Anderson v. Healthcare Services Group, Inc. et al

Filing 29

STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER signed by Magistrate Judge Craig B. Shaffer on 6/19/13. (cbssec)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO
Civil Action No. 13-cv-00280-RM-CBS
SAMANTHA ANDERSON,
Plaintiff,
v.
HEALTHCARE SERVICES GROUP, INC.;
KEN COPE;
ANDREW YANDT;
AARON CHURCH
Defendants.

PROPOSED STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER

Upon a showing of good cause in support of the entry of this Stipulated Protective Order
to protect from disseminating confidential information or information which will improperly
annoy, embarrass, or oppress any party, witness, or person providing discovery in this case:
IT IS ORDERED:
1.

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

information, received during litigation of this matter, related to (1) Plaintiff’s medical and/or
mental health issues, including but not limited to responses to discovery request seeking the
identity of medical and/or mental health treatment providers, as well as all information produced
by Plaintiff or her medical and/or mental health treatment providers regarding these matters; or
(2) personnel records and personnel information relating to employees or former employees of
Defendant Healthcare Services Group, Inc. (“HSG”), including, but not limited to, Kenneth
Cope, Andrew Yandt and Aaron Church. The Parties request that the Court enter this Stipulated

Protective Order for the purpose of preventing the disclosure and use of above described
documents and information contained therein except as set forth herein.
2.

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

Fed. R. Civ. P. 34(a)(1)(A).
3.

Information designated CONFIDENTIAL shall be information that is confidential

and implicates common law and/or statutory privacy interests. CONFIDENTIAL information
may also include confidential information about third parties contained in a party’s files,
including medical records and/or portions of documents that contain information generally
considered to be confidential such as a social security number. CONFIDENTIAL information
shall not be disclosed or used for any purpose except for the preparation and trial of this case.
4.

CONFIDENTIAL documents, materials, and/or information (collectively

“CONFIDENTIAL information”) identified in accordance with paragraph 1 & 3 of this
Stipulated Protective Order 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 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 designated representatives for the defendants and

Plaintiff’s spouse;
(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;

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(e)

the Court and its employees (“Court Personnel”);

(f)

stenographic or videographer reporters who are engaged in proceedings

necessarily incident to the conduct of this action;
(g)
(h)
5.

deponents, witnesses, or potential witnesses; and
other persons by written agreement of the parties.

Prior to disclosing any CONFIDENTIAL information to any person listed above

(other than counsel, persons employed or associated with counsel, Court Personnel and
stenographic reporters), counsel shall provide such person with a copy of this Stipulated
Protective Order and obtain from such person a written acknowledgment stating that he or she
has read this Stipulated Protective Order and agrees to be bound by its provisions. All such
acknowledgments shall be retained by counsel and shall be subject to in camera review by the
Court if opposing counsel demonstrates good cause for review.
6.

Documents are designated as CONFIDENTIAL by placing or affixing on them

(in a manner that will not interfere with their legibility) the following or other appropriate notice:
“CONFIDENTIAL.” Any documents obtained by a party using authorized releases from an
opposing party should automatically be considered confidential and bound by the terms of this
protective order.
7.

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 Stipulated Protective Order. Such designation shall be made on the record
during the deposition whenever possible, but a party may designate appropriate portions of
depositions as CONFIDENTIAL after transcription, provided written notice of the designation is

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given to all counsel of record within thirty (30) days after notice by the court reporter of the
completion of the transcript.
8.

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 designating the information as CONFIDENTIAL to file within thirty (30)
days of notice of the objection, an appropriate motion requesting that the Court determine
whether the disputed information should be subject to the terms of this Stipulated Protective
Order.

If such a motion is timely filed, the disputed information shall be treated as

CONFIDENTIAL under the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order until the Court rules on the
motion. If the party designating the information as CONFIDENTIAL fails to file such a motion
within the prescribed time, the disputed information shall lose its designation as
CONFIDENTIAL and shall not thereafter be treated as CONFIDENTIAL in accordance with
this Stipulated Protective Order. In connection with a motion filed under this provision, the
party designating the information as CONFIDENTIAL shall bear the burden of establishing that
good cause exists for the disputed information to be treated as CONFIDENTIAL.
9.

The Court expressly directs that all litigants, their agents, employees, counsel of

record, and said counsel’s paralegal, employees and associates are precluded from producing or
providing copies of any documents or materials subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to any
print, electronic, or news media representatives, employees or agents and are prohibited from
disclosing any information contained in such documents to those individuals.

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10.

The termination of this action shall not relieve counsel or other persons obligated

hereunder from their responsibility to maintain the confidentiality of Confidential Information
pursuant to this Stipulated Protective Order, and the Court shall retain continuing jurisdiction to
enforce the terms of the Stipulated Protective Order. At the conclusion of this litigation, unless
other arrangements are agreed upon, the documents and any copies thereof which have been
designated as CONFIDENTIAL shall continue to be subject to this Stipulated Protective Order,
and shall be stored in a manner which will preclude others from obtaining such documents and
shall be destroyed in the routine course of business.
11.

Any item or information inadvertently furnished by the producing party or non-

party during the course of this litigation without designation of Confidential may nevertheless
subsequently be designated as Confidential Information under this Order, but only if counsel for
the producing party provides prompt written notice to all receiving parties of the inadvertent
production within twenty (20) days after the production and requests that the receiving parties
thereafter treat such information as Confidential Information under this Order. No disclosures of
such inadvertently produced information shall be deemed to violate this order if the disclosure is
made prior to the receipt of notice of the producing Party’s designation of the information as
Confidential Information.
12.

If a Party desires to disclose Confidential Information in a motion or at a pretrial

hearing said Party must notify the Party seeking to maintain the confidentiality of the
information within 10 days of the motion or hearing to permit sufficient time for the party
bearing the responsibility to file a motion to restrict access, pursuant to D.C.Colo.L.Civ.R 7.2
(B), prior to filing the Confidential Information with the Court.

If a Party desires to use

Confidential Information at trial, said Party shall specifically identify the Confidential

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Information that it/they intend to introduce at trial in the Final Pretrial Order, pursuant to
D.C.Colo.L.Civ.R 16.3. Confidential Information shall not be disclosed, shown or read to any
person except as provided herein.
13.

In the event that the parties to this litigation, their counsel, or any parties who

have consented to be bound to the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order, in any way violate
the terms or conditions of this Stipulated Protective Order, said individual shall consent to the
jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado for purpose of any
contempt proceedings or an action concerning a litigant’s rights to injunctive relief as a result of
such violations.
14.

Nothing in this Protective Order may be taken or construed as a ruling or

statement concerning the admissibility of any documents or information in this action.
15.

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.
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DATED this 14th day of June, 2013.

BY THE COURT:

Craig B. Shaffer 
United States Magistrate Judge 

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