Chua, Director of Nursing 

 Glenda Cabrera, Director of Nursing 

 Zenaida Francisco, Director of Nursing 

 Agnes Romito, Social Services Manager 

These search terms hit on 2,221 documents, which must thereafter be reviewed for 

relevance and privilege and produced by Friday, September 13, 2019. Following the initial 

production, Plaintiff’s must thereafter review and assess the documents and confer with 

Defendants as to what additional searches are warranted, if any. The parties must continue to 

prioritize the order of subsequent productions in a reasonable manner. 

With respect to other document productions (i.e., outside of email databases), Defendants 

must produce the following documents by Friday, September 27, 2019: 

 Subleases for SSC Newport Beach Operating Company LP and SSC Carmichael 

Operating Company LP 

 Back Office Services Agreement for SSC Newport Beach Operating Company LP 

and SSC Carmichael Operating Company LP 

 Consulting Services Agreement for SSC Newport Beach Operating Company LP 

and SSC Carmichael Operating Company LP 

 SSC San Jose Operating Company LP (“Courtyard”) discharge notices held on site 

Following the initial production, Plaintiff’s must thereafter review and assess the 

documents and confer with Defendants as to what additional searches are warranted, if any. The 

parties must continue to prioritize the order of subsequent productions in a reasonable manner. 

The parties are encouraged to utilize depositions under Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(b)(6) to facilitate 

efficient discovery. 

8. DOCUMENTS PROTECTED FROM DISCOVERY 

Pursuant to Fed. R. Evid. 502(d), the production of a privileged or work-product-protected 

document, whether inadvertent or otherwise, is not a waiver of privilege or protection from 

discovery in this case or in any other federal or state proceeding. For example, the mere 

Case 5:18-cv-01911-EJD Document 80 Filed 09/11/19 Page 5 of 6
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5819766.2 5 5:18-CV-01911-EJD

ORDER RE: DISCOVERY PLAN 

production of privileged or work-product-protected documents in this case as part of a mass 

production is not itself a waiver in this case or in any other federal or state proceeding. 

Communications involving trial counsel that post-date the filing of the complaint need not be 

placed on a privilege log. 

9. MODIFICATION 

This Order may be modified by further Court Order for good cause shown. A discovery 

status hearing is set October 30, 2019, at 1:00 p.m., in San Jose courtroom 5. 

IT IS SO ORDERED. 

Dated: September 11, 2019 ______________________________________ 

 HON. NATHANAEL M. COUSINS 

 Judge of the Northern District of California 

Case 5:18-cv-01911-EJD Document 80 Filed 09/11/19 Page 6 of 6