Ortega v. Southern Colorado Clinic, P.C.

Filing 29

PROTECTIVE ORDER stipulated to by the parties and approved by Magistrate Judge Craig B. Shaffer on 04/15/2014. (cbslc1)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO
Civil Action No. 13-cv-01397-WYD-CBS
CHRISTINE ORTEGA,
Plaintiff,
v.
SOUTHERN COLORADO CLINIC, P.C.,
Defendant.
______________________________________________________________________________
PROTECTIVE ORDER
______________________________________________________________________________
This matter comes before the Court on the parties’ Stipulated Motion for Protective
Order. The Court has reviewed the Motion and ORDERS as follows:
1.

In connection with this civil action, the parties have sought, disclosed, or

produced, or anticipate seeking, disclosing, or producing documents, testimony, and other
information that contains or may contain sensitive, nonpublic personal, student, personnel,
employment, private, medical, financial or proprietary, information (hereinafter "Confidential
Information"). The Court is entering this Order to allow the parties to produce such Confidential
Information while preserving it from unauthorized, unnecessary disclosure.
2.

Moreover, because of Plaintiff’s prior position at Southern Colorado Clinic,

Plaintiff had access to and has provided certain documents containing protected health
information of patients of Southern Colorado Clinic during the course of this civil action. The
Court is further entering this Order to protect the protected health information of Southern
Colorado Clinic’s patients.
3.

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.
4.

As used in this Protective Order, “document” is defined as provided by Fed. R.

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

Any party who provides, serves, discloses or files any nonpublic documents or

information, and who believes such documents or information contain Confidential Information,
may designate such documents or information as “Confidential.” The documents or information
so designated shall be deemed “Confidential Information” subject to this Protective Order. The
parties understand that any designation of “Confidential Information” under this Protective Order
will be subject to the requirements in Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c)(1).
6.

Any information that has been previously disclosed within this matter may be

designated as “Confidential” by the non-disclosing party if such documentation contains medical
record and/or protected health information of persons other than Plaintiff.

On such

documentation, any and all medical record and/or protected health information shall be redacted.
The party designating such as “Confidential” shall provide redacted copies to the other party and
the other party must return any and all non-redacted copies of such information to Southern
Colorado Clinic immediately. The purpose of this provision is to protect any and all medical
record and/or protected health information that is not Plaintiff’s from further unauthorized
disclosure pursuant to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.
7..

Confidential Information shall be subject to the following restrictions.

Confidential Information shall be used only for the limited purpose of preparing for and
conducting this civil action (including any appeals), and not for any other purpose whatsoever,

and shall not, without the consent of the party producing it or further Order of the Court, be
disclosed in any way to anyone except those specified in this paragraph:
(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, or
at other proceedings in this case;
(c)

the parties and designated representatives;

(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 and its employees (“Court Personnel”);

(f)

stenographic reporters who are engaged in proceedings necessarily

incident to the conduct of this action;
(g)

deponents, witnesses, or potential witnesses who execute the attached

(h)

and other persons by written agreement of the parties who execute the

Exhibit A;

attached Exhibit A.
8.

No Confidential Information shall be disclosed to anyone other than the named

parties in this litigation or their counsel until said person first signs an agreement with respect to
the confidentiality of such information in the form attached hereto as Exhibit A. Prior to
disclosing any Confidential Information to any person listed in paragraph 5 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 have such person execute a
copy of Exhibit A acknowledging that he or she has read this Protective Order and agreed 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 good cause for review is demonstrated by opposing
counsel.
9.

This Protective Order shall not prohibit or restrain any party from performing the

tasks necessary to prepare for trial; however, any redisclosure or communication of the
information covered by this Protective Order, except as specifically allowed by this Protective
Order for the purposes of this litigation only, is strictly prohibited. The object of this Protective
Order is that none of the information revealed in connection with such protections be used for
any purpose other than in relation to this litigation and that no one be allowed to use any
information produced pursuant to this order in connection with any other issue, dispute, litigation
or charge against any of the parties whether currently pending or contemplated in the future.
10.

No reproduction of information disclosed in reliance on this Protective Order is

authorized, except to the extent that copies are required to prepare the case for trial, depositions
or expert examination. All copies, excerpts, or summaries made, shown, or given to those
authorized hereby and according to the provisions hereof shall be stamped to indicate the
protected and confidential nature of the disclosed information.

Review of Confidential

Information by counsel, experts or consultants for the litigation will not constitute any waiver of
the confidentiality of the document or of any objections to production.

The inadvertent,

unintentional or in camera disclosure of Confidential Information shall not, under any
circumstances, be deemed a waiver, in whole or in part, of any claims of confidentiality.
11.

