Oster v. Standard Insurance Company et al

Filing 56

STIPULATION AND ORDER: That Plaintiff refile Exhibit E to the Declaration of Brian H. Kim under seal and Exhibits A through D and F and G to the Declaration of Brian H. Kim be made available to the public. Signed by Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong, on 9/30/09. (lrc, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 10/2/2009) Modified on 10/5/2009 (jlm, COURT STAFF).

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Shawn Hanson (State Bar No. 109321) [e-mail] Katherine S. Ritchey (State Bar No. 178409) [e-mail] Chantelle C. Egan (State Bar No. 257938) [e-mail] JONES DAY 555 California Street, 26th Floor San Francisco, CA 94104 Telephone: [phone] Facsimile: [phone] Attorneys for Defendants STANDARD INSURANCE COMPANY and THE LUCASFILM LTD. GROUP LONG TERM DISABILITY PLAN UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA OAKLAND DIVISION

BRENT OSTER, Plaintiff, v. STANDARD INSURANCE COMPANY; THE LUCASFILM LTD. GROUP LONG TERM DISABILITY PLAN; and DOES 1 through 20, inclusive, Defendant.

Case No. C 09-00851 (SBA) JOINT STIPULATION AND ORDER REGARDING DOCUMENTS TO BE SEALED Date: Time: Courtroom: Judge: October 20, 2009 1:00 p.m. 3, 3rd Floor Hon. Saundra B. Armstrong

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Plaintiff Brent Oster, on the one hand, and Defendants Standard Insurance Company ("Standard") and The Lucasfilm Ltd. Group Long Term Disability Plan, on the other hand, each through their respective counsel of record, hereby stipulate as follows: WHEREAS on or about September 15, 2009, Plaintiff filed an Administrative Motion to maintain Exhibits A through G to the Declaration of Brian H. Kim (Docket No. 31) under seal pursuant to Local Rule 79-5 because Defendants had designated confidential these exhibits' contents pursuant to Stipulated Protective Order (Docket 22); WHEREAS on or about September 22, 2009, Standard filed its Response (Docket No. 41), Declaration of Lori Jenson (Docket No. 42) and Proposed Order (Docket No. 43) to substantiate the need to maintain Exhibit E under seal and to withdraw the confidentiality designation for Exhibits A-D and F-G. WHEREAS Plaintiff filed 149-pages of excerpts of the Standard's Group Benefits LTD Claims Manual ("Claims Manual") as Exhibit E, but referenced only pages 5.8, 6.3 and 7.8 of the Claims Manual in his Rule 52 Motion for Judgment (Docket 30). WHEREAS the Claims Manual is maintained in a confidential and proprietary manner because the majority of its contents are Standard's trade secrets. Standard protects the confidential and proprietary content of the Claims Manual by producing it subject to a protective order, when the Claims Manual is subject to discovery. The one narrow exception to the confidential and proprietary manner in which the Claims Manual is maintained and produced is when documents are "relevant" documents pursuant to 29 C.F.R. 2560.503-1. WHEREAS one paragraph of page 5.8 ­ entitled "Own Occupation versus Own Job" ­ has been produced to insureds without a protective order pursuant to 29 C.F.R. 2560.503-1, yet the remainder of page 5.8 is a trade secret along with pages 6.3 and 7.8. WHEREAS Local Rule 79-5(a) requires that a request to seal documents be narrowly tailored. NOW THEREFORE, the parties hereby stipulate that Plaintiff will refile Exhibit E, limiting the exhibit to pages 5.8, 6.3 and 7.8 of the Claims Manual, under seal, with the exception of the paragraph of page 5.8 entitled "Own Occupation versus Own Job."
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THEREFORE, the parties hereby stipulate that Defendants withdraw their designation of confidentiality for Exhibits A through D and Exhibits F and G, and accordingly, those exhibits need not be filed under seal. IT IS SO STIPULATED. Dated: September 28, 2009 Respectfully submitted, JONES DAY By: /s/ Chantelle C. Egan Chantelle C. Egan Attorneys for Defendants STANDARD INSURANCE COMPANY and THE LUCASFILM LTD. GROUP LONG TERM DISABILITY PLAN

Dated: September 28, 2009

Respectfully submitted, JONES DAY By: /s/ Brian H. Kim Brian H. Kim Attorneys for Plaintiff BRENT OSTER

IT IS ORDERED that: 1. Plaintiff refile Exhibit E to the Declaration of Brian H. Kim (Docket No. 31),

limiting the exhibit to pages 5.8, 6.3 and 7.8 of the Claims Manual, so as to narrowly tailor the sealable documents; and the refiled Exhibit E be sealed, with the exception of the paragraph of page 5.8 entitled "Own Occupation versus Own Job." 2. Exhibits A through D and Exhibits F and G to the Declaration of Brian H. Kim

(Docket No. 31) are not sealable and will be made available to the public.

Dated: 9/30/09 Honorable Saundra B. Armstrong United States District Judge
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