1 2 3 4 5 6 7 [Attorney Names] [Attorneys' Business Address] SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES 8 9 10 11 12 13 [Plaintiff's Name], Plaintiff, vs. [Defendant's Name], Defendant Case No.: [Number] STIPULATION AND PROTECTIVE ORDER ­ CONFIDENTIAL AND HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL DESIGNATIONS1 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED by and between the parties to Plaintiffs v. Defendants, (list names of Plaintiffs and Defendants) ("Parties"), by and through their respective counsel of record, that in order to facilitate the exchange of information and documents which may be subject to confidentiality limitations on disclosure due to federal laws, state laws, and privacy rights, the Parties stipulate as follows: 1 INFORMATION RE: STIPULATION AND PROTECTIVE ORDER ­ CONFIDENTIAL AND HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL DESIGNATIONS Where the Parties wish to have a confidentiality stipulation and protective order the parties in all civil cases, other than products liability cases, are encouraged to use this Stipulated Confidentiality Order Form as an initial working draft to save time. Where this Stipulated Confidentiality Order Form is used, then any proposed stipulated confidentiality order submitted to the Court MUST be accompanied by a "redlined' or "compare" version of this Form, so that the Court may readily see ALL MODIFICATIONS that were made to this Form. This procedure is intended to save you and the Court time, and promote faster processing of these proposed orders. This model form confidentiality stipulation and protective order (the "Stipulated Confidentiality Order Form") does not address, and may not be used in, products liability cases. STIPULATION AND PROTECTIVE ORDER ­ CONFIDENTIAL AND HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL DESIGNATIONS American LegalNet, Inc. www.FormsWorkFlow.com 1 1 1. 2 3 In this Stipulation and Protective Order, the words set forth below shall have the following meanings: a. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 "Proceeding" means the above-entitled proceeding (specify case number). "Court" means the Hon. (list name of judge), or any other judge to which b. this Proceeding may be assigned, including Court staff participating in such proceedings. c. "Confidential" means any Documents, Testimony, or Information which is in the possession of a Designating Party who believes in good faith that such Documents, Testimony, or Information is entitled to confidential treatment under applicable law. d. "Confidential Materials" means any Documents, Testimony, or Information as defined below designated as "Confidential" pursuant to the provisions of this Stipulation and Protective Order. e. [This provision is only to be used when a legitimate basis, tailored to the case, has been explained.] "Highly Confidential" means any information which belongs to a Designating Party who believes in good faith that the Disclosure of such information to another Party or non-Party would create a substantial risk of serious financial or other injury that cannot be avoided by less restrictive means. f. "Highly Confidential Materials" means any Documents, Testimony, or Information, as defined below, designated as "Highly Confidential" pursuant to the provisions 20 of this Stipulation and Protective Order. 21 g. 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 "Designating Party" means the Party that designates Documents, Testimony, or Information, as defined below, as "Confidential" or "Highly Confidential." h. "Disclose" or "Disclosed" or "Disclosure" means to reveal, divulge, give, or make available Materials, or any part thereof, or any information contained therein. i. "Documents" means (i) any "Writing," "Original," and "Duplicate" as those terms are defined by California Evidence Code Sections 250, 255, and 260, which have been produced in discovery in this Proceeding by any person or entity, and (ii) any copies, STIPULATION AND PROTECTIVE ORDER ­ CONFIDENTIAL AND HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL DESIGNATIONS American LegalNet, Inc. www.FormsWorkFlow.com 2 1 reproductions, or summaries of all or any part of the foregoing. 2 j. 3 "Information" means the content of Documents or Testimony. "Testimony" means all depositions, declarations, or other testimony taken k. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 or used in this Proceeding. 2. The Designating Party shall have the right to designate as "Highly Confidential" only the non-public Documents, Testimony, or Information that the Designating Party in good faith believes would create a substantial risk of serious financial or other injury, if Disclosed to another Party or non-Party, and that such risk cannot be avoided by less restrictive means. 3. The entry of this Stipulation and Protective Order does not alter, waive, modify, or abridge any right, privilege, or protection otherwise available to any Party with respect to the discovery of matters, including but not limited to any Party's right to assert the attorney-client privilege, the attorney work product doctrine, or other privileges, or any Party's right to contest any such assertion. 4. Any Documents, Testimony, or Information to be designated as "Confidential" or "Highly Confidential" must be clearly so designated before the Document, Testimony, or Information is Disclosed or produced. The parties may agree that a case name and number are to be part of the "Highly Confidential" designation. The "Confidential" or "Highly Confidential" designation should not obscure or interfere with the legibility of the designated Information. 20 a. 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 For Documents (apart from transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), the Designating Party must affix the legend "Confidential" or "Highly Confidential" on each page of any Document containing such designated material. b. For Testimony given in depositions the Designating Party may either: i. identify on the record, before the close of the deposition, all "Confidential" or "Highly Confidential" Testimony, by specifying all portions of the Testimony that qualify as "Confidential" or "Highly Confidential;" or ii. designate the entirety of the Testimony at the deposition as 3 STIPULATION AND PROTECTIVE ORDER ­ CONFIDENTIAL AND HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL DESIGNATIONS American LegalNet, Inc. www.FormsWorkFlow.com 1 "Confidential" or "Highly Confidential" (before the deposition is concluded) with the right to 2 identify more specific portions of the Testimony as to which protection is sought within 30 days 3 following receipt of the d