Beall v. SST Energy Corporation
Filing
43
STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER entered by Magistrate Judge Nina Y. Wang on 11/5/15. (bsimm, )
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO
Civil Action No. 1:15-cv-01741-MSK-NYW
SHANNON BEALL,
Plaintiff,
v.
SST ENERGY CORPORATION, a Colorado Corporation,
Defendant.
STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER
The Parties represent that allegations, claims and defenses in this case may put at issue
trade secrets or other confidential research, development, or commercial information of defendant,
including without limitation confidential personnel information of employees. The allegations,
claims and defenses may also put at issue the financial records and related information of plaintiff
and other employees. Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c), the need to protect the confidentiality of
this information and disclose it only in designated ways is good cause for entry of a protective
order. Accordingly, the court enters a protective order as follows.
1.
Definitions. As used herein, the terms set forth below shall have the following
meaning:
a.
“Action” means the above-referenced lawsuit captioned Beall v. SST
Energy Corporation, Civil Action No. 1:15-cv-1741-MSK-NYW.
b.
“CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION” shall include, but not be limited to,
trade secrets, financial data, and other technological, operational and/or proprietary information
relating to Defendant's business that is not publicly available or known.
Confidential
information shall also include sensitive personnel information regarding Defendant’s current
and/or former employees. In addition, Confidential information shall include sensitive personal
information pertaining to named and opt-in plaintiffs.
c.
“Documents” are all materials within the scope of Fed. R. Civ. P. 34.
d.
“Confidential – Attorneys’ Eyes Only” documents are the subset of
Confidential documents designated pursuant to paragraph 2.
e.
“Discovery Material” shall mean documents, testimony, interrogatory
answers or other information disclosed in this Action.
f.
“Party” means any person, association, partnership, corporation or other
entity that is named as a party in, or who opts in as a party to, this Action.
g.
“Attorneys” means counsel of record in this Action.
h.
“Producing Party” means any party to this Action who responds to a
discovery request or otherwise provides information to another Party or the Court in connection
with this Action.
i.
“Receiving Party” means any Party who receives information from a
Producing Party.
j.
“Third Party” means any person, association, partnership, corporation or
other entity that is not a party in this Action.
2.
Designation of Information as “Confidential”
a.
Any Party to this action may designate as “Confidential” any
2
CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION produced in this Action, including documents, discovery
responses and transcripts containing CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION. Such designation of
“Confidential” will only be made after counsel of record reviews such information and certifies
that such designation is appropriate under Rule 26(g) and is consistent with the protection of
statutory or common law privacy interests.
b.
Discovery Materials designated as “Confidential” (and all copies,
summaries, or quotations of such information) shall be used solely for purposes of this Action
and shall not be used for any business, commercial, competitive, personal or other purposes, and
shall not be transferred, disclosed or communicated (directly or indirectly) to any person other
than the following:
(1)
The Court, persons employed by the Court, and stenographers
transcribing the testimony or argument at a hearing, trial or deposition in this case;
(2)
Attorneys in this Action and their office staff, legal assistants, and
clerical employees, for purposes related to this litigation and to the extent such disclosure is
reasonably necessary;
(3)
Defendant, its officers and its current managers;
(4)
Persons shown on the face of a document to have authored or
received the document;
(5)
Expert witnesses retained for the prosecution or defense of this
(6)
Witnesses at deposition or trial, and the witnesses' counsel, if
litigation; and
CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION is reasonably necessary and related to their anticipated
3
testimony.
(7)
Parties to this action, including any person, association,
partnership, corporation or other entity that is named as a party in, or who opts in as a party to,
this Action.
Before being given or shown any Discovery Materials designated as “Confidential,”
persons in categories (5) and (6) shall be provided with a copy of this Protective Order and agree
to be bound by its terms, which agreement shall be in substantially the form of the agreement
attached as Exhibit A to this Order.
c.
The parties shall have the right to further designate CONFIDENTIAL
INFORMATION or portions thereof as "Confidential – Attorneys' Eyes Only." Disclosure of
such information to any individual not affiliated with the producing party shall be limited to the
persons designated in paragraphs 2.b. (1), (2), (3), (5), (6), and (7)
d.
Third parties producing documents in the course of this Action may also
designate documents as “Confidential” or “Confidential – Attorneys’ Eyes Only”, subject to the
same protections and constraints as the parties to the action. A copy of the Protective Order shall
be served along with any subpoena served in connection with this action. All documents
produced by such third parties shall be treated as “Confidential – Attorneys’ Eyes Only” for a
period of 15 days from the date of their production, and during that period any party may
designate such documents as “Confidential” or “Confidential – Attorneys’ Eyes Only” pursuant
to the terms of the Protective Order.
e.
