Tank et al v. Burlington Oil and Gas Company LP et al

Filing 73

PROTECTIVE ORDER by Magistrate Judge Charles S. Miller, Jr. (KT)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF NORTH DAKOTA
NORTHWESTERN DIVISION
Greggory G. and Tommie S. Tank,
Plaintiffs,
vs.
Burlington Resources Oil and Gas
Company LP and Murex Petroleum
Corporation,
Defendants.

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PROTECTIVE ORDER

Case No. 4:10-cv-088

It is hereby ORDERED as follows:
1.

The terms of this Agreement and Order shall govern the discovery and use of

materials designated as Confidential Information, including the procedures for challenging
designations of confidentiality and the terms, conditions and restrictions on the production and
use of the confidential material.
2.

Any party may designate documents or information it produces in discovery as

Confidential Information. A party designating information as Confidential Information may
make such designation as to information that it believes it possesses a sufficient privacy or
business interest so as to preclude general dissemination. The phrase Confidential Information
shall include, but not be limited to, financial, economic and commercial information, and other
information such as the identities and addresses of non-party royalty owners.
3.
"Confidential."

All documents containing Confidential Information shall be plainly marked
Documents marked Confidential shall not be disclosed to any person other

than Qualified Persons as defined below, and then only for the purposes of this litigation.

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4.

The term "Qualified Persons" means:
a.

Any party to this litigation, or employees or officers of such party;

b.

Undersigned counsel for the parties and employees of such counsel

whose access to Confidential Information is necessary for purposes of
preparation, pretrial discovery and proceedings, trial, appeal, settlement, or
administration of this litigation;
c.

In-house

counsel for the parties, their legal staff and outside

legal advisors, whose access to Confidential Information is necessary for the
purposes of preparation, pretrial discovery and proceedings, trial, appeal,
settlement, or administration of this litigation;
d.

Third parties retained by a party to this litigation or by its counsel as

bona fide consulting experts or expert witnesses, or the employees of any
of them, for the purpose of preparation, pretrial discovery and proceedings,
trial, appeal, settlement, or administration of this litigation;
e.

The Court, including personnel of the Court, court reporters, and

any special master appointed by the Court any judge with jurisdiction over
this proceeding or any appeal hereof, and any authorized personnel of
such appellate court; and
f.

Any other person who is designated as a Qualified Person by

written agreement of the parties, or by order of this Court after notice to
all parties to the litigation and opportunity to be heard.
5.

A party who wishes to introduce or file Confidential Information with the

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Court in a brief, motion, affidavit or other document shall do so under seal. A party
may also ask the Court to impose similar protections if it seeks to introduce
Confidential Information at any hearing or at trial.
6.

The inadvertent disclosure of Confidential Information that has not

been so designated shall not be deemed a waiver of a party's claim of confidentiality,
and designation of Confidential Information hereunder may be made at any time
after disclosure, to be effective upon and after such designation.
7.

If the parties disagree with the designation of any information as Confidential

Information, the disagreeing party shall submit an objection in writing to the party
producing the information within thirty (30) days after the receipt of the information, or
thirty (30) days after execution of this agreement with respect to documents produced
prior to its execution.

The objection shall identify by Bates number the document or

documents subject to the challenge and the
confidentiality is made for each document.

basis

on

which

the

challenge

to

Before proceeding to a hearing on a

challenge to a designation of confidentiality, the attorneys or other representatives of the
parties shall meet and confer in an effort to resolve the disagreement over confidentiality by
mutual .agreement. The information in question shall continue to be treated as Confidential
Information until this Court rules on the objection to the designation.

In any pleading

challenging a designation of confidentiality, the party challenging the designation shall state
bona fide, good faith reasons why the specific document(s) at issue is not confidential. If
the Court determines that a bona fide basis does exist to challenge confidentiality, the
burden shall be upon the party furnishing the information to establish the confidentiality of
the specified document.

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8.

If a non-party demands, by subpoena or other legal process, the

disclosure of Confidential Information that any party has received, counsel for any
such party shall (i) immediately notify in writing counsel for the designating or producing
party and (ii) assert this Confidentiality Order as a defense to such demand.
9.

Upon written request by the producing party after 90 days from the conclusion

of this litigation, including any appeals, all documents (other than trial exhibits) designated as
Confidential Information and all photocopies or other copies thereof, shall be returned to
the party or parties who produced such information or destroyed, unless this Court orders
otherwise. The provisions of this Order shall continue to be effective after the conclusion of
this litigation, including all appeals.
10.

Nothing contained in this Order, and no action taken pursuant to this Order,

shall prejudice the right of any party to urge or contest the alleged relevancy, admissibility,
or discoverability of documents subject to this Order.
11.

The Court will prescribe any procedures it deems reasonable and necessary

with respect to Confidential Information and this Order for the trial of this case.
Dated this 6th Day of November, 2012.
/s/ Charles S. Miller, Jr.
Charles S. Miller, Jr.
United States Magistrate Judge

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