Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-4_09-cv-02809/USCOURTS-cand-4_09-cv-02809-2/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 480
Nature of Suit: Consumer Credit
Cause of Action: 15:1692 Fair Debt Collection Act

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Fred W. Schwinn (SBN 225575)

CONSUMER LAW CENTER, INC.

12 South First Street, Suite 1014

San Jose, California 95113-2418

Telephone Number: (408) 294-6100

Facsimile Number: (408) 294-6190

Email Address: fred.schwinn@sjconsumerlaw.com

O. Randolph Bragg (IL Bar No. 6221983)

Craig M. Shapiro (IL Bar No. 6284475)

HORWITZ, HORWITZ & ASSOCIATES, LTD.

25 East Washington Street, Suite 900

Chicago, Illinois 60602-1716

Telephone Number: (312) 372-8822

Facsimile Number: (312) 372-1673

Email Address: rand@horwitzlaw.com

Attorneys for Plaintiff

TERESA ANN LUXFORD

and CARLOS H. PEREZ

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

SAN JOSE DIVISION

TERESA ANN LUXFORD and CARLOS

H. PEREZ, on behalf of themselves and all

others similarly situated,

Plaintiffs,

v.

RESURGENT CAPITAL SERVICES, LP,

a Delaware limited partnership, ALEGIS

GROUP, LLC, a Delaware limited liability

company, and LVNV FUNDING, LLC, a

Delaware limited liability company,

 Defendants.

Case No. C09-02809-JF-HRL

STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER

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 would be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby

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STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER Case No. C09-02809-JF-HRL

** E-filed March 24, 2010 **

Case 4:09-cv-02809-PJH Document 25 Filed 03/24/10 Page 1 of 13
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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 extends only to the limited information or items that are

entitled under the applicable legal principles to treatment as confidential. The parties further

acknowledge, as set forth in Section 10, below, that this Stipulated Protective Order creates no

entitlement to file confidential information under seal; the Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets forth the

procedures that must be followed and reflect the standards that will be applied when a party seeks

permission from the Court to file material under seal.

2. DEFINITIONS

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

consultants, retained experts, and outside counsel (and their support staff).

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

medium or manner generated, stored, or maintained (including, among other things, testimony,

transcripts, or tangible things) that are produced or generated in disclosures or response to discovery in

this matter.

2.3 “Confidential” Information or Items: information (regardless of how generated

stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection under standards developed under the

Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c).

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

Producing Party.

2.5 Producing Party: a Party or non-party that produces Disclosure or Discovery

Material in this action.

2.6 Designating Party: a Party or non-party that designates information or items that

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STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER Case No. C09-02809-JF-HRL

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it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as “Confidential.”

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

“Confidential.”

2.8 Outside Counsel: attorneys who are not employees of a Party but who are

retained to represent or advise a Party in this action.

2.9 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a Party.

2.10 Counsel (without qualifier): Outside Counsel and House Counsel (as well as their

support staffs).

2.11 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 and who is not a past or a current employee of a Party or of a competitor of a

Party’s and who, at the time of retention, is not anticipated to become an employee of a Party or a

competitor of a Party’s. This definition includes a professional jury or trial consultant retained in

connection with this litigation.

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

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

retrieving data in any form or medium; etc.) and their employees and subcontractors.

3. SCOPE

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

defined above), but also any information copied or extracted therefrom, as well as all copies, excerpts,

summaries, or compilations thereof, plus testimony, conversations, or presentations by parties or

counsel to or in court or in other settings that might reveal Protected Material.

/ / /

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4. DURATION

Even after the termination 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.

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. A

Designating Party must take care to 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 Party’s or a non-party’s attention that information or items that it designated for

protection do not qualify for protection at all, or do not qualify for the level of protection initially

asserted, that Party or non-party must promptly notify all other parties that it is withdrawing the

mistaken designation.

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

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

material that qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so designated before the material

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is disclosed or produced.

Designation in conformity with this Order requires:

(a) for information in documentary form (apart from transcripts of depositions or

other pretrial or trial proceedings), that the Producing Party affix the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” at the

top of 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).

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 appropriate legend (“CONFIDENTIAL”) at

the top of 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 Party or non-part offering or sponsoring the testimony identify on the record, before the close of the

deposition, hearing, or other proceedings, all protected testimony, and further specify any portions of

the testimony that qualify as “CONFIDENTIAL.” When it is impractical to identify separately each

portion of testimony that is entitled to protection, and when it appears that substantial portions of the

testimony may qualify for protection, the Party or non-party that sponsors, offers, or gives the

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testimony may invoke on the record (before the deposition or proceeding is concluded) a right to have

up to 20 days to identify the specific portions of the testimony as to which protection is sought. Only

those portions of the testimony that are appropriately designated for protection within the 20 days shall

be covered by the provisions of this Stipulated Protective Order.

Transcript pages containing Protected Material must be separately bound by the

court reporter, who must affix to the top of each such page the legend “CONFIDENTIAL,” as

instructed by the Party or non-party offering or sponsoring the witness or presenting the 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

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

shall identify the protected portions.

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

designate qualified information or items as “CONFIDENTIAL” does not, standing alone, waive the

Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material. If material is

appropriately designated as “CONFIDENTIAL” after the material was initially produced, the Receiving

Party, on timely notification of the designation, must make reasonable efforts to assure that the material

is treated in accordance with the provisions of this Order.

