Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-caed-2_23-cv-00320/USCOURTS-caed-2_23-cv-00320-3/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Bernard Canale
Defendant
Nancy Canale
Defendant
Shirlee Nolen
Defendant
Joel Lynn Nolen
Defendant
Nolen Properties, LLC
Defendant
United States of America
Plaintiff

Document Text:

STIPULATION AND ORDER REGARDING DISCOVERY 1 

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KRISTEN CLARKE

Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights

CARRIE PAGNUCCO

Chief

MEGAN K. WHYTE DE VASQUEZ

Deputy Chief

ARIELLE R. L. REID

ALAN A. MARTINSON

Trial Attorneys

Housing and Civil Enforcement Section

United States Department of Justice

950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20530

Tel: (202) 598-1575

PHILLIP A. TALBERT

United States Attorney

EMILIA P. E. MORRIS

Assistant United States Attorney

Eastern District of California

2500 Tulare Street, Suite 4401

Fresno, CA 93721

Tel: (559) 497-4000

Attorneys for Plaintiff United States of America

SIERRA LAW CENTER, APC

Jacob Zamora, Esq., (SBN 223911)

748 S. Meadows Parkway, Unit A9-183

Reno, Nevada 89521

Telephone: (530) 798-3548

Facsimile: (530) 687-0330

Email: jdz@jdzlaw.com

Attorney for Defendants,

JOEL LYNN NOLEN; and

NOLEN PROPERTIES, LLC

LEWIS BRISBOIS BISGAARD & SMITH LLP

JOHN S. POULOS, SBN 154689

E-Mail: John.Poulos@lewisbrisbois.com

JEFFREY E. SCHULTZ, SBN 335323

E-Mail: Jeffrey.Schultz@lewisbrisbois.com

2020 West El Camino Avenue, Suite 700

Sacramento, California 95833

Telephone: 916.564.5400

Facsimile: 916.564.5444

Attorneys for Defendant,

SHIRLEE NOLEN

Douglas B. Jacobs SBN 084153

Andrea M. Wieder SBN 339490

JACOBS, ANDERSON, POTTER,

HARVEY & CECIL, LLP

20 Independence Circle

Case 2:23-cv-00320-JAM-CKD Document 43 Filed 09/11/23 Page 1 of 8
STIPULATION AND ORDER REGARDING DISCOVERY 2 

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Chico, CA 95973

Phone: 530-342-6144

Fax: 530-342-6310

djacobs@japhclaw.com

awieder@japhclaw.com 

Attorney for Defendants Nancy Canale and

Nancy Canale as Trustee of the Bernard Canale 

and Nancy Canale 1998 Revocable Trust

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff,

vs.

JOEL LYNN NOLEN;

SHIRLEE NOLEN;

NOLEN PROPERTIES, LLC;

NANCY CANALE, as trustee of the Bernard 

Canale and Nancy Canale 1998 Revocable 

Trust; and

BERNARD CANALE, by and through his 

successor in interest NANCY CANALE.

Defendants.

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Case No. 2:23-cv-00320-JAM-CKD

STIPULATION AND ORDER 

REGARDING DISCOVERY

Pursuant to Rule 26(f) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Rule 143 of the Local 

Rules of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, Plaintiff United 

States of America and Defendants Joel Lynn Nolen, Shirlee Nolen, Nolen Properties, LLC, 

Nancy Canale, as trustee of the Bernard Canale and Nancy Canale 1998 Revocable Trust; and

Bernard Canale, by and through his successor in interest Nancy Canale (each a “Party” and 

collectively, the “Parties”) have entered into this Stipulation to reduce the time, expense, and 

other burdens of discovery of documents, things, and electronically stored information (“ESI”), 

and to govern discovery obligations in this action.

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Case 2:23-cv-00320-JAM-CKD Document 43 Filed 09/11/23 Page 2 of 8
STIPULATION AND ORDER REGARDING DISCOVERY 3 

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I. PRESERVATION AND PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS

A. Preservation

1. The Parties agree that by preserving documents, things, and ESI for the purpose 

of this litigation, they are not conceding that such material is discoverable, nor are 

they waiving any claim of privilege. 

2. This Stipulation and Order does not modify any Party’s obligation to maintain and 

preserve documents, things, and ESI where otherwise required by law, pursuant to 

a court order or administrative order, or in response to other anticipated litigation.

B. Limitations on Obligation to Preserve and Produce: 

Subject to § I.D.1, for purposes of this action, the Parties agree to limit the scope of 

preservation as described in this section. 

