United States of America for the use and benefit of Tensar International Corporation v. Travelers Casualty & Surety Company of America et al
Filing
29
ORDER granting 28 Motion for Protective Order.(Signed by Judge George C Hanks, Jr) Parties notified.(agould, 3)
United States District Court
Southern District of Texas
ENTERED
March 01, 2019
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS
GALVESTON DIVISION
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
for the use and benefit of
TENSAR INTERNATIONAL
CORPORATION,
Plaintiff,
v.
'
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
David J. Bradley, Clerk
Civil Action No.: 3:18-CV-00006
§
§
TRAVELERS CASUALTY AND
SURETYCOMPANYOF AMERICA §
& SHORELINE FOUNDATION, INC. §
§
§
Defendants.
: JURY TRIAL DEMANDED
STANDING PROTECTIVE ORDER
1.
This Standard Protective Order shall apply to· information, documents, excerpts from
documents, and other materials produced in this action pursuant to Federal Rules of
Civil Procedure governing disclosure and discovery.
2.
Information, documents, and other materials may be designated by the producing
party in the manner permitted ("the Designating Person"). All such information,
documents, excerpts from documents, and other materials will constitute
·"Designated Material" under this Order. The designation shall be either (a)
"CONFIDENTIAL" or (b) "CONFIDENTIAL-ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY."
This Order shall apply to Designated Material produced by any party or third-party
in this action.
3.
''CONFIDENTIAL" information means information, documents, or things that have
not been made public by the disclosing party and that the disclosing party reasonably
and in good faith believes contains or comprises (a) trade secrets, (b) proprietary
business information, or (c) information implicating an individual's legitimate
expectation of privacy.
4.
"CONFIDENTIAL-ATTORNEY'S EYES ONLY" means CONFIDENTIAL
information that the disclosing party reasonably and in good faith believes is so
highly sensitive that its disclosure to a competitor could result in significant
competitive or commercial disadvantage to the designating part)'.
,·
5.
Designated Material shall not be used or disclosed for any purpose other than the
litigation of this action and may be disclosed only as follows:
a. Parties: Material designated "CONFIDENTIAL" may be disclosed to parties
to this action or directors, officers and employees of parties to this action; who
have a legitimate need to see the information in connection with their
responsibilities for overseeing the litigation or assisting counsel in preparing
the action for trial or settlement. Before Designated Material is disclosed for
this purpose, each such person must agree to be bound by this Order by signing.
a document substantially in the form of Exhibit A.
.
.
b. Witnesses or Prospective Witnesses: Designated Material, including material
designated "CONFIDENTIAL-ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY," may be
disclosed to a witness or prospective witness in this action, but only for
purposes of testimony or preparation of testimony in this case, whether at trial, hearing, or
deposition, but it may not be retained by the witness or prospective witness. Before
Designated Material is disclosed for this purpose, each such person must agree to be bound
by this Order, by signing a document substantially in the form of Exhibit A.
c. Outside Experts: · Designated Material, including material designated
"CONFIDENTIAL-ATTORNEYS' EYE~ ONLY," may be disclosed to an
outside expert for the purpose of obtaining the expert's ·assistance in the
litigation. Before Designated Material is disclosed for this purpose, each such
person must agree to be bound by this Order, by signing a document
·
substantially in the form of Exhibit A..
d. Counsel:
Designated
Material,
including
material
designated
. "CONFIDENTIAL-ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY," may be disclosed to
counsel of record and in-house counsel for parties to this action and their
associates, paralegals, and regularly employed office staff.
e. Other Persons: Designated Material may be provided as necessary to copying
services, translators, and· litigation support firms. Before Designated Material is
disclosed to such third parties,_ each such person must agree to be bound by this
Order by signing a document substantially in the form of Exhibit A.
6.
Prior to disclosing or displaying any Designated Material to any person, counsel
shall:
a. Inform the person of the confidential nature of the Designated Material; and
b. Inform tlie person that this Court has enjoined the use of the Designated
Material by him/her for any purpose other than this litigation and has enjoined
••
the disclosure of that information or documents to any other person.
7.
The confidential information may be displayed to and discussed with the persons ·
identified in· Paragraphs 5(b) and (c) only on the condition that, prior to any such
display or discussion, each such person shall be asked to sign an agr~ement to be
bound by this Order in the form attached hereto as Exhibit A. In the event such
person refuses to sign an· agreement in substantially the form attached as Exhibit A,
the party desiring to disclose the confidential information may seek appropriate
relief from the Court.
8.
A person having custody of Designated Material shall maintain it in a manner that .
limits access to the Designated Material to persons permitted such access under this
Order.
9.
Counsel shall maintain a collection of all signed documents by which persons have
agreed to be bound by this Order.
10. Documents shall be designated by stamping or otherwise marking the documents
with the words "CONFIDENTIAL" or "CONFIDENTIAL-FOR ATTORNEYS'
EYES ONLY" thus clearly identifying the category of Designated Material for
which protection is sought under the terms of this Order. Designated Material not
reduced to documentary form shall be designated by the producing party m a
reasonably equivalent way.
