Turnage v. Cleveland State Bank et al

Filing 19

PROTECTIVE ORDER. Signed by Jane M Virden on 03/27/2014. (lec)

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

ELLIS TURNAGE, ON BEHALF OF
HIMSELF AND ALL OTHERS SIMILARLY
SITUATED LOAN APPLICANTS AND BORROWERS
V.

PLAINTIFFS

CIVIL ACTION NO. 4:13-cv-00145-JMV

CLEVELAND STATE BANK;
CHARLOTTE EDWARDS, DANNY WHALEN
AND CALVIN DYE, INDIVIDUALLY AND IN
THEIR OFFICIAL CAPACITIES AS LOAN COMMITTEE
MEMBERS AND OFFICERS; AND JOHN DOES 1-5

DEFENDANTS

PROTECTIVE ORDER
THIS Agreed Protective Order (hereinafter “Order”) governs the disclosure and use of
confidential information, as defined below, relating to any documents (whether in hard copy,
electronically stored, in computer files, or any other digital format) produced to or by the
Plaintiffs or the Defendants and shall be subject to the following provisions unless otherwise
agreed by the parties or ordered by the Court.
IT IS THEREFORE, ORDERED as follows:
A.

“Confidential information” means information or other form of evidence or

discovery the producing party believes, in good faith, embodies, contains, or reflects confidential
or proprietary information that is used by it in, or pertaining to, its business, which information is
not generally known and which that party would normally not reveal to third parties, including
but not limited to confidential research and development, policies, commercial, consumer,
proprietary, non-public, technical, business, financial, minutes of corporate or committee
meetings, sensitive, customer, third-party or private information or information or tangible things

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that qualify for protection under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 26(c). Any party may
designate documents produced, or testimony given, in connection with this action as
“Confidential.” The designation of documents as “Confidential” shall be made by stamping or
writing the word “CONFIDENTIAL” on the face of the copy of the document delivered by the
producing party to the requesting party.
B.

If any Party disagrees with the designation by the producing Party of any material

as confidential information, then counsel for the objecting Party and counsel for the producing
Party will attempt first to resolve the dispute on an informal basis before presenting the dispute
to the Court. All items objected to shall continue to be treated as confidential information
pending resolution of the Parties' dispute by the Court. If the dispute cannot be resolved
informally, the objecting Party shall seek the intervention of the Court, and the producing Party
bears the burden of persuading the Court that the information is in fact confidential information
within the definition of that term set forth herein.
C.

Entering into, agreeing to, and/or complying with the terms of this Order shall

not: (a) operate as an admission by the producing Party that any particular documents, material,
or information contain or reflect proprietary or commercial information; or (b) prejudice in any
way the right of a Party at any time (i) to seek a determination by the Court of whether any
particular document, item of material or piece of information should be subject to the terms of
this Order; (ii) to seek relief on appropriate notice from any provision(s) of this Order, either
generally or as to any particular document, item of material or piece of information; (iii) to
object to any discovery request, including the right to assert that no discovery should be had of
certain documents or information; or (iv) to seek documents or other information from any
source.

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D.

The parties and their attorneys shall use such documents, records, file, or other

information only for the purpose of the preparation and prosecution of this particular litigation
and for no other purpose whatsoever.
E.

The parties and their attorneys shall not copy, disseminate, give, show, make

available, discuss, or communicate any such documents, records, files, or other information
produced or provided by either side to anyone other than to:
a. attorneys, paralegals and/or clerical employees, for the law firms of record in
this matter;
b. any outside experts or consultants used or retained in connection with the
above-referenced action to the extent deemed necessary by counsel to aid in
the prosecution, defense or settlement of the above-referenced action;
c. the Court and its officers when required in the proceeding herein;
d. a deponent or trial witness, including counsel for the deponent or witness, in
the above-captioned action, during the course of examination;
e. any person identified by the parties as having discoverable knowledge herein
and to aid in the prosecution, defense or settlement of the above-referenced
action;
f. a third party for the limited purpose of copying documents or providing
messenger service for documents to the extent reasonably necessary for use in
preparation for and participation in trial of and proceedings in this case; or
g. any professional, administrative, or regulatory body having regulatory
oversight of the parties hereto.
The parties shall insure that any person or entity authorized to review confidential information

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covered by this Order shall comply with the confidentiality requirements of this Order and be
subject to the jurisdiction of the Court for enforcement purposes. Prior to receiving any
Confidential Information, the recipient shall execute a Statement for Protective Order in the
form attached hereto as Exhibit “A.”
F.

Neither party nor their attorneys, shall copy, transcribe, or otherwise reproduce in

written or any other form any part or portion of any such documents, records, files or other
information covered by this Order, except as necessary for purposes of the litigation and as
allowed by the Court.
G.