1. The Parties agree that they do not need to take specific, affirmative steps to 

preserve for purposes of this litigation the following categories of ESI: 

a. Delivery or read receipts of e-mail; 

b. Logs or other data from video-conferencing (including, e.g., Skype or Zoom) 

or instant messaging tools involving (i) attorneys for the United States (and 

their staff)1, and/or (ii) attorneys for Defendant(s) in this case (and their staff);

c. Temporary or cache files, including internet history, web browser cache, and 

cookie files, wherever located;

d. Internally facing server system logs; 

e. Externally facing or hosted file sharing system logs;

f. System data from photocopiers or fax machines;

g. Auto-saved copies of electronic documents;

h. Deleted, slack, fragmented, or other data only accessible by forensics; and

i. Random access memory (“RAM”), temporary files, or other ephemeral data 

that are difficult to preserve without disabling the operating system.

1 The term “attorneys for the United States (and their staff),” as used in this document, includes 

attorneys and staff for the Department of Justice and the Department of Housing and Urban

Development (HUD), including investigators from HUD’s Office of Inspector General.

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STIPULATION AND ORDER REGARDING DISCOVERY 4 

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j. Logs of or other data from audio calls (including, e.g., landline phones, 

mobile devices, and Voice Over Internet Protocol (“VOIP”)) made to or from

(i) attorneys for the United States (and their staff) and/or (ii) attorneys for 

Defendant(s) in this case (and their staff); 

k. Voicemail messages on the voicemail systems of (i) attorneys for the United 

States (and their staff) and/or (ii) attorneys for Defendant(s) in this case (and 

their staff);

2. When duplicate copies2 of relevant ESI exist in more than one location, this Order 

does not require a Party to preserve all duplicates as follows:

a. ESI existing or stored on mobile or portable devices (e.g., smartphones, 

tablets, thumb drives, CDs, DVDs, etc.) or file sharing sites does not need to 

be preserved pursuant to this Order provided that duplicate copies of the ESI,

including metadata, are preserved in another location reasonably accessible to 

the Party. 

b. ESI on backup tapes, continuity of operations or disaster recovery systems, 

data or system mirrors or shadows, and other systems that are used primarily 

for the purpose of system recovery or information restoration and are not 

reasonably accessible (“Backup Systems”) need not be preserved pursuant to 

this Order provided that duplicate copies of relevant ESI have been preserved 

in another reasonably accessible location. However, if a Party knows that 

relevant ESI exists only on a Party’s Backup System, the Party will take 

reasonable steps to preserve ESI on the Backup System until the Parties can 

agree on how and when the ESI will be preserved or produced. If the Parties 

cannot reach agreement, they will seek a ruling from the Court. 

3. The Parties agree that they do not need to take specific, affirmative steps to 

preserve for purposes of this litigation relevant documents, things, or ESI 

2 “Duplicates” in the context of ESI are copies of identical documents identified with matching 

MD-5 hashes, which is a mathematically-calculated 128 bit value used to create a unique 

identifier for an electronic file.

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STIPULATION AND ORDER REGARDING DISCOVERY 5 

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(including internal communications, drafts, versions, and collaboration on caserelated work) created by and, if shared with any other(s), exchanged solely 

among: 1) attorneys for the United States (and their staff); 2) attorneys or staff of 

defense counsel; and/or 3) attorneys for the United States (and their staff) and 

attorneys for other government agencies.

4. The Parties agree not to seek discovery of documents, things, and ESI that they 

have agreed not to preserve pursuant to § I.B.1-3 above. As provided in § I.D.1 

below, the Parties do not need to list such items on a privilege log prepared and 

served in connection with discovery in this case.

C. Identification & Production of Documents and ESI

The Parties agree that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34 shall govern with respect to the 

production of documents and ESI.

D. Privileged Documents, Things, and ESI

1. If any discovery request appears to call for the production of documents, things,

or ESI covered by § I.B, the responding party is not required to produce or 

identify such information on a privilege log. However, if a party preserves 

relevant documents, things, or ESI covered by § I.B, in order to support a claim or 

defense in this case, the Party shall produce such information or identify it on a 

privilege log notwithstanding this subsection.

2. Inadvertent Disclosure of Privileged or Protected Information

a. The Parties agree that a disclosure of information contained within 

documents, things, and ESI that is protected by attorney-client privilege, work 

product protection, common interest privilege, and/or applicable 

governmental privileges (such as deliberative process) does not operate as a 

subject matter waiver in this case if: 1) the disclosure is inadvertent; 2) the 

holder of the privilege or protection took reasonable steps to prevent 

disclosure; and 3) the holder promptly took reasonable steps to rectify the 

error. 

