Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-casd-3_18-cv-02494/USCOURTS-casd-3_18-cv-02494-3/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 190
Nature of Suit: Other Contract Actions
Cause of Action: 28:1441ds Removal- Contract Dispute

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3:18-cv-02494-WQH-MSB

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Jason M. Leviton (pro hac vice)

Joel A. Fleming (CA Bar No. 281264)

Jacob A. Walker (CA Bar No. 271217)

Lauren Godles Milgroom (pro hac vice forthcoming)

Amanda R. Crawford (pro hac vice forthcoming)

BLOCK & LEVITON LLP

260 Franklin Street, Suite 1860

Boston, MA 02110

(t) (617) 398-5600 

(f) (617) 507-6020

jason@blockesq.com

joel@blockesq.com

jake@blockesq.com

lauren@blockesq.com

amanda@blockesq.com

Attorneys for Plaintiff MabVax Therapeutics Holdings, Inc.

[Additional counsel appear on signature page.]

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

MABVAX THERAPEUTICS HOLDINGS, INC.,

Plaintiff,

v.

SICHENZIA ROSS FERENCE LLP (F/K/A 

SICHENZIA ROSS FERENCE KESNER LLP;

F/K/A SICHENZIA ROSS FRIEDMAN FERENCE 

LLP) AND HARVEY KESNER,

Defendants.

Case No.: 3:18-cv-02494-WQH-MSB

STIPULATED PROTECTIVE 

ORDER GOVERNING 

CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION

The Court recognizes that at least some of the documents and information being 

sought through discovery in the above-captioned action are, for competitive reasons,

normally kept confidential by the parties. The parties have agreed to be bound by the terms 

of this Protective Order (“Order”) in this action.

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The materials to be exchanged throughout the course of the litigation between the 

parties may contain trade secret or other confidential research, technical, cost, price, 

marketing or other commercial information, as is contemplated by Federal Rule of Civil 

Procedure 26(c)(1)(G). The purpose of this Order is to protect the confidentiality of such 

materials as much as practical during the litigation. THEREFORE:

DEFINITIONS

1. The term “confidential information” will mean and include information 

contained or disclosed in any materials, including documents, portions of documents, 

answers to interrogatories, responses to requests for admissions, trial testimony, deposition 

testimony, and transcripts of trial testimony and depositions, including data, summaries, 

and compilations derived therefrom that is deemed to be confidential information by any 

party to which it belongs.

2. The term “counsel” will mean outside counsel of record, and other attorneys, 

paralegals, secretaries, and other support staff employed in the law firms identified below:

a. Block and Leviton LLP; 

b. Gordon Rees Scully & Mansukhani, LLP; and

c. Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP.

3. The term “expert” will mean 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.

4. The term “materials” will include, but is not be limited to: documents,

correspondence, memoranda, bulletins, blueprints, specifications, customer lists or other 

material that identify customers or potential customers, price lists or schedules or other 

matter identifying pricing, minutes, telegrams, letters, statements, cancelled checks,

contracts, invoices, drafts, books of account, worksheets, notes of conversations, desk 

diaries, appointment books, expense accounts, recordings, photographs, motion pictures,

compilations from which information can be obtained and translated into reasonably usable 

form through detection devices, sketches, drawings, notes (including laboratory notebooks 

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and records), reports, instructions, disclosures, other writings, models and prototypes and

other physical objects.

GENERAL RULES

5. Each party to this litigation that produces or discloses any materials, answers

to interrogatories, responses to requests for admission, trial testimony, deposition 

testimony, and transcripts of trial testimony and depositions, or information that the 

producing party believes should be subject to this Protective Order may designate the same 

as “CONFIDENTIAL”.”

a. Designation as “CONFIDENTIAL”: Any party may designate information as 

“CONFIDENTIAL” only if, in the good faith belief of such party and its counsel, the 

unrestricted disclosure of such information could be potentially prejudicial to the business 

or operations of such party.

