Valley of the Moon Commercial Poults, Inc. v. Fiber Fuels, LLC

Filing 21

CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT AND PROTECTIVE ORDER. Signed by Magistrate Judge David Keesler on 12/22/2015. (chh)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA
CHARLOTTE DIVISION

VALLEY of the MOON COMMERCIAL
POULTS, INC.,
Plaintiff,
v.

Civil Action Nos. 3:15-cv-00215-FDW-DCK

FIBER FUELS, LLC,
Defendant.

D C CUSTOM FREIGHT LLC, d/b/a FIBER
FUELS, LLC,
Plaintiff,
v.

Civil Action Nos. 3:15-cv-00235-FDW-DCK

VALLEY of the MOON COMMERCIAL POULTS,
INC., d/b/a VALLEY OF THE MOON,
Defendant.

CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT & PROTECTIVE ORDER
1.

Plaintiff Valley of the Moon Commercial Poults, Inc., d/b/a Valley of the Moon

(“Plaintiff”) and Defendant D C Custom Freight LLC, d/b/a Fiber Fuels, LLC (“Defendant”), by
and through their undersigned counsel, hereby stipulate and agree that certain documents requested
in the course of litigation in this matter before the United States District Court for the Western
District of North Carolina, Charlotte Division, bearing the captions Civil Action Nos. 3:15 –cv-

00215-FDW-DCK and 3:15-cv-00235-FDW-DCK (the “Litigation”) are documents Plaintiff and
Defendant contend constitute and contain confidential and proprietary information protected from
disclosure. Therefore, it is hereby agreed as follows concerning confidentiality for purposes of
this lawsuit only:
2.

The parties to the Litigation or their counsel may designate documents and

information that they reasonably believe to be “Confidential” by stamping the document or
information with that designation in a manner that does not obscure in any way the content of the
document or information. Alternatively, the parties may designate documents “Confidential” by
disclosing that designation in writing by identifying the Bates number or control number of the
document so designated. To that end, the parties agree to limit such designations to those materials
which they in good faith believe to be “Confidential.” Identifying documents or information as
“Confidential” by a party will not be deemed an admission by any other party that the information
or documents is, in fact, confidential. If the recipient of a document marked “Confidential” seeks
to challenge the designation of said document as “Confidential,” the recipient must first meet and
confer with the designating party to resolve the dispute and if that meeting does not result in
resolution of the dispute, the recipient can file a motion seeking a determination that said document
is not “Confidential.” The document shall be treated as “Confidential” until such a time as the
Court determines that it is not confidential. The party contending that the document is confidential
shall bear the burden to prove that such document is, in fact, confidential.
3.

No portion of the documents produced by Plaintiff or Defendant pursuant to

Paragraph Nos. 1-2 herein, nor any copy thereof (hereinafter the “Confidential Documents”), or
any information contained therein (hereinafter the “Confidential Information”) shall be disclosed

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or in any manner made available to any person or company not a party to this litigation except as
follows:
a. By stipulation of the parties, or if the parties are unable to so stipulate after having
made a good faith effort, by order of the Court and only after giving written notice
to counsel for the party that produced the document;
b. To any agents, including but not limited to expert witnesses, retained or employed
by a party, but only to the extent necessary for the proper representation of the
party;
4.

The parties agree to advise any person permitted access to the Confidential

Documents as described in Paragraph Nos. 1-2 herein of the confidential nature of said documents.
5.

All exhibits, responses to discovery requests, pleadings, or memoranda, which

constitute or contain Confidential Information, shall only be forwarded to: (1) the Court before
which this Litigation is pending, (2) the parties to the Litigation, or (3) to any agent retained by or
employed by the parties, but only to the extent necessary for the proper representation of the
parties.
6.

The parties shall return all Confidential Documents, as well as any copies made

therefrom pursuant to Paragraph Nos. 1-2 and all documents containing any Confidential
Information with respect thereto, including such documents or copies of documents given to any
person(s) pursuant to Paragraph Nos. 3 or 5, upon the conclusion of the Litigation; or, should a
dispositive motion be appealed by any party to this Litigation, upon the completion of all appeals
herein, or upon the action being settled. In returning said documents, Plaintiff’s documents shall
be delivered to Katherine M. Kliebert, Esq., Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, LLP, Bank of
America Corporate Center, 100 N. Tryon St., Ste. 2690, Charlotte, NC 28202; Defendant’s

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documents shall be delivered John W. Taylor, Esq., 4600 Park Road, Suite 420, Charlotte, NC
28209. Notwithstanding anything in this paragraph to the contrary, to the extent that the attorney
for any party to this Litigation is required by law or for insurance purposes to retain copies of the
Confidential Documents, the attorney may retain such documents under the condition that the
terms of this agreement shall remain in force so long as any Confidential Documents or
Confidential Information is retained.
So agreed this 21st day of December, 2015

/s/ John W. Taylor______
John W. Taylor, Esq.
Attorney for Defendant

/s/ Katherine M. Kliebert
Katherine M. Kliebert, Esq.
Attorney for Plaintiff

SO ORDERED
Signed: December 22, 2015

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