Any and all documents or discovery responses claimed “Confidential” by
a party shall be identified as such by stamping or labeling each page of the document or
4
discovery response claimed confidential with the word “Confidential” or, in the case of
documents produced by a third party, by designating in writing the Bates ranges of documents
considered confidential.
f.
Deposition
testimony
containing
or
reflecting
CONFIDENTIAL
INFORMATION is to be governed by the terms of this Protective Order. All depositions or
portions of depositions taken in this Action that contain trade secret or other CONFIDENTIAL
INFORMATION may be designated “Confidential” or “Confidential – Attorneys’ Eyes Only”
and thereby obtain the protections accorded other “Confidential” or “Confidential – Attorneys’
Eyes Only” documents. Confidentiality designations for depositions shall be made either on the
record or by written notice to the other party within 15 days of receipt of the transcript. Unless
otherwise agreed, depositions shall be treated as “Confidential – Attorneys’ Eyes Only” during
the 15-day period following receipt of the transcript. The deposition of any witness (or any
portion of such deposition) that includes CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION shall be taken only
in the presence of persons who are qualified to have access to such information.
g.
In the event a Producing Party elects to produce large volumes of files
and records for inspection and a Receiving Party desires to inspect such files and records in
order to facilitate prompt discovery, no designation of confidentiality need be made by the
Producing Party in advance of the initial inspection. For purposes of the initial inspection, all
Documents within the produced files and records shall be treated as CONFIDENTIAL
INFORMATION. Thereafter, upon selection by a Receiving Party of specified Documents for
copying, the Producing Party shall mark the copies of such Documents that contain
CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION with the appropriate legend referred to above in
5
subparagraph 2(e).
3.
Use of CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION in Court Filings and at
Trial/Hearings.
a.
If a party files seeks to restrict a document containing CONFIDENTIAL
INFORMATION with the Court, it shall be filed pursuant to D.C.Colo.L CivR 7.2 (b)
designated Level 1. No further Motion to Restrict pursuant to D.C.Colo.L CivR 7.2(c) shall be
necessary for such filing. Nothing in this Order may be construed as any Order by the court to
require restriction of any document, regardless of whether the Parties have designated or
stipulated to such document as “Confidential.”
b.
The use of CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION at trial or hearing shall be
addressed in any pre-trial or pre-hearing order or by a stipulation submitted by the Parties to
comport with the Court’s pre-trial or pre-hearing filing deadlines. Prior to disclosure at trial or
hearing of materials or information designated “Confidential” or “Confidential – Attorneys’ Eyes
Only,” the parties may seek further protections against public disclosure from the Court.
4.
Restriction on Use of CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION
a.
Information designated as “Confidential” pursuant to this Order shall be
used only for purposes of this litigation and shall not be publicized, revealed or otherwise made
available to any person other than as described in subparagraph 2.b.
b.
Nothing in the Order shall prevent disclosure beyond the terms of this
Order if the Party designating the information as “Confidential” has previously consented to such
disclosure, in writing or on the record, or if the Court, after notice to all Parties, orders such
disclosure.
6
5.
Inadvertent Failure to Designate as Confidential; Inadvertent Disclosure
a.
Any party who inadvertently fails to identify documents as “Confidential”
or “Confidential – Attorneys’ Eyes Only” shall promptly, upon discovery of its oversight, provide
written notice of the error and substitute appropriately designated documents.
Any party
receiving such inadvertently unmarked or improperly designated documents shall retrieve such
documents from persons not entitled to receive those documents and, upon receipt of the
substitute documents, shall return or destroy the improperly-designated documents.
b.
In accordance with Federal Rule of Evidence 502(b) and (d), any party
who inadvertently discloses documents that are privileged or otherwise immune from discovery
shall, promptly upon discovery of such inadvertent disclosure, so advise the receiving party and
request that the documents be returned. The receiving party shall return such inadvertently
produced documents, including all copies, within 10 days of receiving such a written request.
The party returning such inadvertently produced documents may thereafter seek re-production of
any such documents pursuant to applicable law.
6.
