Jones v. Schaps et al

Filing 31

PROTECTIVE ORDER Signed by Judge Susan P. Watters on 6/26/2017. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A Written Assurance) (EMH)

FILED
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF MONTANA
BILLINGS DIVISION

JUN 2 6 2017
Clerk, U.S. District Court
District Of Montana
Billings

GARRY L. JONES,
CV 17-14-BLG-SPW
Plaintiff,
vs.

ORDER

NICHOLAS R. SCRAPS II, TN
TRANSPORT, INC. and J&S
ENERGY, LLC, dba TN Energy, as
successor-in-interest to TN Transport,
Inc.,
Defendants.
Upon consideration of the Stipulation of the parties for a Protective Order
(dated June 21, 2017) pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(c) (Doc. 29), the following shall
govern the disclosure of confidential documents and confidential information in
this case:
1.

As used in the Protective Order, these terms have the following meanings:

"Attorneys" means counsel of record;
"Confidential Documents" means documents designated "confidential"
pursuant to paragraph 2;

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"Confidential Information" means any fact which constitutes or refers to

personal or financial information not generally available to third parties, that is
kept confidential from outside access, is not generally known except by those with
a legitimate personal or business interest, is not already in the public domain and
for which a party would be entitled to a protective order under Fed. R. Civ. P.
26(c) to bar public disclosure of the information. The burden of proving that the
information is confidential rests with the party asserting such claim;
"Documents" means all materials within the scope of Fed. R. Civ. P. 26 and

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"Outside Vendors" means messenger, copy, coding, and other clerical

services vendors not employed by a party or its Attorneys; and
"Written Assurance" means an executed document in the form attached as

Exhibit A.
2.

A party may designate a document containing Confidential Information

"confidential" to protect information within the scope of Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c).
Once designated, the document or information shall be treated as a Confidential
Document or Confidential Information.
3.

All Confidential Information and all Confidential Documents, along with the

information contained in the documents, shall be used solely for the purpose of this
action, and no person receiving such documents shall, directly or indirectly, use,
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transfer, disclose, or communicate in any way the information or documents or
their contents to any person other than those specified in paragraph 4. Any other
use is prohibited.
4.

Access to any Confidential Document shall be limited to:
(a) the Court and its staff;
(b) Attorneys, their law firms, and their Outside Vendors;
(c) persons shown on the face of the document to have authored or
received it;
( d) court reporters retained to transcribe testimony;
(e) the parties; and

(t) outside independent persons (i.e., persons not currently or formerly
employed by, consulting with, or otherwise associated with any party)
who are retained by a party or its Attorneys to furnish technical or
expert services, and/or to give testimony in this action.
5.

Third parties producing documents in the course of this action may also

designate documents as "confidential," 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" for a
period of 21 days from the date of their production, and during that period any
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party may designate such documents as "confidential" pursuant to the terms of the
Protective Order. If no documents are specifically designated as "confidential"
within the 21 day period, they shall not be deemed Confidential Documents.
6.

Each person appropriately designated pursuant to paragraph 4(t) to receive

Confidential Documents or Confidential Information shall execute a Written
Assurance in the form attached as Exhibit A. Opposing counsel shall be notified at
least 14 days prior to disclosure to any such person who is known to be an
employee or agent of, or consultant to, any competitor of the party whose
designated documents are sought to be disclosed. Such notice shall provide a
reasonable description of the outside independent person to whom disclosure is
sought sufficient to permit objection to be made. If a party objects in writing to
such disclosure within 14 days after receipt of notice, no disclosure shall be made
until the party seeking disclosure obtains the prior approval of the Court or the
objecting party.
7.

All depositions or portions of depositions taken in this action that contain

Confidential Information or refer to the contents of Confidential Documents may
be designated "confidential" and thereby obtain the protections accorded other
Confidential Documents and Confidential Information. Confidentiality
designations for depositions shall be made either on the record or by written notice
to the other party within 21 days of receipt of the transcript. Unless otherwise
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agreed, depositions shall be treated as "confidential" during the 21-day period
following receipt of the transcript. The deposition of any witness (or any portion of
such deposition) that references Confidential Information or the contents of
Confidential Documents shall be taken only in the presence of persons who are
qualified to have access to such information.
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 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.

If a party files documents with the Court containing information designated

as protected pursuant to the terms of this Stipulation, the filings must be in
compliance with the Electronic Case Filing Procedures for the District of
Minnesota. The parties are advised that designation by a party of a document as
protected pursuant to the terms of this Stipulation cannot be used as the sole basis
for filing the document under seal in connection with either trial or a nondispositive, dispositive or trial related motion. Only those documents and portions
of a party's submission, or any part thereof, which otherwise meets requirements
for protection from public filing (including, but not limited to a statute, rule or
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regulation prohibiting public disclosure, or protection under the attorney-client
privilege or work produce doctrine, or the standards for protection set forth in Fed.
R. Civ. P. 26(c)), as first determined by the Court upon motion and a showing of
good cause, shall be filed under seal. If a party intends to file with the Court a
document designated by another party as protected, then that filing party shall
provide reasonable advance notice to the designating party of such intent so that
the designating party may determine whether or not they should bring a motion
before the Court which seeks to require the protected document to be filed under
seal. Any party which seeks to assert that a document should be filed with the
Court under seal shall have the burden of demonstrating that the documents should
be filed under seal.
10.

Any party may request a change in the designation of any information

designated "confidential." Any such document shall be treated as initially
designated until the change is completed. If the requested change in designation is
not agreed to, the party seeking the change may move the Court for appropriate
relief, providing notice to any third party whose designation of produced
documents as "confidential" in the action may be affected. The party asserting that
the material is a Confidential Document or Confidential Information shall have the
burden of proving that the information in question constitutes Confidential
Information and is within the scope of protection afforded by Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c).

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11.

Within 74 days of the termination of this action, including any appeals, each

party shall either destroy or return to the opposing party all documents designated
by the opposing party as "confidential," and all copies of such documents, and
shall destroy all extracts and/or data taken from such documents. Each party shall
provide a certification as to such return or destruction within the 74-day period.
However, Attorneys shall be entitled to retain a set of all documents filed with the
Court and all correspondence generated in connection with the action.
12.

Any party may apply to the Court for a modification of the Protective Order,

and nothing in this Protective Order shall be construed to prevent a party from
seeking such further provisions enhancing or limiting confidentiality as may be
appropriate.
13.

No action taken in accordance with the Protective Order shall be construed

as a waiver of any claim or defense in the action or of any position as to
discoverability or admissibility of evidence.
14.

The obligations imposed by the Protective Order shall survive the

termination of this action.
'yA-

DAIBDthis_4dayofJune,2017.

/J

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SUSANP. WATTERS
United States District Judge

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