Deneffe v. Skywest, Inc.

Filing 28

STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER by Magistrate Judge Michael E. Hegarty on 8/19/2014. (slibi, )

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO
Civil Action No. 1:14-cv-00348-MEH
FREDERIC CHARLES DENEFFE,
Plaintiff
v.
SKYWEST AIRLINES, INC.,
Defendant.

STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER
Under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c), upon a showing of good cause in support of the entry of
stipulated protective order to protect the discovery and dissemination of trade secrets or other
confidential research, development, personnel or commercial information and information that
will improperly annoy, embarrass, or oppress any party, witness, or person in this case,
IT IS ORDERED:
1.

This Stipulated Protective Order shall apply to all documents, materials and information,
including without limitation, documents produced, answers to interrogatories, responses
to requests for admission, deposition and other information disclosed pursuant to the
disclosure or discovery duties created by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

2.

As used in this Stipulated Protective Order, “document” is defined as provided in Fed. R.
Civ. P. 34(a)(1)(A). A draft or non-identical copy is a separate document within the
meaning of this term.

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3.

Confidential documents, materials, and information (collectively, the “Confidential
Information”) shall not be disclosed or used for any purpose except the preparation and
trial of this case. The duty to keep Confidential Information confidential survives the
completion of this case.

4.

Information designated “Confidential” shall be information that is confidential and
implicates common law and/or statutory privacy interests. Confidential Information may
also include private financial, employment or medical information of Plaintiff Frederic
Charles Deneffe (“Plaintiff”); or confidential business information about Defendant
SkyWest Airlines, Inc. (“Defendant”), and Confidential Information about Defendant’s
employees, contained in medical records, employee personnel files, and/or portions of
documents that contain information generally considered to be confidential such as social
security numbers, dates of birth, and other personal identifying information. As a
condition of designating documents for confidential treatment, the documents must be
reviewed by a party’s legal counsel and a good faith determination must be made that the
documents are entitled to protection.

5.

A party designating documents as Confidential Information may do so by marking such
material with the legend Confidential.

6.

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 portions of
depositions as Confidential after transcription, provided written notice is promptly given

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to all counsel of record within thirty (30) days after notice by the court reporter of the
completion of the transcript.
7.

The parties recognize that Confidential Information may include, but is not limited to,
sensitive and non-public information and records concerning compensation, Defendant’s
employees’ duties and performance, Defendant’s employees’ discipline and promotions,
personnel decisions and other documents related to the Defendant’s employees and
Plaintiff’s employment with Defendant.

8.

All Confidential Information designated “Confidential” may be reviewed only by the
following persons:
a)

the respective parties’ legal counsel working on this case;

b)

persons regularly employed or associated with the respective parties’ legal
counsel whose assistance is required by said attorneys in the preparation of the
case, at trial, or at other proceedings in this case;

c)

the parties, including Plaintiff’s and Defendant’s representative(s) and any
designated advisory witnesses who are directly assisting said attorneys in the
preparation of this case;

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 in any proceeding herein;

f)

stenographic or videographer reporters who are engaged in proceedings
necessarily incident to the conduct of this action;

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g)

deponents, witnesses, or potential witnesses during the course of their testimony
and in preparation for testimony; and

h)
9.

other persons by written agreement of the parties.

Before the parties or their counsel may disclose any Confidential Information to persons
contemplated by Subparagraphs 8(d), 8(g), and 8(h) of this Stipulated Protective Order,
other than a witness during his or her testimony, such person shall be provided a copy of
this Stipulated Protective Order and obtain from such person a written acknowledgment
stating that he or she has read the Stipulated Protective Order and agrees to be bound by
its provisions. All such acknowledgment shall be retained by counsel and shall be
subject to an in camera review by the Court if opposing counsel demonstrates good cause
for review. In the event any counsel of record determines that persons other than those
referenced in Paragraph 8 above have a need to review any Confidential Information,
written authorization of the party who produced the Confidential Information must be
obtained in advance of such disclosure. The disclosing counsel will need to follow the
notice and acknowledgment procedure set forth in this paragraph, prior to disclosing
Confidential Information to a third-party, that is not referenced in paragraph 8 above.
Should the party who produced the Confidential Information refuse such authorization,
counsel may apply to the Court for authorization.

10.

A party may object to the designation of particular Confidential Information by giving
written notice to the party that designated the disputed information and all other parties to
the civil action through their attorneys of record. The written notice shall identify the
information to which the objection is made. If the parties cannot resolve the objection

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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 shall be
treated as confidential under the terms of this Stipulated 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 Stipulated
Protective Order. In connection with a motion filed under his provision, the party
designating the information as Confidential Information shall bear the burden of
establishing that good cause exists for the disputed information to be treated as
Confidential Information. Any designation of Confidentiality or challenge of a
designation of Confidentiality shall be governed by Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c)(1).
11.

The duty to keep confidential any information or documents designated as Confidential
survives the completion of this case. Within thirty (30) days after the conclusion of this
litigation, unless other arrangements are agreed upon, each document and copies thereof
which have been designated as Confidential shall be stored by counsel in a manner which
will preclude others, including the parties and their agents (other than undersigned
counsel), from obtaining such documents. Moreover, copies of all deposition transcripts
referring to the Confidential documents shall be sealed by counsel. The parties will
continue to be bound by the terms of this Protective Order with respect to any
Confidential document or deposition transcript referring to a Confidential documents
stored by counsel after the conclusion of this litigation.

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12.

The Court expressly directs that all litigants, their agents, employees, counsel of record,
and said counsel’s paralegals, 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.

13.

Any item or information inadvertently furnished by the producing party or nonparty
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.

14.

If a Party desires to use Confidential Information in a motion or, at a pretrial hearing, said
Party must file a motion to restrict access, pursuant to D.C.COLO.L.Civ.R 7.2(c), 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 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.

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15.

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, knowingly 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 the
purpose of any contempt proceedings or an action concerning a litigant’s rights to
injunctive relief as a result of such violations.

16.

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.

17.

Nothing in this Protective Order precludes a party from making any use of documents
that were lawfully in its possession at the beginning of this lawsuit.

18.

The parties shall have the right to seek modification of this Order from the Court upon
showing of good cause.

DATED this 19th day of August, 2014, in Denver, Colorado.
BY THE COURT:

Michael E. Hegarty
United States Magistrate Judge

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APPROVED AS TO FORM:
s/
Rosemary Orsini
Berenbaum Weinshienk, P.C.
370 17th Street, Suite 4800
Denver, CO 80202
[e-mail]
s/
Subhashini Bollini
R. Scott Oswald
The Employment Law Group, P.C.
888 17th Street, N.W., Suite 900
Washington, D.C. 20006
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
Attorneys for Plaintiff
Frederic Deneffe

s/ Vance O. Knapp
Vance O. Knapp
Tanya Sevy
Sherman & Howard L.L.C.
633 Seventeenth Street, Suite 3000
Denver, CO 80202
[phone]
[phone]
[phone] (fax)
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
Attorneys for Defendant
SkyWest Airlines, Inc.

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