Gannon v. Champion Residential Services, Inc.
Filing
19
CONSENT PROTECTIVE ORDER. Signed by Magistrate Judge David S. Cayer on 10/31/17. (tob)
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA
CHARLOTTE DIVISION
Civil Action No: 3:16-cv-0756-RJC-DSC
ANNE GANNON,
Plaintiff,
v.
CHAMPION RESIDENTIAL SERVICES,
INC. d/b/a MORRIS JENKINS,
Defendant.
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CONSENT PROTECTIVE ORDER
Pursuant to Rule 26(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, upon joint Motion by the
parties, with the consent of the parties, and it appearing that the discovery process in this action
may involve the production of information that a party may contend is confidential and/or
proprietary, and it further appearing that good cause exists for the entry of an order limiting the
disclosure of such information;
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that:
1.
“Confidential Information” as used herein means: personnel information of
Plaintiff and other current or former employees of Defendant; Plaintiff’s personal information,
including medical, financial and tax records; and, all proprietary, business, financial or other
commercially sensitive information, whether documentary or otherwise, designated as
“confidential” and delivered, produced or disclosed by any party in this action, or by a third party,
voluntarily or in response to an interrogatory, a request for production of documents, a deposition
question, subpoena or otherwise. The designation of documents or information as “Confidential
Information” shall not be conclusive for purposes of any substantive issues in this case. The parties
agree that confidential designation should not be made on a blanket basis; each party should make
a document-by-document good faith determination.
2.
All documents produced or information provided or disclosed by any party in
discovery in this action or by a third party as identified in paragraph 1 shall be treated as
confidential and the use or disclosure of such documents or information shall be governed by the
terms of this Order, provided that the party or third party producing or otherwise disclosing such
documents or information designates such documents or information as Confidential Information
at the time of production or disclosure or as otherwise provided herein.
3.
Confidential Information, including copies or summaries thereof, shall be used only
for the prosecution or defense of this action (including, but not limited to, any mediation,
arbitration, or other settlement process, as well as appeals of this action) and shall not be used or
employed for any other purpose whatsoever. Confidential Information shall not be disclosed or
made available to anyone except:
a.
the Court;
b.
the parties to this action and officers, directors or employees of the parties
who are actively participating in the prosecution or defense of this action;
c.
counsel for the parties to this action and employees or independent
contractors of said counsel;
d.
experts or consultants specifically retained by the parties or their attorneys
to assist them in the preparation of this case or to serve as expert witnesses at the trial of
this action;
e.
third party witnesses or potential witnesses whom counsel reasonably deem
necessary for the preparation and trial of this action;
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f.
court reporters engaged to record depositions, hearings or trials in this
action; and
g.
4.
mediators assigned to this case or selected by agreement of the parties.
Disclosure of Confidential Information pursuant to this Order shall be handled as
follows:
a.
Any person described in subparagraphs 3(a), (b), (c), (f) and (g) of this
Order is bound by the provisions of this Order without the necessity of executing a
confidentiality agreement;
b.
Before Confidential Information is disclosed to any person set forth in
subparagraphs 3(d) and (e) of this Order, the party disclosing the information shall inform
the person to whom the disclosure is to be made that Confidential Information shall be used
for the purposes of the prosecution or defense of this action only, and shall obtain from the
person to whom the disclosure is to be made a signed confidentiality agreement in the form
attached hereto as Exhibit A; and
c.
As long as Confidential Information is handled in accordance with this
Order, this Order shall not be construed as prohibiting or restricting the use of Confidential
Information during depositions, any hearing, the trial of this matter, or any appellate
proceeding. Similarly, no party shall be deemed to have waived any objections as to the
admissibility of any Confidential Information into evidence in connection with any
proceeding in this action.
5.
Any Confidential Information which is filed with the Court shall be filed under seal
or redacted pursuant to Local Rule of Civil Procedure 6.1. In the event any Confidential
Information is filed with the Court other than via the Court’s electronic case filing system, such
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Confidential Information shall be filed in sealed envelopes or other appropriate sealed containers
on which shall be endorsed the title in this action, an indication of the nature and contents thereof,
the legend “Confidential” and a statement substantially in the following form:
This envelope is sealed pursuant to an order of the Court and
contains confidential information and is not to be opened or the
contents thereof to be displayed or revealed by any person other than
the Court or the attorneys for the parties except by order of the Court
or pursuant to stipulation of the parties to this action.
