Mahmoud et al v. Ford Motor Company et al
Filing
27
INTERIM CONSENT CONFIDENTIALITY ORDER. Signed by Judge William R. Wilson, Jr on 1/14/10. (bkp)
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS
WESTERN DIVISION
BASSAM and ZENAIDA MAHMOUD, Individually and as Co-Personal Representatives of the Estates of SAM M. MAHMOUD, Deceased, and A. MAHMOUD, Deceased Plaintiffs, vs. FORD MOTOR COMPANY, TRW AUTOMOTIVE, TRW INC., TRW VEHICLE SAFETY SYSTEMS INC., and TRW AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS ARKANSAS INC. Defendants. § § § § § § § § § § § § §
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CIVIL ACTION NO. 4:08-CV-3582 DISTRICT JUDGE WILSON MAGISTRATE JUDGE YOUNG Jury Demanded
INTERIM CONSENT CONFIDENTIALITY ORDER
Whereas, the parties to this Interim Consent Confidentiality Order ("parties"), have stipulated that certain discovery material is and should be treated as confidential, and have agreed to the terms of this order; accordingly, it is this/"t At this Time, pursuant to the consent of the parties
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rior to a formal hearing
being held relative to the confidentiality of infom1ation to be produced in this case, in order to preserve the rights of the litigants in these proceedings, particularly in the discovery process, the C0U11 hereby enters this Interim Consent Confidentiality Order as follows: 1.
Interim Nature of tbe Agreement. It having been represented to the Court, and
it shall be, that the terms of this Interim Consent Confidentiality Order have been agreed to at this time by the parties to facilitate the prompt production of discovery materials and depositions in this case, and that the parties specitically reserve the right to request that any portion of this
Interim Consent Confidentiality Order be modified at a later time after the filing of a fonnal motion and after a hearing on sucb a motion has been held. l1Jis Inter.im Consent Confidentiality Order merely provides a framework for the parties to claim such materials as confidential during discovery in this caSe until such time as disagreements of t h e patties, if any, relative to the terms of t h i s Order can be presented to the Court for the Court's determination. The Parties specifically intend that this Interim Consent Confidentiality Order shall remain in place as the confidentiality protective order for use in this case unless and wllil it is modified by the Court. 2. Scope. All documents produced in th.e course of discovery, all responses to
discovery requests and all deposition testimony and deposition exhibits and any other materials which may be subject ·to discoveI'Y which are claimed by a producing party to contain confidential I proprietary information (hereinaftet· collectively "documents") shall be subject to this Order concerning confidential information as set forth below. 3. Form and Timing of Designation.
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Confidential documents shall be so
designated by placing
affixing the word "CONFIDENTIAL'" or "PRODUCED UNDER
PROTECTIVE ORDER" on the document in a manner which will not interfere with the legibility of the document and which will permit complete removal of tIte Confidential
designation. Documents shall be designated Confidential prior to, or contemporaneously with,
the production or disclosure of the documents. Inadvertent or unintentional production of
documents without prior designation as confidential shall not be deemed a waiver, in whole or in part, of the right to designate documents as confidential as othenvise allowed by this Order.
4.
Documents Wllich May be Designated Confidential. Any party may designate
documents as confidential but only after review of the documents by an attorney who has; in
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good faith, detennined that the docwTlents contain information protected from disclosure by
statute, sensitive personal information, trade secrets, or confidential research, development, Or commercia! infonnation. The certification shall be made concurrently with the disclosure of the documents, using the form attached hereto as Attachment A which shall be ex.ecuted subject to
the standards of Rule 11 qf the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. lnfomlation or documents which are available in the public sector may not be designated as confidential. 5. Depositions. Portions of depositions shall be deemed confidential only if
designated as such when the deposition is taken or within seven business days after receipt ofthe transcript. Such designation shall be specific as to the portions to be protected.
6.
Protection of Confidential Materjal.
a. General Protections. Documents designated as Confidential Wlder this
Order shall not be used or disclosed by the parties or counsel for the parties or any other
persons identified below for any purposes whatsoever other than preparing for and conducting the litigation in which the documents were disclosed (including any appeal of that litigation). This provision does
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prohibit the attomeys and staff of Turner and
Associates, P.A. form utilizing documents designated as confidential by TRW VSSI in this litigation in other litigation which they may have with TRW VSSJ, provided that such use of the confidential information shall be subject to the terms of this Interim Consent Confidentiality Order. b. Limited Third Party Disclosures. The parties and counsel for the parties
shall not disclose or permit the disclosure of any documents designated Confidential
under the terms of this Order to any other person or entity except as set forth in
subparagraphs (1)-(5) below, and then only after the person to whom disclosure is to be
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made has executed an acknowledgment (in the form set forlh at Attachment B hereto),
that he or she has read and understands the terms of this Order and is bound by it. Subject
to these requirements. the following categories of persons may be allowed to review
documents which have been designated Confidential pursuant to this Order: (1) counsel and employees of counsel for the parties who have responsibility (2)
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the preparation wId trial of the lawsuit;
parties and employees of a party to this Order but only to the extent counsel shall certify that tile specifically named individual party or employee's assistance is necessary to the conduct of the litigation in which the information is disclosed;
(3)
court reporters engaged for depositions and those persons, if any.
specifically engaged for the limited purpose ofmakillg photocopies
of documents;
(4) Independent experts and consultants retained by parties whose
assistance is necessary for the preparation of trial of this specific
action, provided that no such disclosure shall be made to any
person employed by allY competitor of T R W VSSI;
(5) other perso11s only upon consent of the producing party or upon order of the court and on such conditions as are agreed to or ordered.
c.
