Quitman v. Pinnacol Assurance et al

Filing 14

PROTECTIVE ORDER signed by Magistrate Judge Craig B. Shaffer on 5/25/12. (cbssec)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO
Civil Action No. 11-cv-02783-LTB-CBS
SAMANTHA QUITMAN,
Plaintiff,
v.
PINNACOL ASSURANCE, a Colorado insurance company,
Defendant.
______________________________________________________________________
STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER
______________________________________________________________________

It is anticipated by Plaintiff and Defendant that certain of Defendant’s confidential
business and personnel records, including information in Plaintiff’s personnel file and
investigation reports, and certain of Plaintiff’s confidential business and personnel
records may be produced in discovery in this matter. It is agreed by the parties that
such confidential records must be protected from further disclosure. Pursuant to
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), the Court finds good cause for entry of this
Stipulated Proposed Protective Order to provide such protection according to the terms
and conditions below.
1.

To expedite the flow of discovery material and the litigation of this case,

facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes over confidentiality, and adequately protect
material entitled to be kept confidential, it is, by agreement of the Parties, STIPULATED
and ORDERED that:

2131397.1

2.

This Protective Order shall apply to all documents, materials, and

information, including without limitation, documents produced, answers to
interrogatories, responses to requests for admission, deposition testimony, and other
information disclosed pursuant to the disclosure or discovery duties created by the
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
3.

CONFIDENTIAL documents, materials, and/or information (collectively

“CONFIDENTIAL information”) shall not, without the consent of the party producing it or
further Order of the Court, be disclosed except that such information may be disclosed
to:
(a)

attorneys who are actively working on this case;

(b)

persons regularly employed or associated with the attorneys

actively working on the case whose assistance is required by said attorneys in
the preparation for trial, at trial, or at other proceedings in this case;
(c)

the parties, including human resources and management

employees employed by Defendant;
(d)

expert witnesses and consultants retained in connection with this

proceeding, to the extent such disclosure is necessary for preparation, trial, or
other proceedings in this case;
(e)

the Court in this case and its employees (“Court Personnel”);

(f)

stenographic reporters who are engaged in proceedings

necessarily incident to the conduct of this case;
(g)

deponents, witnesses, or potential witnesses; and

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(h)
4.

other persons by written agreement of the parties.

As used in this Protective Order, “document” is defined as provided in

Federal Rule of Civil P. 34(a)(1)(a). A draft or non-identical copy is a separate
document within the meaning of this term.
5.

Information designated “CONFIDENTIAL” shall be information that

implicates the privacy interests of Plaintiff or Defendant or third parties and/or
information contained in confidential business records, personnel records, documents,
materials and communications.

CONFIDENTIAL information shall not be disclosed or

used for any purpose except in pretrial discovery, at the trial, or in preparation for trial,
or for any appeals of this action.
6.

Prior to disclosing any CONFIDENTIAL information to any person listed

above (other than counsel, persons employed by counsel, Court Personnel, and
stenographic reporters), counsel shall provide such person with a copy of this Protective
Order and obtain from such person a written acknowledgment stating that he or she has
read this Protective Order and agrees to be bound by its provisions. Such written
acknowledgement shall be in the form as provided in Exhibit A to this Stipulated
Protective Order, attached hereto and incorporated herein. All such acknowledgments
shall be retained by counsel and shall be subject to in camera review by the Court if
good cause for review is demonstrated by opposing counsel.
7.

Counsel or persons regularly employed or associated with counsel may

designate information as CONFIDENTIAL only after a review of the information and

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based on a good faith belief that the information is CONFIDENTIAL or otherwise entitled
to protection.
8.

Documents are designated as CONFIDENTIAL by placing or affixing on

them (in a manner that will not interfere with their legibility) the term “CONFIDENTIAL,”
or by designating them as “CONFIDENTIAL” in correspondence from counsel to the
party producing documents. Defendant may designate documents produced by Plaintiff
as CONFIDENTIAL if they are documents that were originally produced or created as
records of Defendant.
9.

Producing or receiving materials or otherwise complying with the terms of

this Protective Order shall not:
(a)

operate as an admission by any party that any particular discovery

material contains or reflects any CONFIDENTIAL information;
(b)

prejudice in any way the rights of any party to object to the

production of documents it considers not subject to discovery or otherwise
protected from or limited in discovery on the basis of privilege or otherwise;
(c)

prejudice in any way the rights of a party to seek a Court

determination regarding whether particular discovery materials should be
produced; or
(d)

prejudice in any way the rights of a party to apply to the Court for

any additional protection with respect to the confidentiality of information as that
party may consider appropriate.