- 11. The parties will use reasonable care to avoid designating as confidential documents
or information that does not need to be designated as such.
12. A party may submit a request in writing to the party who produced Designated
Material that the designation be modified or withdrawn. If the Designating Person
does not agree to the redesignation within fifteen business days, the objecting party
may apply to the Court for relief. Upon any such application, the burden shall be on
the Designating Person to show why the designation is proper. Before serving a
written challenge, the objecting party must attempt in good faith to meet and confer
with the Designating Person in an effort to resolve the matter. The Court may award
sanctions if it finds that a party's position was taken without substantial justification.
13. Deposition transcripts or portions thereof rhay be designated either (a} when the
testimony is recorded, or (b) by written notice to all counsel of record, given within
ten business days after the Designating Person's receipt of the transcript in which
case all counsel receiving such notice shall be responsible for marking the copies of
the designated transcript or portion thereof in their possession or control as directed
by the Designating Person. Pending expiration of the· ten business days, the
deposition transcript shall be treated as·designated: When testimony is designated at
a deposition, the Designating Person may exclude from the deposition all persons
other than thos~ to whom the Designated Material may be disclosed under paragraph
5 of this Order. Any party may mark Designated Material as a deposition exhibit,
·provided the deposition witness is one to whom the exhibit may be disclosed under
paragraph 5 of this Order and the exhibit and related transcript pages receive the
same confidentiality designation as the original Designated Material.
14. Any Designated Material which becomes part of an official judicial proceeding or
which is filed with the Court is public. Such Designated Material will be sealed by
the Court only upon motion and in accordance with applicable law. This Protective
Order does· not provide for the automatic sealing of such Designated Material. If it
becomes necessary to file Designated Material with the Court, a party must move to
file the Designated Material under seal.
15. Filing pleadings or other papers disclosing .or containing Designated Material does
not waive the designated status of the material. The Court will determine how
Designated Material will be treated during trial and other proceedings as it deems
appropriate.
·
16. Upon final termination of this action, all Designated Material and copies thereof
shall be returned promptly (and in no event later than forty-five (45) days after entry
of final judgment), returned to the producing party, or certified as destroyed to
counsel of record for the party that produced the Designated Material, or, in the case
of deposition testimony regarding designated exhibits, counsel of record for the
Designating. Person. Alternatively, the receiving. ·party shall provide to the
Designating Person a certification that all such materials have been destroyed.
17. Inadvertent production of confidential material prior to its designation as such in
accordance with this Order shall not be deemed a waiver of a claim of
confidentiality. Any such error shall be corrected within a reasonabletime.
18. Nothing in this Order shall require disclosure of information protected by the
attorney-client privilege, or other privilege or immunity, and the inadvertent
production of such information shall not operate as a waiver. If a Designating Party
becomes aware that it has inadvertently produced information protected by the
attorney-client privilege, or other privilege or immunity, the Designating PartY will
promptly notify ea:ch receiving party in writing of the inadvertent production. When
. a party receives notice of such inadvertent production, it shall return all copies of
inadvertently produced material within three business days. Any notes or summaries
referring or relating to any such inadvertently produced material subject to claim of
privilege or immunity shall be destroyed forthwith. Nothing herein shall prevent the
receiving party from challenging the propriety of the attorney-client privilege or
work product immunity or other applicable privilege designation by submitting a
challenge to the Court. The Designating Party bears the burden of establishing the
privileged nature of any inadvertently produced infoimation or material. Each
,.
-,
receiving party shall refrain from distributing or otherwise using the inadvertently
disclosed information or material for any purpose until any issue of privilege is
resolved by agreement of the parties or by the Court. Notwithstanding the foregoing,
a receiving party may use the inadvertently produced information or materials to
respond to a motion by the Designating Party seeking return or destruction of such
information or materials. If a receiving party becomes aware that it is in receipt of
information or materials which it knows or reasonably should know is privileged,
Counsel for the re.ceiving party shall immediately take steps to
(i) stop reading such information or materials, (ii) notify Counsel for the Designating
Party of such information or materials, (iii) 'collect all copies of such information or
materials, (iv) return such information or materials to the Designating Party, and (v)
otherwise comport themselves with the applicable provisions of the Rules of
Professional Conduct.
19. The foregoing is entirely without prejudice to the right of any party to apply to the
Court for any further Protective Order relating to Designated Material; or to object to
the production of Designated Material; or to apply to the Court for an order
compelling production of Designated Material; or for modification of this Order; or
to seek any other relief from the Court.
20. The restrictions irriposed by this Order may be modified or terminated only by
further order of the Court.
IT IS SO ORDERED,
3// ' /11
DATE
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
EXHffiiTA
I have been informed by counsel that certain documents or information to be
disclosed to me in connection with the matter entitled·-------------------------------------------------- have. been designated as confidential. I have been
informed that any such documents or information labeled "CONFIDENTIAL
PRODUCED PURSUANT TO PROTECTIVE ORDER" are .confidential by Order of the
Court.
I hereby agree _that I will not disclose any information contained in such
documents to any other person. I further agree not to use any such information for any
purpose other than this litigation.
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