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STIPULATION AND ORDER REGARDING DISCOVERY 6 

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b. If the producing Party inadvertently discloses information that it asserts is 

privileged or protected, it will notify the receiving party within two (2) 

business days of discovery of disclosure and provide the production date, 

number, and volume of the disc or drive on which the production was

produced (“production media”), and the Bates number(s) or Document ID (for 

native files) of all material that it believes contains the inadvertently disclosed 

information. 

c. If a production contains information that the receiving Party believes is 

privileged or protected and was inadvertently produced, it will promptly 

notify the producing Party and provide the Bates number(s) or Document ID 

(for native files) of the item it believes was inadvertently produced. Within 14 

days after receiving notification, the producing Party may make a written 

request for return of the material. If the producing Party does not send a

written request for return of the material to the receiving Party within 14 days, 

the producing Party waives all claims of privilege or protection as to the 

material, but this still does not operate as a subject-matter waiver. 

d. When the receiving Party receives a written demand for return of the material, 

it will make reasonable, good faith efforts to promptly sequester, return or 

destroy all inadvertently produced material identified by the producing party. 

If copies of inadvertently produced materials are located or stored on the 

receiving Party’s Backup System(s), those copies need not be affirmatively 

removed but, rather, the receiving Party may overwrite those copies according 

to its normal records management procedures. 

e. If the receiving Party must destroy or delete production media (e.g., CD,

DVD, thumb drive, or downloaded file(s)) in order to destroy or delete 

inadvertently produced material, the producing Party will provide a duplicate 

copy of the production media minus only the inadvertently produced material 

Case 2:23-cv-00320-JAM-CKD Document 43 Filed 09/11/23 Page 6 of 8
STIPULATION AND ORDER REGARDING DISCOVERY 7 

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within 14 days of its written request for return of the material to the receiving 

Party.

f. If the receiving Party intends to challenge the claim of privilege or protection 

or the inadvertence of the production, it will keep one copy of the 

inadvertently produced material in a sealed envelope or a sequestered location 

while seeking a ruling from the Court. Nothing in this Stipulation prevents 

access by a receiving Party’s information technology or security personnel 

from accessing, in the normal course of their work, systems or locations where 

inadvertently produced material is sequestered.

E. Costs of Document Production

Each Party shall bear the costs of producing its own documents, things, and ESI. 

II. MISCELLANEOUS

A. The Stipulation may be executed in counterparts. 

B. The terms of this Stipulation and Order are not exhaustive. Each Party reserves the right 

to subsequently request to meet and confer to address any discovery matters, including 

forms of production and other matters not addressed herein. 

C. None of the meet and confer provisions of this Stipulation shall be construed to extend 

the time within which a Party must respond to a discovery request.

IT IS SO ORDERED

Dated: September 10, 2023

8.nolen23cv320.stip.esi

Agreed to by counsel for the Parties: 

For the United States: 

Dated: September 8, 2023

PHILLIP A. TALBERT KRISTEN CLARKE

United States Attorney Assistant Attorney General

_____________________________________

CAROLYN K. DELANEY

UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

Case 2:23-cv-00320-JAM-CKD Document 43 Filed 09/11/23 Page 7 of 8
STIPULATION AND ORDER REGARDING DISCOVERY 8 

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Eastern District of California Civil Rights Division

/s/ Emilia P. E. Morris /s/ Arielle R. L. Reid

EMILIA P. E. MORRIS CARRIE PAGNUCCO

Assistant United States Attorney Chief

MEGAN K. WHYTE DE VASQUEZ

Deputy Chief

ARIELLE R. L. REID 

ALAN A. MARTINSON

Trial Attorneys

For the Defendants: 

DATED: September 10, 2023 SIERRA LAW CENTER, APC

By:/s/ Jacob Zamora

JACOB ZAMORA

Attorneys for Defendants 

JOEL NOLEN and

NOLEN PROPERTIES, LLC

DATED: September 10, 2023 LEWIS BRISBOIS BISGAARD & 

SMITH LLP

By:/s/ Jeffrey E. Schultz

JOHN S. POULOS

JEFFREY E. SCHULTZ

Attorneys for Defendant,

SHIRLEE NOLEN

DATED: September 10, 2023 JACOBS, ANDERSON, POTTER,

HARVEY AND CECIL LLP

By:/s/ Andrew Wieder

DOUG JACOBS

ANDREA WIEDER

Attorneys for Defendants,

NANCY CANALE

BERNARD CANALE

Case 2:23-cv-00320-JAM-CKD Document 43 Filed 09/11/23 Page 8 of 8