Lawson v. Paramount Global et al

Filing 21

CONFIDENTIALITY STIPULATION AND ORDER...regarding procedures to be followed that shall govern the handling of confidential material...SO ORDERED (Signed by Judge Dale E. Ho on 3/4/2025) (ks)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
KEITH LAWSON,
Plaintiff,
-againstPARAMOUNT GLOBAL and BLACK
ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION LLC,

ECF CASE
03315
Index No. 24-CV-033015 (DEH)
CONFIDENTIALITY
STIPULATION AND ORDER

Defendants.

WHEREAS, Plaintiff Keith Lawson (“Lawson”) and Defendants Paramount
Global and Black Entertainment Television, LLC (together, “Defendants”) (Lawson and
Defendants together the “Parties” and each a “Party”) are engaged in discovery in connection
with the referenced action that may involve the production of certain information and deposition
testimony which the Parties consider or may consider to be confidential, sensitive, personal,
private and/or proprietary, and which should be maintained as confidential in order to protect the
legitimate business and privacy interests of the persons who are subject to discovery, their
customers and other persons; and
WHEREAS, the Parties desire to protect against the public or other unauthorized
disclosure and the misuse of such information obtained as a result of discovery proceedings in
this action.
NOW THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED, by
and between the undersigned counsel for the Parties, on behalf of the Parties, that:

4876-0337-8674.4

1.

This Confidentiality Stipulation and Order (“Stipulation”) shall govern the

production and use of all documents, deposition testimony (including all transcription and videotaped recordings of testimony), deposition exhibits, answers to interrogatories and requests for
admission, trial testimony, and other written, recorded or graphic discovery materials in the
referenced action (“Discovery Material”).
2.

This Stipulation is binding upon the Parties, including their respective attorneys,

agents, and employees.
3.

Discovery Material specifically designated as Confidential Discovery Material (as

defined below), including any portion of the contents thereof, shall be used by the persons
receiving such materials and their counsel, subject to the provisions of this Stipulation, solely for
the purpose of the prosecution or defense of the claims, defenses, cross-claims and/or
counterclaims asserted and filed by the Parties in the litigation, and for no other purpose.
4.

The term “Confidential Discovery Material” shall mean confidential, sensitive,

personal, medical, private and/or proprietary commercial, customer, business, personnel or
financial information, or other information that the disclosure of which would, in the good faith
judgment of the Party designating the material as confidential, be an invasion of an individual’s
privacy or be embarrassing to that Party or be detrimental to the conduct of that Party’s business
or the personal business of that Party’s employees, officers, directors, or customers. Confidential
Discovery Material shall not include information that is or becomes publicly available, other than
by a breach by any of the Parties to this Stipulation or the disclosure of any individual in
violation of an existing confidentiality agreement or obligation.

4876-0337-8674.4

-2-

5.

The Party who produces Discovery Material (such individual or entity, a

“Producing Party”) may designate by written notice any Discovery Material as Confidential
Discovery Material under the terms of this Stipulation. The requirement of written notice shall
be fulfilled by:

6.

(a)

stamping or marking the designated Discovery Material with the legend
“Confidential” on each page of such Discovery Material; or

(b)

the Producing Party advising, in writing, the recipients of Discovery
Material that the Discovery Material produced is Confidential within 10
days of disclosure of the Discovery Material, or within 10 days of the
execution of this Stipulation, whichever is later.

Any Party or third-party deponent may designate a transcript of deposition

testimony given in this action by any person or entity, or any portions thereof, “Confidential”
either by requesting on the record that the transcript be so designated, or by notifying the other
Parties in writing within 10 days of receiving the deposition transcript that it is so designating the
transcript or any portion thereof, if such testimony discussed Confidential Discovery Material or
the contents of documents designated “Confidential.” All deposition transcripts shall be
“Confidential” for 10 days following the receipt of the transcript to afford the Parties the
opportunity to designate the transcript or portions thereof “Confidential.” When the Party or its
or his or her representative who produced Confidential Discovery Material is not present at a
deposition in which Confidential Discovery Material is disclosed, counsel for the Party
disclosing any such Confidential Discovery Material shall forward a transcript of the deposition,
and any exhibit designated as “Confidential,” to such person within 72 hours of the transcript
being available.

4876-0337-8674.4

-3-

7.

Confidential Discovery Material and/or the contents thereof shall not be given,

shown, made available, communicated or otherwise disclosed to anyone other than:
(a)

the Court and its personnel;

(b)

court reporters and videographers providing services in connection with
the referenced action;

(c)

the Parties to this action, and current officers and employees of the Parties
in this action, who have a need to know the information;

(d)

the undersigned counsel for the Parties to this action and their current
employees;

(e)

experts, witnesses, or independent consultants not employed by or
affiliated with any Party retained for the purposes of consulting or
testifying in connection with this civil action (“Expert”) who have
executed the certification attached hereto at Exhibit A, acknowledging that
the Expert has read and understood this Stipulation and agrees to abide by
its terms;

(f)

the jury;

(g)

any non-party deponent who has executed the certification attached hereto
as Exhibit A; and

(h)

the Parties’ insurers.

A copy of any signed certification form shall be furnished to the Party who
produced Confidential Discovery Material upon reasonable demand. Nothing shall prevent
disclosure beyond the terms of this Stipulation if the Producing Party (or its or his or her
counsel) consents in writing to such disclosure, or if after reasonable written notice to all affected
parties the Court orders such disclosure.
8.

