Dorsey v. CHS, Inc.
Filing
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PROTECTIVE ORDER. By Magistrate Judge Craig B. Shaffer on 03/17/2016. (cbslc1)
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO
Civil Action No. 15-cv-02735-CBS
MARK R. DORSEY,
Plaintiff,
v.
CHS INC., a Minnesota Corporation,
Defendant.
PROTECTIVE ORDER
This matter comes before the Court on the parties’ Joint Motion for Entry of Protective Order.
The Court has reviewed that Motion. The Motion is meritorious and acceptable. Therefore, IT IS
ORDERED:
1.
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.
2.
As used in this Protective Order, “document” is defined as provided in Fed. R. Civ. P.
34(a). A draft or non-identical copy is a separate document within the meaning of this term.
3.
Information designated “CONFIDENTIAL” shall be information that is confidential and
entitled to protection under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c)(1), and that contains (a) personnel information
concerning current and former employees of Defendant CHS Inc. to the extent that such information
implicates privacy interests and is not generally known to the public; (b) proprietary business information
of the Defendant; (c) information containing CHS’s trade secrets and financial data; and (d) information
relating to Plaintiff concerning personal and confidential matters not generally known to the public, such
as, but not limited to, financial data, medical information, and information regarding contacting
prospective employers.
Documents designated as “CONFIDENTIAL” shall be first reviewed by a lawyer who will certify
that the designation is based on a good faith belief that the information is confidential or otherwise
entitled to protection under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c)(1). Parties and attorneys designating documents as
“Confidential” will be representing that such documents contain information the disclosure of which
would implicate an important interest to be protected which outweighs the presumption of public access,
and that they will be able to identify to the Court a clearly defined and serious injury that would result if
access is not restricted, as required by D.C.COLO.LCivR 7.2(B)(2) & (3).
4.
CONFIDENTIAL
documents,
materials,
and/or
information
(collectively
“CONFIDENTIAL information”) shall be used solely for the purpose of this action, and shall not, without
the consent of the party producing it or further Order of the Court, be used, transferred, disclosed or
communicated in any way, 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 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 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; and
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(h)
other persons by written agreement of the parties.
5.
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 an executed
“Written Assurance” in the form attached hereto as Exhibit A. All such written assurances 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.
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.”
7.
In the event Electronically Stored Information (“ESI”) is disclosed or discovered in the
course of this litigation, including, but not limited to, ESI provided in a native format on hard disks or
other magnetic data storage disks, DVDs or CDs, removable disks and/or drives, portions thereof, or
digital images of data storage disks or drives, such information may be designated as CONFIDENTIAL in
a written communication or in an electronic mail message to the non-producing party, affixing
CONFIDENTIAL on the disk or hard drive.
8.
Any party who inadvertently fails to identify documents or information as
CONFIDENTIAL shall, promptly upon discovery of its oversight, provide written notice of the error and
substitute appropriately-designated documents.
Any party receiving such improperly-designated
documents shall promptly 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.
9.
Any party who inadvertently discloses documents that are privileged or protected by the
work product doctrine and/or attorney-client privilege shall, promptly upon discovery of such inadvertent
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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 and copies the receiving party
provided to any other individual or entity, within 5 business days of receiving such a written request.
10.
Any pleadings, exhibits or filings which contain CONFIDENTIAL information, or
testimony designated as CONFIDENTIAL, 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 material 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 (10) business days before the
filing is to occur. If such a request is made, counsel for the designating party shall, within five (5)
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 materials 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.
11.
Whenever a deposition involves the disclosure of CONFIDENTIAL information, the
portions thereof that involve the disclosure of CONFIDENTIAL information 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 of the designation is
promptly given to all counsel of record within thirty (30) calendar days after notice by the court reporter
of the completion of the transcript. Transcript pages containing CONFIDENTIAL information must be
separately bound by the court reporter, who must affix to the top of each such page the legend
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“CONFIDENTIAL,” as instructed by the party or non-party offering or sponsoring the witness or
presenting the testimony.
12.
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 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 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.
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, 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.
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14.
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.
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.
Dated at Denver, Colorado this 17th day of March, 2016.
BY THE COURT:
s/Craig B. Shaffer
United States Magistrate Judge
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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO
Civil Action No. 15-cv-02735-CBS
MARK R. DORSEY,
Plaintiff,
v.
CHS INC., a Minnesota Corporation,
Defendant.
EXHIBIT A TO PROTECTIVE ORDER – CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT
I, _________________________________________ the undersigned, hereby declares that:
I reside at _______________________________________ in the City of __________________,
County of
, State of
_____________. My
telephone number is __________________________________.
I acknowledge that I have been informed that a Protective Order issued by the Court in the above
captioned civil action requires confidentiality with respect to information designated as
“CONFIDENTIAL” and therefore I agree to keep all such information and materials strictly and
absolutely confidential, and in all other respects be bound by the provisions of the Protective Order.
As soon as practical, but no later than 30 days after final termination of this action, I shall return to
the attorney from whom I have received them, any documents in my possession designated
“CONFIDENTIAL,” and all copies, excerpts, summaries, notes, digests, abstracts, and indices relating to
such documents.
Executed on ______________________
(Date)
___________________________
(Signature)
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