OLAH v. O'REILLY AUTOMOTIVE STORES, INC.
Filing
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ORDER granting 10 Motion for Protective Order. Ordered by US DISTRICT JUDGE CLAY D. LAND on 1/30/2019 (tlf).
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
COLUMBUS DIVISION
RALF OLAH,
Plaintiff,
CIVIL ACTION FILE
NO. 4:18-cv-00111-CDL
v.
O’REILLY AUTOMOTIVE STORES, INC.
d/b/a O’REILLY AUTO PARTS,
Defendant.
AGREED PROTECTIVE ORDER
WHEREAS, the parties are engaged in discovery which involves, among
other things, the production of information by the parties which one or both parties
deem confidential, including personal, proprietary or commercial information, the
parties have agreed to provide confidential information subject to the protective
provisions below.
DEFINITIONS
A.
Confidential Information: “Confidential Information” includes, but is
not limited to: medical information regarding a party or non-party; non-public
commercial or business information or documents, including company policies,
practices, and procedures; financial and sales information; Social Security numbers;
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tax identification numbers; bank or financial institution account numbers; certain
information contained in employment files of a party or non-party; and any
information designated to be Confidential by a party which is produced solely for
the purposes of this litigation, whether it is revealed in a document, deposition,
interrogatory response or otherwise. In the event that a disagreement arises with
respect to the designation of certain information as Confidential, the parties will
attempt to resolve the dispute before presenting it to the Court. The non-designating
party may then, however, challenge the designation by way of conference or
application to the Court.
B.
Document means any written or graphic matter, no matter how
produced, recorded, stored or reproduced and includes, without limitation,
deposition transcripts, exhibits thereto, responses to discovery demands, tape
recordings and electronically stored data.
C.
Qualified Persons means (i) the party and the party’s counsel, including
such counsel’s associate attorneys assisting in this action; (ii) any litigation assistant,
paralegal, stenographic, secretarial or clerical personnel assisting such counsel in
this action; (iii) persons retained by or on behalf of the party in this action solely to
assist in the preparation of this case for trial; (iv) any assistant, stenographic,
secretarial or clerical personnel employed by an expert or assisting such expert in
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the preparation of this case for trial; (v) the Court and any court reporter or typist
transcribing testimony; and (vi) any other persons agreed to in writing by the parties.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS REGARDING PRODUCTION, ACCEPTANCE
AND DISSEMINATION OF CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION
1.
Only Qualified Persons may have access to Confidential Information.
2.
Qualified Persons shall use Confidential Information solely for the
purposes of this action and shall not disclose any Confidential Information to anyone
other than a Qualified Person who has complied with the requirements of Paragraph
3 below.
3.
Prior to the receipt of Confidential Information, all Qualified Persons,
except those identified in Paragraph C (i), (ii), and (v), shall have read this Order
and agree to be bound by its terms, and acknowledge that Confidential Information
is to be used solely for the purposes of this action and must not be disclosed except
as provided this Order. All Qualified Persons further agree to not make any copies
of the Confidential Information and keep any Confidential Information in their
personal custody until they have completed their assigned duties regarding such
information. As soon as such duties are completed, Qualified Persons shall return
the Confidential Information to the party’s counsel who provided it. Qualified
Persons acknowledge that that violation of the terms of this Order may be regarded
as contempt of court.
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4.
If a party intends to file with the Court or offer in evidence at trial or in
any other proceedings in open court any document(s) containing Confidential
Information, the party shall do so in accordance with the following procedure:
ADDED BY THE COURT:
If a party seeks to file or admit any evidence covered by this protective order in
support of or in opposition to any motion or during any hearing or trial, that party
shall notify the opposing party at least 14 days prior to filing the motion and/or 14
days prior to the hearing or trial. The opposing party shall have 7 days to respond
objecting to the public disclosure of the information, and the opposing party shall
also file a motion to allow the materials to be filed under seal, which shall state a
compelling reason in support of that motion. The Court will closely scrutinize any
such requests at that time, with the presumption that any evidence relied upon in a
filed motion or in opposition to any such motion or to be used in a hearing or trial
shall be a public record. Accordingly, when materials are to be used in the foregoing
manner, a party will not be allowed to file the materials under seal just because they
are covered by this discovery protective order.
5.
Any documents (including briefs), tangible things or information
designated as Confidential that are submitted to the Court in support of or in
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opposition to a motion or introduced at a hearing or during trial may retain their
protected confidential status only by order of the Court in accordance with the Local
Rules of the Middle District of Georgia. Specifically, if a party seeks to use
information designated as confidential under this protective order in filings before
the Court, it is the burden of the designating party to show “good cause” to the Court
why the confidential information should be filed under seal.
6.
All Confidential Information, including any copies thereof and any
notices or other records regarding such information, shall be permanently
maintained within the exclusive custody and control of the counsel for the party
receiving such information. However, Confidential Information may be temporarily
removed from said custody and control in order to permit Qualified Persons to utilize
it in any depositions or Court proceedings in this action.
7.
Within sixty (60) days of the termination of this action, each party shall,
upon the request of the opposite party, return or destroy all documents containing
Confidential Information received from the party to that party, including all copies
of such documents which may have been made, but not including any notices or
other attorney work product that may have been placed thereon by counsel. The
party receiving back such Confidential Information shall acknowledge the receipt of
such documents in writing; if documents are destroyed, the party destroying the
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documents shall certify that all such documents have been destroyed pursuant to the
provisions of this Order. Any copies of Confidential Information claimed by an
attorney to contain attorney work product shall be destroyed by the counsel asserting
the privilege within sixty (60) days of the termination of this action.
8.
Because the parties to this case or third parties may be required to
produce documents, answer interrogatories, and provide testimony and other
information that may contain information covered by the attorney-client privilege or
work product doctrine, and in order to permit discovery to proceed without delay
and avoid possible disputes regarding the privileged or protected nature of such
information, the Court enters this “Clawback” Provision to expedite and facilitate
the production of electronic and hard copy data, information and documents, and to
protect against inadvertent disclosure of attorney-client privileged communications
or work product materials.
The inadvertent disclosure or production of any
information or document that is subject to an objection on the basis of attorney-client
privilege or work-product protection, including but not limited to information or
documents that may be considered Confidential Information under this Protective
Order, will not be deemed to waive a party’s claim to its privileged or protected
nature or estop that party or the privilege holder from designating the information or
document as attorney-client privileged or subject to the work product doctrine at a
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later date. Any party receiving such information or document(s) shall return it upon
request from the producing party. Upon receiving such a request as to specific
information or documents, the recipient party shall return the information or
documents to the producing party within five (5) business days, regardless of
whether the recipient party agrees with the claim of privilege and/or work-product
protection. Disclosure of the information or documents by the other party prior to
such later designation shall not be deemed a violation of the provisions of this Order.
9.
Nothing in this Order will prejudice either party from seeking
amendments thereto, or from seeking any further order from the Court to protect
information such party deems appropriate for such other relief as may be necessary.
The Court hereby enters and approves the parties’ Agreed Protective Order as
the Order of this Court.
SO ORDERED, this 30th day of _January , 2019.
S/Clay D. Land
Clay D. Land
CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
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