6. In the event the producing party elects to produce materials for inspection, no 

marking need be made by the producing party in advance of the initial inspection. For 

purposes of the initial inspection, all materials produced will be considered as 

“CONFIDENTIAL,” and must be treated as such pursuant to the terms of this Order. 

Thereafter, upon selection of specified materials for copying by the inspecting party, the 

producing party must, within a reasonable time prior to producing those materials to the 

inspecting party, mark the copies of those materials that contain confidential information 

with the appropriate confidentiality marking.

7. Whenever a deposition taken on behalf of any party involves a disclosure of 

confidential information of any party:

a. the deposition or portions of the deposition must be designated as 

containing confidential information subject to the provisions of this 

Order; such designation must be made on the record whenever possible, 

but a party may designate portions of depositions as containing 

confidential information after transcription of the proceedings; A party 

will have until fourteen (14) days after receipt of the deposition 

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transcript to inform the other party or parties to the action of the 

portions of the transcript to be designated “CONFIDENTIAL”

b. the disclosing party will have the right to exclude from attendance at 

the deposition, during such time as the confidential information is to be 

disclosed, any person other than the deponent, counsel (including their 

staff and associates), the court reporter, and the person(s) agreed upon 

pursuant to paragraph 8 below; and 

c. the originals of the deposition transcripts and all copies of the 

deposition must bear the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” ,” as appropriate, 

and the original or any copy ultimately presented to a court for filing 

must not be filed unless it can be accomplished under seal, identified as 

being subject to this Order, and protected from being opened except by 

order of this Court.

8. All confidential information designated as “CONFIDENTIAL” must not be 

disclosed by the receiving party to anyone other than those persons designated within this 

Order and must be handled in the manner set forth below and, in any event, must not be 

used for any purpose other than in connection with this litigation, unless and until such 

designation is removed either by agreement of the parties, or by order of the Court.

9. Information designated “CONFIDENTIAL” must be viewed only by counsel 

(as defined in paragraph 2) of the receiving party, by experts, by court personnel, and by 

the additional individuals listed below, provided each such individual has read this Order 

in advance of disclosure and has agreed in writing to be bound by its terms:

a. Individual Parties or Executives of Parties to this action who are 

required to participate in policy decisions with reference to this action;

b. Employees and/or Technical personnel of the parties with whom 

Counsel for the parties find it necessary to consult, in the discretion of 

such counsel, in preparation for trial of this action; and

c. Stenographic and clerical employees associated with the individuals 

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identified above.

10. With respect to material designated “CONFIDENTIAL” any person indicated 

on the face of the document to be its originator, author or a recipient of a copy of the 

document, may be shown the same.

11. All information which has been designated as “CONFIDENTIAL” by the 

producing or disclosing party, and any and all reproductions of that information, must be 

retained in the custody of the counsel for the receiving party identified in paragraph 2, 

except that experts authorized to view such information under the terms of this Order may 

retain custody of copies such as are necessary for their participation in this litigation.

12. Subject to this Order, the parties may share non-confidential material 

produced in this action with the parties and their counsel in the related case, MabVax 

Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. v. Barry Honig, John Stetson, Michael Brauser, John 

O’Rourke III, Phillip Frost, et al., Case No. 19-cv-09810-WQH-MSB (the “Related 

Case”). Any material produced in this action shall be permitted for use in the Related Case 

consistent with the terms of this Order. Likewise, any material produced in the Related 

Case shall be permitted for use in this action consistent with the terms of this Order.

13. Before any materials produced in discovery, answers to interrogatories, 

responses to requests for admissions, deposition transcripts, or other documents which are 

designated as confidential information are filed with the Court for any purpose, the party 

seeking to file such material must seek a court order to file the material under seal.

14. Any document designated as "CONFIDENTIAL" may be used by any party 

as an Exhibit at trial, subject to all evidentiary objections to be ruled upon by the Court. 