Nothing in this Stipulation shall prevent a Producing Party from using or

disclosing Confidential Discovery Material that it, he, or she has produced in the referenced
litigation; except that, in the event a witness or potential witness, in preparing to provide

4876-0337-8674.4

-4-

testimony in this litigation, is not required to sign the certification at Exhibit A in order to view
Confidential Discovery Material pursuant to Section 7(c) as it relates to the current officers and
employees of the Parties in this action, who have a need to know the information, such witness
or potential witness shall sign the certification at Exhibit A in connection with such testimony
preparation before being shown Confidential Discovery Material that they do not regularly use in
connection with their job duties and responsibilities.
9.

In the event any person or entity other than those represented by the undersigned

counsel should appear or become a party to this action, such person or entity shall not have
access to Confidential Discovery Material until such newly-appearing or newly-joined person or
entity has, individually or by counsel, executed a copy of this Stipulation, or by order of the
Court.
10.

No person or entity to whom Confidential Discovery Material is disclosed shall

disclose such material or the contents of such material to any person or entity to whom/which
disclosure is not authorized by the terms hereof, or use such Confidential Discovery Material for
any purpose other than as set forth in Section 3.
11.

Any Confidential Discovery Material filed or to be filed with the Court shall be

filed under seal and any copies thereof shall be held in confidence as provided in this Stipulation.
Accordingly, any and all dispositive motions or papers filed with the Court which reference
Confidential Discovery Material as an exhibit, will be filed under seal so as not to inadvertently
disclose the content of the Confidential Discovery Material.

4876-0337-8674.4

-5-

12.

Counsel for each Party shall take reasonable precautions to prevent the

unauthorized or inadvertent disclosure of any Confidential Discovery Material.
13.

The inadvertent or unintentional disclosure of Confidential Discovery Material,

regardless of whether the information was so designated at the time of disclosure, shall not be
deemed a waiver in whole or in part of the Producing Party’s claims of confidentiality as to such
document or any other document, or with respect to the subject matter thereof, or with respect to
the information contained therein.
14.

In the event the Party, Parties, and/or counsel to whom the Confidential Discovery

Material was produced unintentionally disclose Confidential Discovery Material, counsel will
take all steps to rectify such disclosure. In the event of any unauthorized disclosure of
Confidential Discovery Material, the Party who produced the Confidential Discovery Material
shall be entitled to injunctive relief (without the requirement of any bond) from the Court for the
purpose of restraining an actual or threatened breach of the provisions of this Stipulation, in
addition to any other relief to which such Party may be entitled in law or in equity.
15.

Nothing contained in this order shall affect the right, if any, of a Producing Party

to make any other type of objection, claim or other response to discovery requests, including,
without limitation, interrogatories, requests for admissions, requests for production of documents
or questions at deposition. Nor shall this Stipulation be construed as a waiver of any attorneyclient privilege, any work-product doctrine or any other applicable privilege or immunity.
Inadvertent production of any such protected document shall not constitute a waiver of any
privilege or any other ground for objection to discovery with respect to such document or any

4876-0337-8674.4

-6-

other document, or with respect to the subject matter thereof, or with respect to the information
contained therein, nor shall such inadvertent production waive any right to object to the use of
any such document or the information contained therein during any subsequent proceeding.
Upon notification that such disclosure was inadvertent, the inadvertently disclosed document(s)
and any copies thereof shall be returned to the Producing Party immediately.
16.

Within thirty (30) days of the final adjudication of this litigation, all Confidential

Discovery Material and copies thereof shall be returned to the Producing Party, or upon
permission of the Producing Party, destroyed.
17.

The provisions of this Stipulation shall, absent written permission of the

Producing Party or order of the Court, continue to be binding after the conclusion of this action.
18.

In the event that there is a dispute as to the designation of material as

“Confidential,” the Party seeking to challenge the designation of material as “Confidential” may
seek court intervention to prevent the material from being designated as “Confidential.” In the
event of any such dispute, the Discovery Material at issue shall be treated as Confidential
Discovery Material until such time as the Court resolves the dispute.
19.

Persons having knowledge of Confidential Discovery Material by virtue of their

participation in the conduct of the litigation shall not disclose such Confidential Discovery
Material to any person who is not listed in Section 7 of this Stipulation, on the terms set forth in
Section 7.

4876-0337-8674.4

-7-

20.

This Stipulation may be executed in a number of counterparts, all of which, when

taken together shall constitute one instrument. Signatures may be transmitted by facsimile and
facsimile signatures shall be acceptable as originals for all purposes. In addition, transmission of
signatures by electronic mail of a PDF document created from the originally signed document
shall be acceptable to the Parties to this Stipulation for all purposes.
****REMAINDER OF PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK****

4876-0337-8674.4

-8-

Marjorie B. Kulak

2/28/25

Dale E. Ho
United States District Judge
Dated: March 4, 2025
New York, New York

EXHIBIT A
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
KEITH LAWSON,
Plaintiff,
-againstPARAMOUNT GLOBAL and BLACK
ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION LLC,

ECF CASE
Index No. 24-CV-033015 (DEH)
CERTIFICATION

Defendants.
The undersigned hereby acknowledges that he/she has read the Confidentiality
Stipulation and Order in the above-captioned action, and that he/she understands the terms of the
Confidentiality Stipulation and Order, and agrees to be bound by and comply with such terms.
_________________
Date

4876-0337-8674.4

_________________________
Signature
_________________________
Print Name