Williams v. Board of Commissioners of the Greenwood Leflore Hospital

Filing 37

PROTECTIVE ORDER. Signed by Magistrate Judge Jane M. Virden on 9/12/16. (ncb)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF MISSISSIPPI
OXFORD DIVISION

LAQUANIA M. WILLIAMS,

)
)
Plaintiff,
)
)
VS.
)
)
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
)
OF THE GREENWOOD LEFLORE
)
HOSPITAL,
)
)
Defendant.
)
____________________________________)

CIVIL ACTION NO.
3:16CV-098-NBB-JMV

STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER
WHEREAS the undersigned Parties recognize that certain records, documents, files, and
information to be produced in this case pursuant to discovery and motion practice may contain
confidential or proprietary business or personal information, the Parties to the above-captioned
action have agreed, through their respective counsel, to protect against the disclosure and
dissemination of such information (hereinafter called “Confidential Information”) by means of
this Protective Order (“Protective Order”).
WHEREFORE, it is hereby stipulated and agreed by and between Plaintiff Laquania M.
Williams (“Plaintiff”) and Defendant, Greenwood Leflore Hospital (“Defendant”), through their
respective counsel and subject to the approval of the Court, that:
1. The following categories of information or documents produced by any Party during
the course of discovery by way of answers to interrogatories, production of
documents, depositions, or other discovery devices, whether compelled or voluntary,

is Confidential Information and shall be subject to the further provisions of this
Protective Order:
(a) Medical information regarding any patient of GLH;
(b) Contracts, agreements, insurance policies, letters, memoranda, correspondence, emails, or other documents, information or communications relating to any
interacts between GLH and its patients;
(c) Performance, disciplinary, wage, salary, payroll, medical, workers’ compensation
claims history; insurance or benefit claim history and other personnel information
for GLH’s employees other than that of Plaintiff;
(d) Any personal information about any current or former employee of GLH other
than Plaintiff;
(e) Any similar confidential or proprietary business or personal data or other
information designated as “Confidential” by a Party.
2. The Parties, in complying with discovery requests served upon them in this litigation
or upon them in this litigation or upon voluntarily producing any documents,
information, or other items, may designate any portion of any document, information
or other item “Confidential” because it contains material claimed to be Confidential
Information. Any portions of any documents, information or other items so marked
“Confidential” shall be subject to this Protective Order and shall be used only for
purposes of this litigation. Materials designated “Confidential” and covered by this
Protective Order may be disclosed only to: (a) Counsel of record appearing for a
Party in this case; (b) Counsel of record’s paralegals and other law firm employees in
counsel of record’s office, as necessary for the prosecution, defense, settlement or

2 

appeal of this litigation; (c) any Party; (d) experts retained for the purposes of
assisting counsel and/or testifying in this litigation; (e) any officer, manager, or
employee of Defendant; and (f) court reporters.
3. If oral information or testimony containing alleged Confidential Information is
required by be given by a deponent at a deposition in this proceeding, that
Confidential Information shall be given to the person described in Paragraph 2 of this
Protective Order. If the deposition is transcribed, the Party seeking confidentiality
shall receive a copy of the transcript and may designate as “Confidential” the relevant
portions of it. The Party seeking confidentiality shall have thirty (30) business days
after receipt to make such a designation, until that time period lapses or until such
designation has been made, whichever occurs sooner. Thereafter, disclosure of those
parts of the transcript designated “Confidential” shall be restricted to the witness and
those permitted access to such Confidential Information under Paragraph 2 above, as
applicable.
4. A Party who desires to challenge the designation of Confidential Information by
another Party shall give the Party seeking confidentiality seven (7) days’ written
notice of the challenge, and the Parties shall confer in good faith to resolve any
dispute prior to the challenging Party seeking relief from the Court.
5. A Party who desires to disclose Confidential Information covered by this Protective
Order to an individual, to whom disclosure is not expressly permitted under the
restricts of Paragraph 2 above, may only disclose such Confidential Information upon
Order of the Court or upon the express written consent of the Party seeking
confidentiality. The Party seeking to make such a disclosure shall give the Party

3 

seeking confidentiality seven (7) days’ written notice of the need to disclose such
Confidential Information, and the Parties shall confer in good faith to resolve any
dispute prior to seeking relief from the Court.
6. Should any Party desire to file any document produced by the other Party and marked
as Confidential as evidence in this matter or at the trial of this matter, that Party shall
arrange for a conference between all Parties to discuss, in good faith, whether the
document can be filed “as is” or whether the Parties can agree to certain redactions to
protect the confidentiality of privacy concerns with respect to the document. If
redactions are agreed upon by the Parties, the Party filing the document may not
separately submit an un-redacted version for the Court’s consideration. If the Parties
cannot agree as to filing “as is,” or with redactions acceptable to all Parties, the Party
or non-party objecting to the filling shall file a motion requesting that the document
or testimony be filed under seal or filed with redactions and setting forth the basis for
such sealing or redaction. If the Court denies the motion, the document may be filed
“as is” unless the Court directs otherwise. Nothing in this paragraph requires any
party to confer prior to using or filing its own documents marked as Confidential.
7. No person granted access to documents or information covered by the provisions of
this Protective Order shall copy or reproduce any portion thereof, except for such
copies as needed for discovery, pleadings, motions or briefs, or as needed by Counsel
for a Party to maintain records for the prosecution, defense, settlement or appeal of
this litigation.
8. With respect to medical information of any GLH patient, Counsel shall: (a) provide a
copy of this Protective Order to each and every person to whom a disclosure is made;

4 

(b) request that such person read the provisions of the Protective Order; (c) advise
such person of the restraint imposed upon him or her as set forth in Paragraph 2 of
this Protective Order; (d) request that such person endorse an Agreement to Respect
Confidential Information; and (e) retain a copy of each endorsed Agreement to
Respect Confidential Information for the duration of this litigation.

At the

termination of this litigation, counsel shall upon request provide to opposing counsel
on request, copies of all such endorsed Agreement(s) to Protect Confidential
Information. The requirements of this Paragraph do not apply if the medical records
can be redacted to Defendant’s reasonable satisfaction so as to remove any reference
to the patient such as name, age, social security or driver’s license numbers, telephone
numbers, email addresses, or any other identifying information.
9. Except as provided above, this Protective Order shall not prevent any party from
applying to the Court for relief therefrom or from applying to the Court for further or
additional protective orders, or from the Parties agreeing to modification of this
Protective Order, subject to the approval of the Court. Nothing in this Protective
Order shall be deemed to limit a Party’s right to oppose discovery on any other
ground.
10. The provisions of this Protective Order shall remain in full force and effect following
conclusion of this litigation. At that time, counsel shall: (1) return to the opposing
counsel, upon request, all discovery, information, documents and copies thereof
subject to this Protective Order; or (2) represent to opposing counsel, upon request,
that all discovery, information, documents, and copies thereof subject to this
Protective Order have been destroyed.

5 

IT IS SO ORDERED, this 12th day of September, 2016.

/s/ Jane M. Virden
_______________
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
Submitted by:

s/ Susan Fahey Desmond
Susan Fahey Desmond
Mississippi Bar # 5116
JACKSON LEWIS, P.C.
650 Poydras Street, Suite 1900
New Orleans, LA 70130
Telephone: [phone]
Facsimile: 504-208-1759
Email: [e-mail]
COUNSEL FOR BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
OF THE GREENWOOD LEFLORE HOSPITAL

4845-4812-7544, v. 2

6