The parties may include a description of any such Confidential document in any proposed 

and filed Exhibit list provided that no Confidential Information is revealed in the 

description. Trial Exhibits need not be filed under seal. Any Trial Exhibit submitted by 

any party shall be lodged with the Court and returned to the parties at the conclusion of the 

trial. Nothing in this paragraph shall prevent a party from applying to the Court for a 

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separate protective order to govern any special handling of any specific Confidential 

document and/or testimony during trial in a different manner than as set forth in this 

paragraph. 

15. At any stage of these proceedings, any party may object to a designation of 

the materials as confidential information. A party does not waive its right to challenge a 

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

designation is disclosed. The objecting party must notify, in writing, counsel for the 

designating party of the objected-to materials and the grounds for the objection. If the 

dispute is not resolved consensually between the parties within seven (7) calendar days of 

receipt of such a notice of objections, the objecting party may move the Court for a ruling 

on the objection. The burden of persuasion in any such challenge shall be on the designating 

party. The materials at issue must be treated as confidential information until the Court has 

ruled on the objection or the matter has been otherwise resolved.

16. All confidential information must be held in confidence by those inspecting 

or receiving it, and must be used only for purposes of this action. Counsel for each party, 

and each person receiving confidential information must take reasonable precautions to 

prevent the unauthorized or inadvertent disclosure of such information. If confidential 

information is disclosed to any person other than a person authorized by this Order, the 

party responsible for the unauthorized disclosure must immediately bring all pertinent facts 

relating to the unauthorized disclosure to the attention of the other parties and, without 

prejudice to any rights and remedies of the other parties, make every effort to prevent 

further disclosure by the party and by the person(s) receiving the unauthorized disclosure.

17. If a party, through inadvertence, produces any confidential information 

without labeling or marking or otherwise designating it as such in accordance with this 

Order, the designating party may give written notice to the receiving party that the 

document or thing produced is deemed confidential information, and that the document or 

thing produced should be treated as such in accordance with that designation under this 

Order. The receiving party must treat the materials as confidential, once the designating 

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party so notifies the receiving party. If the receiving party has disclosed the materials before 

receiving the designation, the receiving party must notify the designating party in writing 

of each such disclosure. Counsel for the parties will agree on a mutually acceptable manner 

of labeling or marking the inadvertently produced materials as “CONFIDENTIAL”–

SUBJECT TO PROTECTIVE ORDER.

18. No document may be filed under seal, except pursuant to a court order that 

authorizes the sealing of the particular document, or portion of the document. A sealing 

order may issue only upon a showing that the information is privileged or protectable under 

the law. The request must be narrowly tailored to seek sealing only of the confidential or 

privileged material. 

19. To file a document under seal, the parties must comply with the procedures 

explained in Section 2.j of the Electronic Case Filing Administrative Policies and 

Procedures Manual for the United States District Court for the Southern District of 

California and Civil Local Rule 79.2. In addition, a party must file a redacted version of 

any document that it seeks to file under seal. The document must 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 party should file the redacted 

document(s) simultaneously with a joint motion or ex parte application requesting that the 

confidential portions of the document(s) be filed under seal and setting forth good cause 

for the request. No party will be responsible to another party for disclosure of confidential 

information under this Order if the information in question is not labeled or otherwise 

identified as such in accordance with this Order.

20. Nothing within this Order will prejudice the right of any party to object to the 

production of any discovery material on the grounds that the material is protected as 

privileged or as attorney work product.

21. Nothing in this Order will bar counsel from rendering advice to their clients 

with respect to this litigation and, in the course thereof, relying upon any information 

designated as confidential information, provided that the contents of the information must 

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not be disclosed.

22. This Order will be without prejudice to the right of any party to oppose 

production of any information for lack of relevance or any other ground other than the mere 

presence of confidential information. The existence of this Order must not be used by either 

party as a basis for discovery that is otherwise improper under the Federal Rules of Civil 

Procedure.

23. Nothing within this Order will be construed to prevent disclosure of 

confidential information if such disclosure is required by law or by order of the Court.

