Martinez v. Target Corporation

Filing 19

ORDER granting in part and denying in part 14 Motion for Protective Order; Defendant shall file proposed protective order (H) within 7 days. Signed by Magistrate Judge Daniel J. Albregts on 4/26/2021. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF - DRS)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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DISTRICT OF NEVADA

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***

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VICKI MARTINEZ,

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Plaintiff,

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Case No. 2:20-cv-02159-GMN-DJA

v.

ORDER

TARGET CORPORATION,

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Defendant.

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This matter is before the Court on Defendant’s Motion for Protective Order (ECF No. 14),

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filed on March 19, 2021. Plaintiff filed a Response (ECF No. 15) on April 2, 2021 and Defendant

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filed a Reply (ECF No. 16) on April 9, 2021. The Court finds this matter properly resolved

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without a hearing. LR 78-1.

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I.

BACKGROUND
This action concerns a slip and fall incident in one of Defendant’s stores on September 19,

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2018. The parties have exchanged written discovery with Plaintiff serving interrogatories and

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requests for production on January 29, 2021 and Defendant serving answers on March 1, 2021.

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The requests sought Defendant’s handbooks, policies, and procedures regarding inspections,

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cleaning and maintenance of the subject area, along with records related to the security/camera

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system. Defense counsel met and conferred with Plaintiff’s counsel regarding agreeing to a

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protective order to govern the exchange of this material as Defendant contends it is confidential

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and proprietary information. Further, Defendant submitted a proposed protective order (Exhibit

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B) for Plaintiff’s approval.

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The parties were able to agree that a protective order could be signed to cover the policies

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and procedures along with documents related to the camera system. They were also able to reach

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an agreement to appropriately protect the video footage produced by Defendant. Defendant

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revised the proposed protective order (Exhibit H) to cover its employment manuals, policies and

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procedures, and prior incident reports, but Plaintiff refused to stipulate due to the provisions

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related to use of the protected documents at video depositions. Accordingly, Defendant seeks a

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protective order that covers the exchange of documents related to its handbooks, manuals,

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policies, and procedures as they contain proprietary, confidential, commercial and/or trade secret

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information. Further, Defendant seeks an order to protect disclosure of documents related to its

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security camera system because it is irrelevant, not proportional to the needs of this case, and

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raises privacy concerns that would jeopardize Defendant’s security. Defendant also seeks its fees

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and costs for having to bring the instant motion because it claims that it met and conferred in

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good faith, but Plaintiff’s counsel refused to do the same. (ECF No. 14).
Plaintiff responds that she met and conferred in good faith, but could not agree to the

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proposed protective order because it was overly broad. (ECF No. 15). Plaintiff indicates that she

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has no opposition to entering into a tailored protective order to govern the exchange of security

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documents for Target Store No. 2404, along with the employment handbook, policies, and

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procedures. She concedes that those documents are confidential as they deal with the safety and

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security of the Target store. Plaintiff contests the proposed restrictions on Plaintiff, her counsel,

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and her experts to view, use, and discuss the information as Plaintiff does not view it needing

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national security level protection.
Defendant replies that it has good cause to seek a protective order related to its security

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camera system as it is not relevant or proportional to the needs of this case. (ECF No. 16). It also

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contends that the proposed protective order is needed to protect its trade secret and confidential

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information contained in its handbook, manuals, policies, and procedures. Moreover, Defendant

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highlights that it already responded that there is no video of the subject incident because the

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greeting card aisle is not a high theft area, there are no diagrams or plans of the security cameras

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locations, and it could not produce documents that do not exist.

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II.

DISCUSSION

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Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b)(1) provides for broad and liberal discovery. “Parties may obtain

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discovery regarding any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any party’s claim or defense.” Id.

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However, a court may limit discovery via Rule 26(c), which permits the court to issue a
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protective order to protect a party or person from annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or

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undue burden or expense when the party establishes good cause. For good cause to exist, the

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party seeking protection bears the burden of showing specific prejudice or harm will result if no

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protective order is granted. See Beckman Indus., Inc., v. Int’l. Ins. Co., 966 F.2d 470, 476 (9th

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Cir. 1992).