Neither party nor their attorneys shall discuss or disclose the contents of any

confidential information covered by this Order with any other person, except between
themselves for purposes of this particular action, or between the parties or counsel of record, or
between other persons permitted in this Order and that have signed a Statement of Protective
Order in the form attached hereto as Exhibit “A.”.
H.

Documents, records, files or other information covered by this Order do not

lose their protection if they are used in depositions, discovery responses, or other non-public
litigation proceedings of this case, and counsel shall exercise their best efforts and take all steps
reasonably required to protect the confidentiality of same during such use and regarding any
subsequent transcription of the proceeding.
I.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this Order to the contrary, the

confidentiality obligations of this Order shall not apply or shall cease to apply to any information
that:
a. at the time of disclosure hereunder was generally known to the public or the
document containing the information is already in the public record by

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publication or otherwise;
b. since the time of disclosure hereunder has become, through no act or failure
on the part of the receiving party, part of the public domain by publication or
otherwise;
c. was disclosed to a third party having no obligation of confidentiality to the
producing

party

hereunder,

except

to

the

extent

that

such information was disclosed for the purpose of circumventing the
protection of trade secrets and other confidential and proprietary information.
d. the producing party agrees the confidential information may be disclosed to a
third party under no obligation of confidentiality; or
e. The producing party makes the confidential information an exhibit to any
hearing and/or motion filed with the Court not under seal.
The confidentiality obligations of this Order shall not cease to apply to any information that is
inadvertently or intentionally disclosed by either party or any third party.
J.

Nothing in this Order shall prohibit either party from objecting to the production

or disclosure of any such documents, records, files, or other information on the grounds that
such information is confidential, proprietary, a trade secret, sensitive, protected by a medical
privilege or HIPAA, protected by the attorney/client or work product privilege, or on any other
basis under the law. Furthermore, nothing in this Order shall preclude the parties from objecting
to the admissibility or use of the confidential documents, records, files, or other information in
this litigation. This Order shall not be construed as a waiver of any party’s right to object to
admission of the Discovery Materials during the discovery process or at any hearing.
K.

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Nothing in this Order shall prohibit either party from moving to require that any

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such documents, records, files, or other information that are filed with the Court be filed under
seal, in which case such pleadings or documents shall be filed under seal. Any party may request
that a pleading or other documents filed with the Court be placed under seal. Such request shall
comply with the requirements and procedures of Rule 79 of the Uniform District Court Rules of
the Northern and Southern Districts of Mississippi. Upon the Court approving the request, the
Pleadings or other documents shall be submitted pursuant to requirements and procedures of
Rule 79 of the Uniform District Court Rules of the Northern and Southern Districts of
Mississippi and/or as requested by the Court. Until further order of the Court, such Pleadings or
other documents shall remain under seal except for their use by the Court or pursuant to consent
of the party or parties claiming confidentiality.
L.

Where disputes arise as to the applicability of this Order to any such documents,

records, files or other information produced or provided by either party, such disputes shall be
resolved, if possible, by agreement of the parties to this action. If after a reasonable time the
parties cannot reach an agreement to resolve such a dispute, either party may move the Court to
rule on the issue.
M.

The provisions of this Order shall survive and remain in full force and effect after

the entry of final judgment, including any appellate proceedings in this case, whether by
settlement or adjudication.
N.

This Order is entered without prejudice to the right of any party to seek

modification of this Order. Nothing in this Order shall prohibit a party from seeking further
protection of Discovery Materials by stipulation among all the parties or by application to the
Court.
O.

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Nothing in this Order shall restrict the use by a party of Discovery Materials that

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it produced, authored, prepared or otherwise generated.
P.

If any material as to which a party claims privilege is inadvertently produced

during discovery in this proceeding, such inadvertent production shall not be a waiver of any
claim of privilege by the asserting party. Upon receiving notice of the inadvertent production of
a privileged document, the other parties shall immediately return to the party asserting the
privilege all originals and copies of the documents as to which a claim of privilege is asserted.
This provision is without prejudice to any party’s right to move or to make application for an
order directing that privileged documents already in possession of another party be returned to
the party asserting the privilege and seek to restrict the use of the documents or information
contained therein. This provision shall not be deemed a waiver of the right of any party to
challenge a claim of privilege
Q.

Disclosure of any discovery materials by any party to this action in contravention

of the terms of this Order may result in the imposition of sanctions at the Court’s discretion,
upon a showing of good cause.
R.

The Court shall retain jurisdiction, both before and after the entry of final

judgment in this case, whether by settlement or adjudication, to construe, enforce, and amend
the provisions of this Order.
SO ORDERED, this the 27th day of March, 2014.
/s/ Jane M. Virden
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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