Control of Documents, Counsel for the parties shall take reasonable
efforts to prevent unauthorized disclosure of documents designated as Confidential
pursuant to the terms of this order. Counsel shall maintain a record of those persons,
NO: 4836-6336.8453, v. t
including employees of counsel, who have reviewed or been given access to tbe documents along with the originals of the forms signed by those persons acknowledging their obligations under this Order. d. Copies. All copies, duplicates
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extracts, (hereinafter referred to
collectively as "copies") of documents designated as Confidential under this Order or any
portion of such a document., shall be immediately affixed witb the designation
"CONFIDENTIAL" or "PRODUCED UNDER PROTECTIVE ORDER" if the words
do not already appear on the copy, All such copies shall be afforded tke fun protection of this Order. 6. Filing of Confidential Materials. Tn the event a party seeks to file any material
d,at is subject to protection under this Order WiUl the court, that party shall take appropriate action to insure that the documents receive proper protection from public disclosme including: (1) -61ill& a redacted document with the consent of the party who designated the document as confidential; (2) where appropriate (e.g. in relation to discovery and evidentiary motions)} submitting the documents solely for in camera review;
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(3) where the preceding measures are
not adequate, seeking penl1issiol\ to file the document ullder seal pursuant to the provisions of Rule 5.2, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Absent extraordinary circumstances making prior consultation impractical or inappropriate, the party seeking to submit tbe document to the court
shall first consult with counsel for d,e party who designated the document as confidential to
determine if some measure less restrictive than filing the docwnent under seal may serve to provide adequate protection. This duty exists irrespective of the duty to consult on the
underlying motion. Nothing in this Order shall be construed as a prior directive 10 the Clerk of
Court to allow any document be filed under seal. The parties understand that documents may be filed under seal only with the permission ofthe court after proper motion.
7. Greater Protection of Specific:: Documents. No party may withhold infomlation
from discovery on the ground thai it requires protection greater than that afforded by this Order unless the party moves for an Order providing such special protection.
S. Cballenges to Designation as Confidential
Any document designated as
Confidential is subject to challenge. The following procedures shall apply to any suell challenge:
a. The burden of proving the necessity of a Confidential designation remains
with the party asserting confidentiality.
b.
A party who contends that dOCUlllents designated as Confidential are not
entitled to confidential treatment shall give written notice to the party who affixed the
designation of the specific basis for the challellge. The party who so designated the
documents shall have fifteen (15) days from service of the written notice to detennine if
the dispute can be resolved witholltjudicial interventioll and, if not, to move for an Order
confirming the Con.tidential designation. e. Notwithstanding any challenge to the designation of documents as
confidential, all material previously designated as Confidential shall continue to be treated as subject to t h e filii protections o f this Order until one o f the following occurs:
(1)
the party who claillls that the documents are confidential withdraws such designation ill writing;
(2)
the party who claims that the documents are confidential fails to move timely for an Order designating the documents as confidential as set forth in paragraph S.b. above; or
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(3)
the court rules that the documents should no longer be designated as confidential infol1nation.
d.
Challenges to the confidentiality of documents may be made at any time
and are not waived by tbe failure to raise the challenge at the time of initial disclosure or designation. 9. Treatment on Conclusion of Litigation. a. Order Remains in Effect. All provisions of this Order restricting the use
of documents designated as Confidential shall continue to be binding after the conclusion of the litigation unless otherwise agreed or ordered.
b.
Documents Filed under Seal. The Clerk of Court may, at the conclusion
of the litigation including conclusion of any appeal, return to counsel for the parties, or
destroy, any materials filed under seal. Before destroying any document filed under seal,
the Clerk of COllrt shall advise all parties of their option to accept return or destruction and shall allow no less than thirty (30) days from issuance of the notice for counsel to respond. In the absence of a response, the Clerk of Court may destroy documents filed
under seaI.
10.
Order Subject to Modification. This Order shall be subject to modification on
motion of any party or any other person who may show an adequate interest in the matter to intervene for purposes of addressing the scope and terms of this Order. The Order shall not, however, be modified until the parties shall have been given notice and an opportunity to be heard on the proposed modification.
11.
No Judicial Determination. This Order is entered based 011 the repl'esentations
and agreements of the parties and for the purpose of facilitating discovery. Nothing herein shalJ
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be construed or presented as a jUdicial determination that allY specific document or item of
infonnation designated as Coufidential by counsel is subject to protectio1l under Rule 26(c) o/the
Federal Rules o/Civil Procedure or otherwise until such time as a document-specific mUng shall
have been made.
12. Persons Bound. 'This Order shan take effect when entered and shall be binding
upon: () counsel who SigllCd below and their respective law timls; Bnd (2) their respective clients.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
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_~NDCONSENTEDTO:
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AUorliev for Pillintift:~ ..
Turne~-&"AssQciates:' P.A.
4705 Somers Avenue, Suile 100
North Little Rock, AR 72 t 16
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G. Spe .' 'C BAit t-.lo. \"o,~
Attorneys for Defendant TRW Vehicle Safely Systems Inc.
Barber, McCaskill, Jonc:s & Hale, P.A.
2700 Regions Center
400 West Capitol Avenue
Little Rock, AR 72201-3414 \ ~ __ f\
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