American Automobile Ins. Co., et al., v. United Specialty Ins. Co.

Filing 15

PROTECTIVE ORDER signed by Magistrate Judge Edmund F. Brennan on 8/14/18. (Mena-Sanchez, L)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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AMERICAN AUTOMOBILE
5 INSURANCE COMPANY, a Missouri
Corporation and INTERSTATE FIRE
6 AND CASUALTY COMPANY,
Plaintiffs,

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v.

9 UNITED SPECIALTY INSURANCE
COMPANY, a Delaware Corporation;
10 and DOES 1 through 100,

Case No. 2:18-cv-00461-KJM-EFB
[PROPOSED] CONFIDENTIALITY
AND PROTECTIVE ORDER
Assigned to the Honorable Judge
Kimberly J. Mueller
Action filed: March 1, 2018
Trial Date: Not Yet Set

Defendants.

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Pursuant to the Stipulation of the Parties filed on August 7, 2018, and after

14 careful consideration, it is hereby ordered as follows:
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1.

This Protective Order regarding privileged, confidential, proprietary,

16 and/or trade secret information applies in the above-captioned case to documents
17 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.”
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2.

Subject to the term and restrictions of this Protective Order, the parties

19 or otherwise interested persons may exchange privileged, confidential, trade secret,
20 proprietary, or otherwise sensitive non-public documents or information. No
21 provision in this Protective Order shall be construed as requiring the disclosure of
22 any documents or information.
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3.

This Protective Order applies to all documents and information

24 produced by Plaintiffs, American Automobile Insurance Company (“AAIC”),
25 Interstate Fire and Casualty Company (“Interstate”) or defendant United Specialty
26 Insurance Company (“USIC”), designated by the producing party as
27 “CONFIDENTIAL” in accordance with the terms of this Protective Order.
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[PROPOSED] CONFIDENTIALITY AND
PROTECTIVE ORDER

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4.

The parties may agree, in writing or on the record of any hearing,

2 deposition or other proceeding in this matter, that additional documents,
3 information, testimony, or materials may be brought within the provisions of this
4 Protective Order.
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5.

Prior to producing documents or information, AAIC, Interstate, or

6 USIC shall mark as “CONFIDENTIAL” any information, document, or portion of
7 any document that contains trade secrets or other confidential technical proprietary,
8 or financial information. In addition, as described in the provisions below, any other
9 party has a right to challenge the propriety of a designation (or lack thereof) if it
10 believes any designation was inappropriate, erroneous, or made in bad faith.
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6.

The designation “CONFIDENTIAL” may be applied to information

12 that AAIC, Interstate, or USIC believes is privileged, confidential, proprietary, of a
13 commercially sensitive nature, or which qualifies as a trade secret under California
14 or Federal law (“Confidential Information”).
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7.

A confidentiality designation under this Order shall be made by

16 stamping or labeling each page containing Confidential Information as
17 “CONFIDENTIAL.”
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8.

AAIC, Interstate, USIC, or their respective counsel may state on the

19 record of any proceeding in which oral testimony is provided that specific testimony
20 is “CONFIDENTIAL.” AAIC, Interstate, USIC, or their respective counsel may
21 also designate oral testimony as “CONFIDENTIAL” by providing written notice to
22 all receiving parties and the court reporter within fifteen days of receipt of any
23 transcript of the specific pages and lines of the transcript that contains Confidential
24 Information. The court reporter shall make appropriate notations of confidentiality
25 on the pages of the transcript containing Confidential Information in accordance
26 with the designations supplied and additionally note on the cover of the transcript
27 that it contains Confidential Information subject to a Protective Order.
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[PROPOSED] CONFIDENTIALITY AND
PROTECTIVE ORDER

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9.

Accidental disclosure of Confidential Information does not waive the

2 confidentiality otherwise attached to the Confidential Information.
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10.

Any party to this case may challenge another party’s designation of a

4 document or information as Confidential under this Order by delivering written
5 notice to counsel identifying the document or information, and one or more bases
6 for challenging the initial Confidential designation. If the dispute is not resolved
7 consensually between the parties within seven (7) days of receipt of such notice of
8 objection, the objecting party may move the Court for a ruling on the objection. The
9 materials at issue must be treated as Confidential Information, as designated by the
10 designating party, until the Court has ruled on the objection or the matter has been
11 otherwise resolved. Any motion challenging a designation pursuant to this
12 paragraph will be made in compliance with Local Rules 251(b) 251 (c) and 251(d).
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11.

No person who receives documents or information designated as

14 “CONFIDENTIAL” may disclose such to any other person, except as permitted by
15 this Protective Order, unless and until such designation is removed by the
16 designating party, or an order of the Court removing or denying Confidential status.
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12.

