United States of America v. Stabl, Inc.. et al

Filing 42

STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER granting (41) Joint Motion for Protective Order in case 8:16cv233 and (58) in case 8:16cv351. Ordered by Magistrate Judge F.A. Gossett. (SMN)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEBRASKA
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff,
vs.

8:16CV233

STABL, INC. (f/k/a Nebraska By-Products,
Inc.), LANT, INC., LEON JOHNSON, AND
ANN JOHNSON,

PROTECTIVE ORDER

Defendants.
STATE OF NEBRASKA,
Plaintiff,
vs.

8:16CV351

STABL, INC. (f/k/a Nebraska By-Products,
Inc.), LANT, INC., LEON JOHNSON, AND
ANN JOHNSON,

PROTECTIVE ORDER

Defendants.

This matter is before the court on the parties’ Joint Motion for Entry of Stipulated
Protective Order (Filing No. 41 in Case. No. 8:16CV233; Filing No. 58 in Case No.
8:16CV351). Upon a showing of good cause in support of the entry of a protective order to
control the discovery and dissemination of confidential or proprietary information in this case
(hereafter collectively referred to as “Proteced Information”),
IT IS ORDERED:
The parties’ Joint Motion for Entry of Stipulated Protective Order (Filing No. 41 in
Case. No. 8:16CV233; Filing No. 58 in Case No. 8:16CV351) is granted.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED:
1.

Protected Information will include confidential or proprietary business

information. For purposes of this Order, the following categories of documents and information
will generally be considered “Protected Information” and subject to this Protective Order:
•

Defendants’ business records;

•

Defendants’ Ann Johnson and Leon Johnson’s medical or healthcare
records;

•
•

Other privileged and confidential information;

•

Other proprietary business information;

•

Any information covered by the Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. § 552a
(1976); including, but not limited to, any type of identifying information,
personal information, and

•

2.

Defendants’ tax records;

Any information covered by Environmental Protection Agency regulations
governing confidential business information, 40 C.F.R. Part 2, Subpart B.

Protected Information subject to this Protective Order may, depending on the

content, be included in a variety of documents, including but not limited to, initial disclosures,
documents produced pursuant to written discovery, answers to interrogatories, responses to
requests for admission, deposition testimony, including all copies thereof, and other
information disclosed in the context of discovery of this case by either party or disclosed
pursuant to the discovery procedures created by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
3.

Protected Information shall not be disclosed or used for any purpose except the

preparation and trial of these cases, United States of America v. Stabl, Inc., et al., case number
8:16-CV-233, and State of Nebraska v. Stabl, Inc., et al., case number 8:16-CV-351, and will not
be used in any other litigation.
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4.

The parties are allowed to redact:
a.

b.
5.

Social Security numbers, dates of birth, personal (non-work) phone
numbers, and home addresses for individuals other than Defendants; and
conference call phone numbers and passcodes

Protected Information shall not, without the consent of the party producing it or

further Order of the Court, be disclosed except that such information may be disclosed to:
a.
b.

any person who previously received or authored the materials;

c.

persons regularly employed or associated with the attorneys actively
working on the case;

d.

Plaintiffs;

e.

Defendants and Representatives of Defendants;

f.

Expert witnesses, and consultants retained in connection with this
proceeding;

g.

mediators, facilitators, or other persons retained by the parties to assist in
the resolution of this matter, and their staff;

h.

the Court and its employees (“Court Personnel”);

i.

stenographic reporters who are engaged in proceedings necessarily
incident to the conduct of this action; and

j.

deponents, witnesses, or potential witnesses;

k.
6.

attorneys actively working on this case;

at hearings or trial, to the extent admissible.

Prior to disclosing any Protected Information to any person listed above (other

than counsel, Plaintiffs, Defendants and Representatives of Defendants, persons employed by
counsel, mediators and facilitators, Court Personnel, and stenographic reporters), counsel
shall inform such person that the document(s) being provided are subject to the Protective
Order. Persons described in categories 5(f) and 5(j) above may have access to the Protected
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Information, provided, however, that any such person receiving access to the Protected
Information shall, prior to receiving access, execute a Confidentiality Agreement (attached
hereto in the unexecuted form as Appendix A). Unless otherwise provided herein, except in
the event of a good-faith claim of violation of this Order, the Parties agree not to request copies
of the Confidentiality Agreements or to determine the identities of the persons signing them.
7.

