Norton-Pimentel v. Lowe's Home Centers, LLC

Filing 13

STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER signed by Magistrate Judge Allison Claire on 06/11/15 ORDERING all documents produced or information disclosed and any other documents or records designated as "Confidential" by the Defendant shall be revealed on ly to a settlement officer, plaintiff, counsel of record in this case, paralegals, and secretarial employees under counsel's direct supervision, and such persons as are employed by counsel to act as experts in this action. (See order for further details)(Plummer, M)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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VICKEY NORTON-PIMENTEL,
Plaintiff,

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v.

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No. 2:14-cv-02231-TLN-AC

STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER

LOWE’S HOME CENTERS, LLC,
Defendant.

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On June 10, 2015, the parties submitted a proposed stipulated protective order. ECF No.

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12. That stipulated protective order reads as follows:
Plaintiff, VICKEY NORTON-PIMENTEL, (“Plaintiff”), and
Defendant, LOWE HOME CENTERS, LLC (“Defendant”), jointly
submit this Stipulated Protective Order pursuant to United States
District Court, Eastern District of California Local Rules
141.1(b)(1) limiting the use and disposition of certain information
and documents during litigation of this matter. The parties agree
that discovery in this action may yield documents and information
of a sensitive and confidential nature, including but not limited to,
Defendant’s proprietary policies and procedures, personnel files of
present and former employees, incident reports, and other
confidential information that may be subject to discovery in the
proceedings in this matter but which should not be made available
to the public generally. As a result, the parties have agreed to this
jointly submitted Stipulated Protective Order and request that it be
adopted by order of this Court.

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Purpose and Limitation
As mentioned above, 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 may be warranted. Accordingly, the
parties hereby stipulate to and petition the court to enter the
following Stipulated Protective Order.
The disclosure of any of the foregoing categories of
information and/or documentation protected by this Order,
including confidential business and financial information identified
above, will have the effect of causing harm to the competitive and
financial position of the person, firm, partnership, corporation, or to
the organization from which the information was obtained.
Unprotected disclosure of any of the above identified confidential
information may further expose Defendant to unwarranted
annoyance, embarrassment, and/or oppression.
The parties acknowledge that this Protective Order does not
confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to
discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure
and use extends only to the limited information that is entitled to
confidential treatment under the applicable legal principles.
The parties having agreed to the following terms governing
the treatment of confidential information governing the pre-trial
phase of this action as follows:
1.
All documents produced or information disclosed
and any other documents or records designated as
“CONFIDENTIAL” by the Defendant shall be revealed only to a
settlement officer, Plaintiff, counsel of record in this case,
paralegals and secretarial employees under counsel’s direct
supervision, and such persons as are employed by counsel to act as
experts in this action.
The information designated as
“CONFIDENTIAL” and disclosed only in accord with the terms of
this paragraph may include, without limitation, documents and
information containing Defendant’s policies and procedures, as
well as personnel records, including disciplinary records, identity,
information relating to the processes, operations, type of work, or
apparatus, or the production, sales, shipments, transfers,
identification of customers, inventories, amount or source of
income, profits, losses, expenditures, or any research, development,
or any other commercial information supplied by the Defendant in
response to Plaintiff’s Interrogatories or Requests for Production.
Information and documentation considered “CONFIDENTIAL” are
subject to protection under Civil Local Rule 141.1 of the U.S.
District Court – Eastern District of California, Rule 26 of the
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and under other provisions of
Federal law.

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2.
Counsel for Plaintiff shall use all documents and
information produced or disclosed by the Defendant solely for the
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purposes of preparation for and trial of this action. Under no
circumstances shall information or materials covered by this
Protective Order be disclosed to anyone other than Plaintiff’s
counsel of record in this action, paralegals, secretarial employees
under counsel’s direct supervision, and such persons employed to
act as experts in this action. At the conclusion of the proceedings in
this action, all documents and information subject to this Order,
including any copies or extracts or summaries thereof, or
documents containing information taken therefrom, shall be
returned to counsel for the Defendant, at defense counsel’s written
request.

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3.
Prior to disclosure of any documents designated as
“confidential” to paralegals or secretarial employees of counsel or
Plaintiff, counsel for Plaintiff shall require such employees to read
this Protective Order and agree to be bound by its terms.

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4.
If counsel for Plaintiff determines that for purposes
of this action, documents or information produced by the Defendant
and designated as “confidential” must be revealed to a person
employed to act as an expert in this action, then counsel may reveal
the designated documents or information to such person, after first
complying with the following:

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(a)
Counsel for the Plaintiff shall have the expert read
this Order and shall explain the contents thereof to such
expert.

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(b)
Counsel for the Plaintiff shall require such expert to
sign a copy of this protective order that states: “I have read
and understood the terms of this protective order. I further
agree to be bound by its terms.” Nothing in this paragraph
shall be deemed to enlarge the right of Defendant to conduct
discovery of any of Plaintiff’s experts, except solely with
respect to the ability of such expert to protect confidential
information and documents from re-disclosure.

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5.
The Court’s Order is subject to revocation and
modification by Order of the Court upon written stipulation of the
parties, or upon motion and reasonable notice, including
opportunity for hearing and presentation of evidence.

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6.
Nothing contained in this Order is intended or
should be construed as authorizing a party in this action to disobey
a lawful subpoena issued in another action.

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Based on the foregoing, Plaintiff VICKEY NORTONPIMENTEL and Defendant LOWE’S HOME CENTERS, LLC
hereby request that this Court issue a protective order governing the
treatment of confidential information in this matter.

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IT IS SO STIPULATED.
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ECF No. 12.
ORDER

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PURSUANT TO STIPULATION, IT IS SO ORDERED.
DATED: June 11, 2015

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