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10.

Whenever a deposition involves the disclosure of CONFIDENTIAL

information, the deposition or portions thereof shall be designated as CONFIDENTIAL
and shall be subject to the provisions of this Protective Order. Such designation shall
be made on the record during the deposition whenever possible, but a party may
designate all or any portion of depositions as CONFIDENTIAL after transcription,
provided written notice of the designation is given promptly to all counsel of record
within thirty (30) days after notice by the court reporter of the completion of the
transcript.
11.

A party may object to the designation of particular CONFIDENTIAL

information by giving written notice to the party designating the disputed information.
The written notice shall identify the information to which the objection is made. If the
parties cannot resolve the objection within ten (10) business days after the time the
notice is received, it shall be the obligation of the party objecting to the designation as
CONFIDENTIAL to file an appropriate motion requesting that the Court determine
whether the disputed information should be subject to the terms of this Protective Order.
If such a motion is filed timely, the disputed information shall be treated as
CONFIDENTIAL under the terms of this Protective Order until the Court rules on the
motion. If the objecting party fails to file such a motion within the prescribed time, the
disputed information shall retain its designation as CONFIDENTIAL and shall thereafter
be treated as CONFIDENTIAL in accordance with this Protective Order. In connection
with a motion filed under this provision, the party designating the information as

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CONFIDENTIAL shall bear the burden of establishing that good cause exists for the
disputed information to be treated as CONFIDENTIAL.
12.

In the event Confidential Information is used in any court filing or

proceeding in this action, including but not limited to its use at trial, it shall not lose its
confidential status as between the parties through such use. In order to keep
Confidential Information contained in documents filed with the court out of the public
record, the party seeking to restrict public access to Confidential Information shall file a
Motion to Restrict Access and shall comply with the requirements of D.C.COLO.LCivR
7.2.
13.

At the conclusion of this case, unless other arrangements are agreed

upon, each document and all copies thereof which have been designated as
CONFIDENTIAL shall be returned to the party that designated it CONFIDENTIAL within
forty-five (45) days of the conclusion of the action, or the parties may elect to destroy
CONFIDENTIAL documents; provided, however, that counsel for each party may retain
one copy of the CONFIDENTIAL documents for the sole purpose of maintaining a
complete file, and all such retained documents will not be released, disclosed, or utilized
except upon express permission of this Court after written notice to counsel for the party
that produced the documents. Where the parties agree to destroy CONFIDENTIAL
documents, the destroying party shall provide all parties with an affidavit confirming the
destruction within forty-five (45) days of the conclusion of the action.

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This Protective Order may be modified by the Court at any time for good cause
shown following notice to all parties and an opportunity for them to be heard.
STIPULATED AND APPROVED:
DATED this

25

day of

May

, 2012.

BY THE COURT:

s/Craig B. Shaffer
Craig B. Shaffer
United States Magistrate Judge
APPROVED AS TO FORM AND CONTENT:

s/ Janet A. Savage
Janet A. Savage
Sybil R. Kisken
Davis Graham & Stubbs, LLP
Attorneys for Defendant
1550 Seventeenth Street
Suite 500
Denver, CO 80202
[phone]
[phone] fax
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

s/ Thomas J. Arckey
Thomas J. Arckey
Sara Y. Hunt
Arckey & Associates, LLC
Attorneys for Plaintiff
7951 East Maplewood Ave.,
Suite 285
Greenwood Village, CO 8011
[phone]
[phone] fax
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

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EXHIBIT A
WRITTEN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER

The undersigned hereby acknowledges that he/she has carefully and completely
read the Stipulated Protective Order in the pending litigation between Samantha
Quitman and Pinnacol Assurance that he/she is one of the persons contemplated in
Paragraph 3 of the Stipulated Protective Order; and that he/she fully understands and
agrees to abide by the obligations and confidences set forth in the Stipulated Protective
Order. The undersigned consents to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court
for the District of Colorado for purposes of enforcing this Stipulated Protective Order.

Date: ________________________

_________________________________
Signature
________________________________
Title or Position

________________________________
Printed Name

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