Counsel to the parties are required to advise, instruct and supervise all associates,

staff and employees of counsel to keep designated Confidential Information confidential in the
strictest possible fashion. Counsel and the Parties also agree to such treatment of the information

by themselves, and counsel will appropriately instruct their clients as to the protected nature of
the information produced pursuant to this order and the limitations on its use and disclosure.
12.

Documents are designated as Confidential Information by placing or affixing on

them (in a manner that will not interfere with their legibility) the following or other appropriate
notice: “CONFIDENTIAL.”
13.

A party may object to the designation of particular documents as Confidential

Information by giving written notice to the party designating the disputed information. The
written notice shall identify the information to which 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 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 timely filed, the disputed information
shall be treated as confidential under the terms of this Protective Order until the Court rules on
the motion. If the designating party 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 Protective Order. In connection with any 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.
14.

Whenever a deposition involves the disclosure of Confidential Information, the

deposition or portions thereof shall be designated as “CONFIDENTIAL” and subject to this
Protective Order. Such designation shall be made on the record during the deposition whenever
possible, but a party may designate portions of depositions as “CONFIDENTIAL” after
transcription, provided written notice of the designation is promptly given to all counsel of

record within thirty (30) days after notice by the court reporter of the completion of the
transcript. The cover page and those portions of the original transcripts that contain Confidential
Information shall bear the legend “CONFIDENTIAL – SUBJECT TO PROTECTIVE ORDER,”
and shall be bound separately from the non-confidential portions of the transcript.

Any

deposition exhibits designated confidential shall also be bound separately.
15.

A party may designate documents produced after the date of this Protective Order

as “CONFIDENTIAL” at any time within thirty days from production or within thirty days from
the date of this Protective order. A party may designate documents produced prior to the date of
this Protective Order as “Confidential” at any time within thirty days from the date of this
Protective Order.

Such designation thereof shall be made in writing and accompanied by

substitute copies of each item, appropriately designated. Those individuals who reviewed the
documents or information prior to the confidential designation shall honor the provisions of this
Order with respect to the use and disclosure of any confidential information contained in the
undesignated documents, from and after date of designation.
16.

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

document and all copies thereof that have been designated as confidential shall be returned to the
party that designated it confidential, or the parties may elect to destroy confidential documents.
Where the parties agree to destroy confidential documents, the destroying party shall provide all
parties with an affidavit confirming the destruction.
17.

Stamped confidential documents shall be filed with the Court in accordance with

D.C.COLO.LCivR. 7.2 and the Court’s “Electronic Case Filing Procedures for the District of
Colorado.” A party seeking to file with the Court any Confidential Information that has been
designated by the other party may request that the designating party provide the information

required by D.C.COLO.LCivR 7.2(B) by notifying counsel for the designating party in writing at
least ten business days before the filing is to occur. If such a request is made, counsel for the
designating party shall, within five business days, respond in writing providing the information
required by D.C.COLO.LCivR 7.2(B). If no such timely request is made, the party seeking to
file the Confidential Information must in good faith provide the information required by
D.C.COLO.LCivR 7.2(B).

Prior to disclosure at trial or a hearing regarding Confidential

Information, the parties may seek further protections against public disclosure from the Court.
18.

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.
19.

Nothing in this Protective Order shall prevent any party or other person from

seeking modification of this order or from objecting to discovery that the party or other person
believes to be improper. Nothing in this Protective Order shall prejudice the right of any party to
contest the alleged relevancy, admissibility, or discoverability of confidential documents or
information sought.

Dated at Denver, Colorado this 15th day of April, 2014.

BY THE COURT:

s/Craig B. Shaffer
U. S. MagistrateJudge

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO
Civil Action No. 13-cv-01397-WYD-CBS
CHRISTINE ORTEGA,
Plaintiff,
v.
SOUTHERN COLORADO CLINIC, P.C.,
Defendant.
______________________________________________________________________________
EXHIBIT A TO PROTECTIVE ORDER – CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT
______________________________________________________________________________

I, _____________________________________, the undersigned, being duly sworn,
hereby acknowledge that I have read the Protective Order issued by the Court in the above
captioned civil action and I understand the terms and conditions of such Protective Order
governing the restricted use of information and materials obtained from the Parties and provided
to me for the sole purposes of the above captioned action, and hereby agree to keep all such
information and materials strictly and absolutely confidential, and in all other respects to be
bound by the terms of the Protective Order.
My current address and telephone number is:

Signature
STATE of _________________
COUNTY of _______________

)
)ss.
)

The foregoing Confidentiality Agreement was sworn and acknowledged to before me by
_________________________ on this day of _____________________, 20__.
Witness my hand and official seal.
[seal]
Notary Public
My commission expires:_________________________