Any party may disclose information or documents designated as

18 Confidential to any expert witness or litigation consultant retained in this matter
19 only for use in this matter on the condition that the witness or consultant
20 acknowledge in writing receipt of a copy of this Stipulation and Protective Order
21 and express in that writing his or her agreement to be bound by the terms of this
22 Protective Order.
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13.

All information which has been designated as “CONFIDENTIAL” by

24 the producing or disclosing party, and any and all reproductions of that information,
25 must be retained in the custody of the counsel for the receiving party, except that
26 independent experts authorized to view such information under the terms of this
27 Order may retain custody of copies such as are necessary for their participation in
28 this litigation.
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[PROPOSED] CONFIDENTIALITY AND
PROTECTIVE ORDER

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14.

Subject to the terms of this Protective Order and the applicable

2 provisions of the Rules of Civil Procedure, any receiving party may use Confidential
3 Information or documents in the course of a deposition or hearing, or in the course
4 of examining any witness, provided that counsel conducting the examination
5 believes in good faith that disclosure to such witness is necessary to obtain
6 testimony pertinent to a matter genuinely at issue in this case and that, prior to
7 completion of the examination, the witness is furnished with a copy of this
8 Protective Order.
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15.

In the event that a non-party witness is shown Confidential documents

10 or information during the course of an examination, the witness will be advised on
11 the record of that examination of the terms of this Protective Order, and shall be
12 advised on the record that he or she is subject to sanctions, including contempt, for
13 violating the terms of this Order. Any disclosure pursuant to this paragraph shall
14 not constitute a waiver of the confidentiality designations originally assigned to the
15 Confidential documents or information.
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16.

The designation of documents, information, or testimony as

17 Confidential shall not in any way constitute a waiver of any objection to otherwise
18 improper discovery in this case, whether such discovery is oral or written.
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17.

All documents and information designated as “CONFIDENTIAL”

20 pursuant to the terms of this Protective Order that are filed with the Court and any
21 pleadings, motions, or other papers filed with the Court disclosing any confidential
22 information, shall be filed under seal and kept under seal until further order of the
23 Court. The parties shall follow the procedures set forth in United States District
24 Court, Eastern District of California Local Rule 141. may only be filed under seal
25 pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific Protected Material at
26 issue. However, the designation of material as confidential, without more, is
27 insufficient to obtain a sealing order. Any party that seeks to file Protected Material
28 under seal must comply with Local Rule 141, which governs motions for a sealing
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[PROPOSED] CONFIDENTIALITY AND
PROTECTIVE ORDER

1 order. As provided in Local Rule 141, a sealing order will issue only upon a request
2 establishing that the Protected Material at issue is privileged, protectable as a trade
3 secret, or otherwise entitled to protection under the law. Further, the briefing on the
4 motion for a sealing order shall address U.S. Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit
5 standards for whether the material may be filed under seal. Regardless of which
6 party files the motion for a sealing order, the party that designated the material as
7 confidential shall file a brief addressing those standards, and shall have the burden
8 of establishing that the Protected Material should be filed but not made publicly
9 available.
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18.

All Confidential Information must be held in confidence by those

11 inspecting or receiving it, and must be used only for the purpose of this action.
12 Counsel for each party, and each person receiving Confidential Information must
13 take reasonable precautions to prevent the unauthorized or inadvertent disclosure of
14 such information. If Confidential Information is disclosed to any person other than
15 a person authorized by this Order, the person responsible for the unauthorized
16 disclosure must immediately bring all pertinent facts relating to the unauthorized
17 disclosure to the attention of the other parties and, without prejudice to any rights
18 and remedies of the other parties, make every effort to prevent further disclosure by
19 the party and by the person(s) receiving the unauthorized disclosure.
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19.

This Order shall survive the termination of this case. All parties agree

21 to refrain from any distribution, copying, or dissemination of Confidential
22 Information or documents and to abide by the terms of this Protective Order after
23 the termination of the case. Within ninety days of final termination of this case and
24 all related proceedings (factually or legally), the parties must destroy or return to the
25 producing party, or its counsel, all documents or other materials containing
26 Confidential Information and, upon request of the producing party, shall so certify
27 that such destruction or return has occurred within ninety days of termination of this
28 case.
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[PROPOSED] CONFIDENTIALITY AND
PROTECTIVE ORDER

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20.

No party shall distribute a copy of any document or information

2 designated as Confidential to parties to this case who have not agreed to the terms of
3 this Order.
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IT IS SO ORDERED.

5 Dated: August 14, 2018.
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[PROPOSED] CONFIDENTIALITY AND
PROTECTIVE ORDER