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Rule 26(c) requires more than “broad allegations of harm, unsubstantiated by specific

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examples or articulated reasoning.” Id; see also Foltz v. State Farm, 331 F.3d 1122, 1130 (9th

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Cir. 2003) (citing San Jose Mercury News, Inc., v. District Court, 187 F.3d 1096, 1102 (9th Cir.

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1999) (holding that the party must make a particularized showing of good cause)). The Supreme

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Court has interpreted the language of Rule 26(c) as conferring “broad discretion on the trial court

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to decide when a protective order is appropriate and what degree of protection is required.”

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Seattle Times Co. v. Rhinehart, 467 U.S. 20, 36 (1984). Additionally, the Supreme Court has

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acknowledged that the “trial court is in the best position to weigh fairly the competing needs and

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interests of the parties affected by discovery. The unique character of the discovery process

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requires that the trial court have substantial latitude to fashion protective orders.” Id.

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There are two issues for Court intervention. First, the Court will grant Defendant’s

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request to enter a protective order governing the exchange of discovery documents like

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Defendant’s handbooks, manuals, policies, and procedures. As Defendant highlights, this matter

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was recently addressed by Judge Youchah in Spearman v. Target Corp., Case no. 2:20-cv-01789-

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APG-EJY. Judge Youchah granted a protective order to govern the exchange of Defendant’s

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handbook and policies and procedures. (ECF No. 24). The Court similarly finds good cause to

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preserve the proprietary and confidential nature of these documents. It finds no prejudice to

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Plaintiff and minimal burden in simply observing the confidential designation when using the

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documents in court filings – via the sealing procedure – and in depositions. Although Plaintiff

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likens Defendant’s proposed protective order to that protecting national security information,

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such an analogy is disingenuous. Simply filling out an affidavit that you will not disclose

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confidential information is not unnecessarily burdensome. As such, the Court will approve

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Defendant’s revised protective order in Exhibit H.
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As for Defendant’s request for a protective order regarding disclosure of security camera

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diagrams, locations, video surveillance plan, camera service proposals/contracts, installation and

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maintenance documents, the Court will likewise grant this request. It finds that this information

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is neither relevant nor proportional to the needs of this case. Defendant has already disclosed the

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only video footage it claims exists – that of Plaintiff leaving the store after the incident. Plaintiff

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has not provided sufficient basis to establish the relevance or proportionality of the requests for

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security system information. Rather, Plaintiff merely speculates that Defendant is not being

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truthful when it claims no camera was aimed at the greeting store aisle. She contends that the

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store’s video camera diagram would conclusively show if any camera was aimed at that specific

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location in the store. However, speculation that Defendant may be untruthful alone is not enough.

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Plaintiff may ask deposition questions or utilize other forms of discovery to verify that no video

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footage of the subject incident exists. Defendant cannot be ordered to produce camera diagrams

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that do not exist. At this point, the Court cannot find sufficient relevance and proportionality to

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justify ordering Defendant to produce all of its security system documents and information.
Finally, as to Defendant’s request for fees and costs, the Court finds that it is not

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appropriate to grant that request. Plaintiff’s position was substantially justified given that counsel

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attempted to narrow the terms of the protective order, but overall it is not convincing enough to

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outweigh protecting the confidential information in Defendant’s policies and procedures or meet

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the relevance and proportionality test for the security system information. Therefore, the Court

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will deny Defendant’s request for fees and costs.

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III.

CONCLUSION
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that Defendant’s Motion for Protective Order (ECF

No. 14) is granted in part and denied in part as outlined above.

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IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Defendant shall file its proposed protective order
(Exhibit H) for the Court’s approval within seven days.

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DATED: April 26, 2021.

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DANIEL J. ALBREGTS
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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