6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS

6.1 Timing of Challenges. Unless a prompt challenge to a Designating Party’s

confidentiality designation is necessary to avoid foreseeable substantial unfairness, unnecessary

economic burdens, or a late significant disruption or delay of the litigation, a Party does not waive its

right to challenge a confidentiality designation by electing not to mount a challenge promptly after the

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original designation is disclosed.

6.2 Meet and Confer. A Party that elects to initiate a challenge to a Designating

Party’s confidentiality designation must do so in good faith and must begin the process by conferring

with counsel for the Designating Party. In conferring, the challenging Party must explain the basis for

its belief that the confidentiality designation was not proper and must give the Designating Party an

opportunity to review the designated material, to reconsider the circumstances, and, if no change in

designation is offered, to explain the basis for the chosen designation. A challenging Party may

proceed to the next stage of the challenge process only if it has engaged in this meet and confer process

first.

6.3 Judicial Intervention. A Party that elects to press a challenge to a confidentiality

designation after considering the justification offered by the Designating Party may file and serve a

motion under the Civil Local Rule 7 (and in compliance with Civil Local Rule 79-5, if applicable) that

identifies the challenged material and sets forth in detail the basis for the challenge. Each such motion

must be accompanied by a competent declaration that affirms that the movant has complied with the

meet and confer requirements imposed in the preceding paragraph and that sets forth with specificity

the justification for the confidentiality designation that was given by the Designating Party in the meet

and confer dialogue.

The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the Designating

Party. Until the Court rules on the challenge, all parties shall continue to afford the material in question

the protection to which it is entitled under the Producing Party’s designation.

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,

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

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

terminated, a Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 11, 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) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of record in this action, as well as

employees of said Counsel to whom it is reasonably necessary to disclose the information for this

litigation and who have signed the “Agreement to Be Bound by Protective Order” that is attached

hereto as Exhibit A;

(b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of the

Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the

“Agreement to Be Bound by Protective Order” (Exhibit A);

(c) experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure

is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the “Agreement to Be Bound by

Protective Order” (Exhibit A);

(d) the Court and its personnel;

(e) court reporters, their staffs, and professional vendors to whom disclosure is

reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the “Agreement to Be Bound by Protective

Order” (Exhibit A);

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(f) during their depositions, witnesses in the action to whom disclosure is

reasonably necessary and who have signed the “Agreement to Be Bound by Protective Order” (Exhibit

A). 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) the author of the document or the original source of the information.

8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED IN OTHER

LITIGATION

If a Receiving Party is served with a subpoena or an order issued in other litigation that

would compel disclosure of any information or items designated in this action as “CONFIDENTIAL,”

the Receiving Party must so notify the Designating Party, in writing (by fax, if possible) immediately

and in no event more than three court days after receiving the subpoena or order. Such notification

must include a copy of the subpoena or court order.

The Receiving Party also must immediately inform in writing the Party who caused the

subpoena or order to issue in the other litigation that some or all the material covered by the subpoena

or order is the subject of this Protective Order. In addition, the Receiving Party must deliver a copy of

this Stipulated Protective Order promptly to the Party in the other action that caused the subpoena or

order to issue.

The purpose of imposing these duties is to alert the interested parties to the existence of

this Protective Order and to afford the Designating Party in this case an opportunity to try to protect its

confidentiality interests in the court from which the subpoena or order issued. The Designating Party

shall bear the burdens and the expenses 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

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this action to disobey a lawful directive from another court.

9. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTIVE 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 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.

10. FILING PROTECTED MATERIAL: Without written permission from the Designating

Party or 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 Civil Local Rule 79-5.

11. FINAL DISPOSITION: Unless otherwise ordered or agreed in writing by the Producing

Party, within sixty days after the final termination of the action, each Receiving Party must return all

Protected Material to the Producing Party. As used in this subdivision, “all Protected Material”

includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other form of reproducing or capturing

any of the Protected Material. With permission in writing from the Designating Party, the Receiving

Party may destroy some or all of the Protected Material instead of returning it. Whether the Protected

Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party must submit a written certification to the

Producing Party (and, if not the same person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the sixty day

deadline that identifies (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or

destroyed and that affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts, compilations,

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summaries or other forms of reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding

this provision, Counsel are entitled to retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers,

transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence or attorney work product, even if such material contain

Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or constitute Protected Material remain

subject to this Protective Order as set forth in Section 4 (DURATION), above.

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

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

Protective Order.

IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD.

Dated: March 17, 2010 CONSUMER LAW CENTER, INC.

By: /s/ Fred W. Schwinn 

Fred W. Schwinn, Esq.

Attorneys for Plaintiffs

Teresa Ann Luxford and

Carlos H. Perez

Dated: March 17, 2010 REED SMITH, LLP 

By: /s/ Jordan S. Yu 

Jordan S. Yu, Esq.

Attorneys for Defendants

Resurgent Capital Services, L.P., 

Alegis Group, LLC, and 

LVNV Funding, LLC

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PURSUANT TO STIPULATION, IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: 

The Honorable Jeremy Fogel

United States District Judge

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STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER Case No. C09-02809-JF-HRL

Howard R. Lloyd Magistrate Judge March 24, 2010

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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 understanding the Stipulation and Protective Order that was

issued by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on _____________

[date] in the case of Luxford, et al. v. Resurgent Capital Services, L.P., et al., Case No. C09-02809-JFRS. 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 Northern

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 relate to enforcement of this Stipulated Protective Order.

Date: 

City and State where sworn and signed: 

Printed Name: 

Signature: 

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