Objections to Designation of “Confidential. ” In the event, at any stage of the
proceedings, any party to these cases disagrees with designation of any information as
CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION, the parties shall first try to resolve such dispute in good
faith on an informal basis. If the dispute cannot be resolved informally, the party opposing the
confidentiality designation may apply for appropriate relief to this Court, which will be permitted
to conduct an in camera inspection of the challenged materials.
The party seeking
confidentiality of the information shall have the burden of establishing that the information is
entitled to confidential treatment. Information subject to such a motion shall be treated as
7
“Confidential” pending resolution of the motion by the Court.
7.
Disposition of CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION Following Conclusion of
Action. All originals and copies of the CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION shall be destroyed or
returned to the Producing Party within 90 days of the final disposition of this action, whether by
dismissal, settlement, judgment or appeal. In addition, the Receiving Party shall destroy all
copies of CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION and any summaries, extracts and/or data taken
from documents designated as "Confidential" or "Confidential-Attorneys' Eyes Only."
Notwithstanding the foregoing requirement, one attorney for each side shall be entitled to retain
one complete set of all documents produced or generated in this Action. Such documents may
not be disclosed or used for any purpose except to defend counsel's actions in a professional
malpractice action. Upon the expiration of the limitations period for any such action, either party
may request that the Receiving Party destroy all remaining documents designated as
"Confidential" or "Confidential-Attorneys' Eyes Only." Such documents shall be destroyed and a
certification of destruction provided to the Producing Party within 60 days of receipt of such
request.
8.
Miscellaneous
a.
Nothing in the Protective Order shall be deemed to limit the extent to
which counsel for the parties may advise or represent their respective clients, conduct discovery,
prepare for trial, present proof at trial, or oppose the production or admissibility of any
information or documents which have been requested.
b.
Consent to this Protective Order shall not be construed as an agreement by
any party to produce or supply any information, as a waiver by any party of its right to object to
8
any discovery sought by any other party or as a waiver of any privilege. Production, receipt or
designation of information pursuant to this Protective Order as CONFIDENTIAL
INFORMATION shall not be construed as a concession by any party that such information is
relevant or material to any issue in this case.
c.
In the event that a Receiving Party receives any subpoena or process
pertaining to any CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION, it will immediately notify counsel for the
Producing Party.
No party receiving such a subpoena or process shall furnish copies of
CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION to, or permit inspection thereof by, the person seeking the
CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION by subpoena or process, except pursuant to the consent of
the Producing Party or an order of a Court of competent jurisdiction.
d.
This Protective Order shall remain in full force and effect until such time
as it is modified, amended or rescinded by the Court or until such time as the parties may petition
the Court to modify or amend its terms. The obligations of the Protective Order shall survive the
termination of the Action.
DATED at Denver, Colorado, this 5th day of November, 2015.
BY THE COURT:
s/ Nina Y. Wang
United States Magistrate Judge
9
APPROVED:
/s/ Michael A. Josephson
Michael A. Josephson
FIBICH, LEEBRON, COPELAND BRIGGS
& JOSEPHSON
1150 Bissonnet Street
Houston, Texas 77005
713-751-0025 Telephone
713-751-0030 Facsimile
mjosephson@fibichlaw.com
/s/ MaryBeth Sobel Schroeder
MaryBeth Sobel Schroeder
Schroeder & Griffith, LLP
1580 Lincoln Street, Suite 1200
Denver, Colorado 80203
303-296-1400 Telephone
303-302-3088 Facsimile
mbschroeder@s-g-lawyers.com
10
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO
Civil Action No. 1:15-cv-1741-MSK
SHANNON R. BEALL, individually and on behalf of all
others similarly situated,
Plaintiff,
v.
SST ENERGY CORPORATION, a Colorado Corporation
Defendant.
AGREEMENT
I have read and understand the Stipulated Protective Order entered in this lawsuit. I
acknowledge that information designated as CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION pursuant to such
Protective Order is being disclosed to me only upon the condition that I agree to be subject to that
Order and that I agree not to disclose such CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION to anyone, unless
I am expressly permitted to do so under that Protective Order. I acknowledge and agree that such
CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION shall be used solely and exclusively for purposes of this
lawsuit and shall not be used in or for any other cases, proceedings or disputes, or for any
commercial, business, competitive or other purpose whatsoever. I hereby agree to abide by and
be bound by such Order.
Signature
Printed Name
EXHIBIT A
11
Disclaimer: Justia Dockets & Filings provides public litigation records from the federal appellate and district courts. These filings and docket sheets should not be considered findings of fact or liability, nor do they necessarily reflect the view of Justia.
Why Is My Information Online?