24. Upon final termination of this action, including any and all appeals, counsel 

for each party must, upon request of the producing party, return all confidential or sealed 

documents and information to the party that produced the information, including any 

copies, excerpts, and summaries of that information, or must destroy same at the option of 

the receiving party, and must purge all such information from all machine-readable media 

on which it resides. Notwithstanding the foregoing, counsel for each party may retain all 

pleadings, briefs, memoranda, motions, and other documents filed with the Court that refer 

to or incorporate confidential or sealed documents and information, and will continue to 

be bound by this Order with respect to all such retained information. Further, attorney work 

product materials that contain confidential information need not be destroyed, but, if they 

are not destroyed, the person in possession of the attorney work product will continue to 

be bound by this Order with respect to all such retained information.

25. The restrictions and obligations set forth within this Order will not apply to 

any information that: (a) the parties agree should not be designated confidential 

information; (b) the parties agree, or the Court rules, is already public knowledge; (c) the 

parties agree, or the Court rules, has become public knowledge other than as a result of 

disclosure by the receiving party, its employees, or its agents in violation of this Order; or 

(d) has come or will come into the receiving party's legitimate knowledge independently

of the production by the designating party. Prior knowledge must be established by preproduction documentation.

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26. The restrictions and obligations within this Order will not be deemed to 

prohibit discussions of any confidential information with anyone if that person already has 

or obtains legitimate possession of that information.

27. Transmission by email or some other currently utilized method of 

transmission is acceptable for all notification purposes within this Order.

28. This Order may be modified by agreement of the parties, subject to approval 

by the Court.

29. The Court may modify the terms and conditions of this Order for good cause, 

or in the interest of justice, or on its own order at any time in these proceedings. The parties 

prefer that the Court provide them with notice of the Court's intent to modify the Order and 

the content of those modifications, prior to entry of such an order.

IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD.

DATED: September 17, 2019

BLOCK & LEVITON LLP

By: /s/ Joel Fleming

Jason M. Leviton (pro hac vice)

Joel A. Fleming (CA Bar No. 281264)

Jacob A. Walker (CA Bar No. 271217)

Lauren Godles Milgroom (pro hac vice

forthcoming)

Amanda Crawford (pro hac vice forthcoming)

260 Franklin Street, Suite 1860

Boston, MA 02110

(t) (617) 398-5600 

(f) (617) 507-6020

jason@blockesq.com

joel@blockesq.com

jake@blockesq.com

lauren@blockesq.com

amanda@blockesq.com

Attorneys for Plaintiff MabVax Therapeutics 

Holdings, Inc.

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LEWIS BRISBOIS BISGAARD & SMITH LLP

By: /s/ Mark K. Anesh

Mark K. Anesh (pro hac vice)

77 Water Street, Suite 2100

New York, NY 10005

(t) (212) 232-1411

(f) (212) 232-1399

mark.anesh@lewisbrisbois.com

Corinne C. Bertsche (CA Bar No. 174939)

701 B Street, Suite 1900

San Diego, CA 92101

(t) (619) 233-1006

(f) (619) 233-8627

Corinne.bertsche@lewisbrisbois.com

Attorneys for Defendant Sichenzia Ross 

Ference LLP

GORDON REES SCULLY MANSUKHANI, LLP

By: /s/ John M. Palmeri

John M. Palmeri (pro hac vice)

Tamara A. Seelman (pro hac vice)

555 Seventeenth Street, Suite 3400

Denver, CO 80202

(t) (303) 534-5160

(f) (303) 534-5161

jpalmeri@grsm.com

tseelman@grsm.com

Maha Sarah (CA Bar No. 218981)

101 W. Broadway, Suite 2000

San Diego, CA 92101

(t) (619) 696-6700

(f) (619) 696-7124

msarah@grsm.com

Attorneys for Defendant Harvey Kesner

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PURSUANT TO THE STIPULATION, IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: September 25, 2019

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