US INVESTIGATIONS SERVICES, LLC v. CALLIHAN et al
Filing
68
ORDER granting 66 Motion to Compel Re-Designation of Jupiter Documents. The SARAH and Jupiter documents at issue shall be reclassified as "Confidential" thereby allowing their review by limited USIS personnel in accordance with the Protective Order in this case. Signed by Judge Terrence F. McVerry on 10/4/2011. (bsc)
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
US INVESTIGATIONS SERVICES,
LLC,
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Plaintiff,
v.
SUSAN CALLIHAN and
SARAH LEAANN BAUCOM,
2: 11-cv-0355
Defendants.
MEMORANDUM ORDER OF COURT
Presently before the Court is the MOTION TO COMPEL RE-DESIGNATION OF
JUPITER DOCUMENTS filed by Plaintiff, US Investigations Services, LLC (Document No.
66), the Letter Response submitted on behalf of Jupiter Corporation (Document No. 67-1), and
the REPLY TO LETTER filed by US Investigations Services, LLC (Document No. 67). For the
reasons that follow, the Motion will be GRANTED.
On or about May 5, 2011, US Investigations Services, LLC (“USIS”) served a Subpoena
To Produce Documents, Information, or Objects or to Permit Inspection of Premises in A Civil
Action on non-party Jupiter Corporation (“Jupiter”). On June 16, 2011, Jupiter produced to
USIS “on disc the first batch of Bates’ stamped documents responsive to the documents.”
(Document No. 66-4, Exhibit C.) All of these documents were deemed by Jupiter to be
“Confidential.” According to USIS, the disc contained 591 documents.
On July 5, 2011, Jupiter produced to USIS a second disc of responsive documents, Bates
Numbers JUP 0059201754. According to USIS, this disc contained 1,163 pages of responsive
documents. Jupiter advised that “this is the total production, with one exception. We have
determined that there are numerous documents of source sensitive information that is protected
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by federal law. . . They are not privileged, but they are protected. Thus, we will provide you a
log within a week of those documents. . . .” (Document No. 66-5, Exhibit D.)
On August 2, 2011, Jupiter changed its position on the “protected” documents and
produced three (3) additional discs. According to Jupiter, they “did not hold back any responsive
documents (we initially intended to hold back certain documents and provide you with a log), but
we believe the existence of the protective order is sufficient. Thus, all were produced.”
(Document No. 66-6, Exhibit E.) Two of the discs contained documents which were on Sarah
Baucom’s personal computer. The documents on the first disc were classified by Jupiter as nonconfidential documents, Bates Nos. SARAH 00001-00606. The documents on the second disc
were classified by Jupiter as Confidential and Attorney Eyes Only, Bates Nos. SARAH 0060703099.
The third disc produced by Jupiter contained Jupiter documents which were classified by
Jupiter as Confidential, Attorney Eyes Only (Bates Nos. JUP 01755-04171.)
On August 17, 2011, USIS informed Jupiter that it did not agree that a certain number of
documents were properly classified as “Attorney Eyes Only” and requested that Jupiter “clarify
as to their categorization and/or redesignate” the following documents:
SARAH 00821-00832
SARAH 00833-00855
SARAH 00862-00875
SARAH 00953-01007
SARAH 01022-01023
SARAH 01086-01135
SARAH 011203-01232
SARAH 01269-01317
SARAH 01322-01379
SARAH 01384-01401
SARAH 01402-01419
SARAH 01472-01493
SARAH 01796-01858
SARAH 01859-02038
SARAH 02079-02107
SARAH 02151-02154
SARAH 02213-02318
SARAH 02329-02371
SARAH 02381-02433
SARAH 02493-02499
SARAH 02500-02520
SARAH 02558-02560
SARAH 02781-02782
SARAH 02813-02835
SARAH 02836-02851
SARAH 02933-03099
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and
JUP 01766-01776
JUP 01787-01790
JUP 01797-01799
JUP 01829-01849
JUP 01850-01887
JUP 01888-01896
JUP 01915-01923
JUP 01941-01995
JUP 01998-02012
JUP 02034-02049
JUP 02050-02061
JUP 02062-02078
JUP 02171-02191
JUP 02232-02259
JUP 02286-02304
JUP 02315-02350
JUP 02406-02439
JUP 02452-02485
JUP 02497-02544
JUP 02545-02602
JUP 02633-02634
JUP 02687-02778
JUP 02779-02889
JUP 02890-02999
JUP 03000-03017
JUP 03625-03690
JUP 03701-03717
JUP 03913-03921
JUP 03922-03935
JUP 03940-03995
JUP 004063-04098
Jupiter responded on August 18, 2011, that it had reviewed the documents at issue and
would not agree to “allowing distribution to your client” as the material amounted to actual bid
proposal information. The instant motion to compel followed.
Unrelated to the instant dispute, on August 31, 2011, the Court granted USIS’s Motion to
Compel Discovery of Baucom Documents and ordered Defendant Baucom to produce all
documents to which she had lodged objections, with the exception to those subject to a legitimate
claim of attorney-client privilege. The Court’s ruling permitted certain USIS representatives to
review these documents pursuant to the Protective Order entered in the case. (Document No.
65). It appears that the Court’s ruling on the Baucom documents renders any objections by
Jupiter to the reclassification of the SARAH documents moot. Accordingly, the SARAH
documents at issue shall be reclassified as “Confidential” thereby allowing their review by
limited USIS personnel in accordance with the Protective Order filed in this case.
Turning to the Jupiter documents, as stated supra, Jupiter argues that these documents
contain highly sensitive bid information which should not be disclosed to actual employees of
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USIS, but rather should remain as Attorney Only Eyes, available for review only by attorneys,
experts and consultants and others as listed in Paragraph 8 of the Protective Order. Given the
allegations which form the basis of this litigation, the Court finds the position of Jupiter to be
untenable. USIS contends that its confidential and proprietary information was misappropriated
and improperly transmitted to Jupiter by Defendants. USIS is entitled to know the full extent, if
any, to which its information may have been, or was, misappropriated and/or distributed by
Defendants and whether such information has, in any way, been improperly used by Jupiter.
Further, included among the Jupiter AEO documents are documents that non-party
Keystone has previously redesignated as “Confidential.”
For all these reasons, the Court GRANTS the Motion to Compel Re-Designation of
Jupiter Documents and finds that the SARAH and Jupiter documents at issue shall be reclassified
as “Confidential” thereby allowing their review by limited USIS personnel in accordance with
the Protective Order filed in this case.
So ORDERED this 4th day of October, 2011.
BY THE COURT:
s/ Terrence F. McVerry
United States District Court Judge
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cc:
Glenn C. Etelson, Esquire
Shulman Rogers
Email: getelson@shulmanrogers.com
Mark A. Willard, Esquire
Eckert, Seamans, Cherin & Mellott
Email: mwillard@eckertseamans.com
Audrey K. Kwak, Esquire
Eckert, Seamans, Cherin & Mellott
Email: akwak@eckertseamans.com
Robert V. Campedel, Esquire
Eckert, Seamans, Cherin & Mellott, LLC
Email: rcampedel@eckertseamans.com
Ryan J. Siciliano, Esquire
Eckert, Seamans, Cherin & Mellott
Email: rsiciliano@eckertseamans.com
Alexander H. Lindsay, Jr., Esquire
Lindsay, Jackson & Martin
Email: Michele@lindsaylawfirm.com
Robert Varsek, Esquire
Rosen, Rosen & Bloom
Email: robertvarsek@yahoo.com
Charles T. Rosen, Esquire
Rosen, Rosen, Bloom & Varsek
Email: rrb@csonline.net
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