Documents shall be designated as Protected Information by counsel by placing or

affixing on them (in a manner that will not interfere with their legibility) the following notice:
“PROTECTED INFORMATION” or “SUBJECT TO PROTECTIVE ORDER” or a
substantially similar designation. If the document did not originate from the party seeking to
affix the Protected Information label, or was not produced in this action by that party, the
Protected Information designation will occur upon written notice of that designation provided to
all counsel of record within thirty (30) days after receipt of the information or document
containing Protected Information. Subject to the procedures in Paragraph 8, upon such notice the
document will be treated as Protected Information within the meaning of this Protective Order.
8.

Whenever a deposition involves the disclosure of Protected Information, the

deposition or portions thereof shall be designated as protected by counsel 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 containing
Protected Information after transcription, provided written notice of the designation is promptly
given to all counsel of record within thirty (30) days after notice by the court reporter of the
completion of the transcript.
9.

If a Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed Protected

Information to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this Court’s order, the
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Party must make reasonable efforts to (i) notify the other Parties in writing of the unauthorized
disclosures, (ii) inform the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all
the terms of this Order, and (iii)) retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Information.
10.

A party may object to the designation of Protected Information by giving written

notice to the party designating the disputed information as Protected Information. The written
notice shall specifically identify the information to which the objection is made. If the parties
cannot resolve the objection, it shall be the obligation of the party objecting to the designation as
Protected Information to file an appropriate motion requesting that the Court determine whether
the disputed information should be subject to the terms of this Protective Order. Such motion
must generally be filed within thirty (30) days after submitting written objection to the Protected
Information designation. If such a motion is timely filed, the disputed information shall be
treated as Protected Information under the terms of this Protective Order until the Court rules on
the motion. In connection with a motion filed under this provision, the party designating the
information as Protected Information shall bear the burden of establishing that good cause exists
for the designated information to be treated as Protected Information.
11.

Protected Information may be filed with the Court to the extent reasonably

necessary to support motions or other matters related to the litigation. If any Protected
Information must be filed with the Court, such Protected Information shall be filed under seal,
restricted access or redacted, as appropriate.
12.

At the conclusion of this case, each document and all copies thereof which have

been designated as Protected Information shall be returned to the party designating them as
protected, except (1) backup tapes or other disaster recovery systems that are routinely deleted or
written over in accordance with an established routine system maintenance practice, or (2)
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documents that must be preserved as federal records or in compliance with other statutory,
regulatory or legal authorities. The parties may agree to destroy documents containing Protected
Information by way of a mutually agreed-upon procedure. Notwithstanding this provision,
Counsel are entitled to retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition,
and hearing transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert
reports, attorney work product (including all emails attaching or referring to Protected
Information), and consultant and expert work product, even if such materials contain Protected
Information. Any such archival copies that contain or constitute Protected Information remain
subject to this Order.
13.

A party or counsel may not unilaterally modify any document so as to remove it

from the protections of this Protective Order. Any document subject to this Protective Order
when produced will remain protected unless the parties agree in writing to remove the
designation, or as otherwise ordered by the Court.
14.

This Protective Order may be amended by written stipulation of the parties, or by

the Court for good cause shown upon notice to all counsel and an opportunity to be heard. This
Protective Order is without prejudice to the right of any party to admit Protected Information as
evidence or in this action contest the admissibility, discoverability, or privileged status of any
document or information.

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Dated this 30th day of March, 2017.
BY THE COURT:
s/ F.A. GOSSETT, III
United States Magistrate Judge

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EXHIBIT A
ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND

I, _________________ [print or type full name], of ___________ [print or type full
address], declare under penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and understand the
Stipulated Protective Order that was issued by the United States District Court for the District of
Nebraska on ________[date] in the case United States of America v. Stabl, Incl, et al., 8:16-CV233 and State of Nebraska v. Stabl, Inc., et al., 8:16-CV-351. I agree to comply with and to be
bound by all the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order, and I understand and acknowledge that
failure to so comply could expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. I
solemnly promise that I will not disclose in any manner any information or item that is subject to
this Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance with the
provisions of this Order.
I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the
District of Nebraska for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order,
even if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of this Action.

Date: _________________
City and State where sworn and signed _________________________

Printed name: ___________________________

Signature: ____

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