6.
If a party or witness desires to designate any portion of a deposition as Confidential
Information, the designating party or witness shall have thirty (30) days after receipt of the
transcript to designate portions of the transcript or exhibits thereto as Confidential Information and
inform counsel of record in writing of such designation.
7.
Nothing in this Order shall prevent the disclosure of Confidential Information
beyond the terms of this Order if the party or third party that produced the information consents in
advance in writing.
8.
This Order shall not limit or in any way restrict the right of any person or entity to
use, disseminate, dispose of, or otherwise benefit from documents or information obtained (i) other
than through discovery in this action, or (ii) from any person or entity with authority to provide
such documents or information independent of any confidentiality requirement imposed by this
Order.
9.
If any party hereto disagrees with the designation of any documents or information
as Confidential Information, counsel shall attempt to resolve the disagreement on an informal
basis. If it is necessary to present the dispute to the Court for resolution, the material in question
shall continue to be treated as confidential under the terms of this Order unless and until the Court
issues a final ruling that the material is not of a confidential nature. In the event of any such
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dispute, the party who designated the documents or information as Confidential Information shall
have the burden of proving the confidential nature of such documents or information.
10.
This Order is without prejudice to the right of any party or witness to seek
modification or amendment of the Order by motion to the Court, or to seek and obtain additional
protection with respect to Confidential Information as such party may consider appropriate.
11.
This Order shall remain in effect for the period of this litigation and subsequent to
its termination so as to protect the confidentiality of the Confidential Information.
12.
Ultimate disposition of materials and information protected by this Order is subject
to a final order of the Court upon completion of litigation. However, in the absence of a final order
of the Court addressing the disposition of Confidential Information, the parties agree that counsel
for each party shall, not later than thirty (30) days after the termination of this litigation, collect
from any experts, consultants or third party witnesses to whom any documents containing
Confidential Information were disclosed pursuant to the terms of this Order, any and all documents
containing Confidential Information, including without limitation, any copies or excerpts of such
documents. Counsel of record for each party shall be permitted to retain in their files a copy of all
documents containing information subject to this Order obtained during the course of this
litigation; provided, however, the prohibitions against the use or disclosure of Confidential
Information as set forth above shall continue to apply to said counsel.
SO ORDERED.
Signed: October 31, 2017
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CONSENTED TO:
Plaintiff
Defendant
s/ Joshua R. Van Kampen
Joshua R. Van Kampen
N.C. Bar No. 32168
josh@vankampenlaw.com
Kevin Murphy
N.C. Bar No. 41467
kevin@vankampenlaw.com
Sean F. Herrmann
N.C. Bar No. 44453
sean@vankampenlaw.com
s/ Shalanna L. Pirtle
Shalanna L. Pirtle
N.C. Bar No. 36996
shalannapirtle@parkerpoe.com
s/ Stacy K. Wood
Stacy K. Wood
N.C. Bar No. 21768
stacywood@parkerpoe.com
PARKER POE ADAMS & BERNSTEIN LLP
Three Wells Fargo Center
401 South Tryon Street, Suite 3000
Charlotte, North Carolina 28202
Telephone: (704) 335-6628
Facsimile: (704) 335-4486
VAN KAMPEN LAW, PC
315 East Worthington Avenue
Charlotte, North Carolina 28203
Telephone: (704) 247-3245
Facsimile: (704) 749-2638
Attorneys for Defendant
Attorneys for Plaintiff
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EXHIBIT A
CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT
I have read and am familiar with the terms of the Protective Order governing the disclosure
of confidential information in the case of Anne Gannon v. Champion Residential Services, Inc.
d/b/a Morris Jenkins and I agree to abide by all the terms of said Order and not to reveal or
otherwise communicate any of the information disclosed to me pursuant thereto to anyone except
in accordance with the terms of said Order. I agree not to make use of any information or material
obtained pursuant to that Order other than for purposes of this litigation.
I also agree to return to counsel of record not later than thirty (30) days after the termination
of this litigation any and all documents in my possession containing information which is the
subject of said Order (whether such information is in the form of notes, memoranda, reports or
other written or electronic communications or documents prepared by any person at any time
containing information covered by the terms of said Order).
Name: ____________________________________
Date: ____________________________________
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