Perez et al v. Mercer Canyons Inc et al

Filing 79

STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER; granting 73 Stipulated Motion for Discovery Protective Order. Signed by Judge Salvador Mendoza, Jr. (PL, Case Administrator)

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FILED IN THE U.S. DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 1 Mar 29, 2017 2 SEAN F. MCAVOY, CLERK UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 3 4 6 ODELINDA PEREZ, RAUL SAUCEDO JR., LEONARDO SAUCEDO, ROBERT SANCHEZ, and J. JESUS VARGAS, 7 Plaintiffs, 5 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER v. 8 9 No. 1:16-CV-3015-SMJ MERCER CANYONS, INC. and WAFLA, 10 Defendants. 11 12 Pursuant to FRCP 26(c) and the stipulation of the parties, the Court hereby 13 GRANTS the parties’ Stipulated Motion for Discovery Protective Order, ECF No. 14 73, and enters the following Protective Order. 15 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED: 16 1. Confidential Matter a. 17 As used herein, “Confidential Matter” shall mean any 18 document, information, or specific portions thereof, furnished in the course of 19 litigation—during discovery or otherwise—that is both (1) so designated by a party 20 ORDER - 1 1 as “Confidential” pursuant to subsection 1(b) below, and (2) that contains the 2 following: i. 3 Non-public and private, personal information, including 4 documents containing personal financial information, medical information, or 5 contact information; or ii. 6 Confidential and proprietary business information that provides 7 the party with a business advantage over its competitors. To the extent that 8 documents relate to matters that Defendant takes significant steps to protect in its 9 daily operations, such as through the use of non-disclosure and confidentiality 10 agreements with its employees (if any) such information can be designated as 11 confidential. The determination of whether produced material is Confidential shall 12 be made in the first instance by the party from whom discovery is sought. Each 13 party that designates information or documents for protection under this agreement 14 must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies under 15 the appropriate standards. The designating party must designate for protection only 16 those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written communications that 17 qualify as confidential, so that other portions of the material, documents, items, or 18 communication for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably 19 within the ambit of this agreement. 20 ORDER - 2 1 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations 2 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper 3 purpose expose the designating party to sanctions. The protections conferred by this 4 agreement do not cover information that is in the public domain or becomes part of 5 the public domain through litigation or otherwise. 6 Notwithstanding the above, Defendant Mercer Canyons may, in the first 7 instance, designate as Confidential any document produced and designated as 8 confidential in Ruiz v. Mercer Canyons, Inc., 1:14-cv-03032-SAB (E.D. Wash.). 9 Designation of a document as Confidential in Ruiz shall not be conclusive as to the 10 appropriate status of the document; any such designation shall be subject to the 11 same procedure, set forth below, for challenging Confidential designations as is 12 applicable to other documents designated as Confidential, except that designating 13 as Confidential any document produced and designated as confidential in Ruiz shall 14 not subject Mercer to any sanctions under this Order. 15 If there is a disagreement between the parties as to whether particular 16 produced materials have been properly designated as Confidential, the dispute may 17 be resolved by the Court as provided for in this Order. b. 18 19 All documents, information, or things deemed Confidential Matter by a party shall be marked or stamped as “Confidential.” 20 ORDER - 3 c. 1 Any documents or information not designated as “Confidential” 2 shall be excluded from this Order, provided, however, that inadvertent production 3 of any document or information without a “Confidential” designation shall not by 4 itself be deemed a waiver of confidentiality as to such matter, and a party thereafter 5 may designate the same as “Confidential” promptly upon being advised of or 6 discovering the inadvertent disclosure. Disclosure by any party of such matter prior 7 to notice of the confidential nature thereof shall not be deemed a violation of this 8 Order. d. 9 Except as expressly provided for in this Order, Confidential 10 Matter and any information contained therein shall not be communicated or 11 disclosed in any manner, directly or indirectly, to any person or entity, and may be 12 used only for the prosecution or defense of this litigation and for no other purpose. 13 2. Permitted Disclosure of Confidential Matter a. 14 Confidential Matter may be disclosed to any party, to counsel 15 for any party, and to other counsel and support staff assisting counsel in the conduct 16 of this action. Confidential Matter may also be disclosed to the Court, Court 17 personnel, and court reporters used in this litigation. Nothing in this Order shall 18 limit or prevent the use of any Confidential Matter in open court at hearings in, or 19 during trial of, this action, provided, however, that such use shall not relieve the 20 ORDER - 4 1 parties of their obligations to seek to file Confidential Matter under seal when called 2 for by this Order. b. 3 Confidential Matter may be disclosed in good faith to third party 4 experts and consultants retained by a party to assist in preparation, settlement, trial, 5 or appeal of this action. Confidential Matter may also be disclosed to persons whose 6 depositions are noted or potential trial witnesses, as well as their counsel, only to 7 the extent counsel for the disclosing party determines in good faith that it is 8 reasonably necessary to do so. Prior to the disclosure of any Confidential Matter to 9 any permitted third party, the person to whom the disclosure is to be made shall 10 agree in writing, or on the record in the case of a deposition, to be bound by the 11 terms of this Order by, respectively, (1) signing an agreement in the form of 12 Attachment A hereto or (2) making a representation on the deposition record. c. 13 14 Confidential Matter may also be disclosed to any other person upon written consent by the designating party. 15 3. 16 A party may, either during a deposition or within thirty (30) days after 17 receiving the deposition transcript, designate portions of that transcript, and exhibits 18 thereto not already designated confidential, as “Confidential.” Confidential Matter 19 within the deposition transcript may be designated by underlining the portions of 20 ORDER - 5 Use in Depositions 1 the pages that are confidential and marking such pages with substantially the 2 following legend: “Confidential—subject to protection pursuant to court order.” 3 4. 4 The parties are free to designate any document not filed with the Court as 5 “Confidential” and limit its dissemination and use. However, there is a strong 6 presumption of public access to any document filed with the Court. Any party 7 including documents, transcripts, or any other paper containing any Confidential 8 Matter with any pleading, motion, deposition transcript, or other paper filed with 9 the Clerk of this Court shall, at that party’s option, either 10 (a) Use in Briefs, Exhibits, Testimony, and Other Documents provide five court days advance written notice to the designating party 11 of the intent to submit Confidential Matter, identifying the specific Confidential 12 Matter to be filed and the date of the filing, so that the designating party may file a 13 motion to seal; if the designating party so moves on or before the date of filing, then 14 the filing party shall redact Confidential Matter from his or its public court filing 15 (with an unredacted bench copy provided to chambers) or, if necessary, file 16 documents containing Confidential Matter under seal; or 17 (b) file a separate motion or stipulation seeking an order from the Court 18 permitting the Confidential Matter to be filed under seal, so that the Court may make 19 particular findings justifying the limitation on public access as may be appropriate. 20 ORDER - 6 1 The burden is on the party proposing that a document be sealed to provide the 2 needed information so that the Court can determine whether all, a portion, or none 3 of the document may be filed under seal. Court findings and conclusions reflecting 4 the same and authorizing any sealing or redaction must also be filed. 5 5. Confidentiality Challenge 6 If a party challenges the confidential designation of any document or 7 information, it shall so notify the designating party in writing and provide that party 8 five (5) court days in which to consider the challenge. The parties agree that, during 9 that period, they will make a good faith effort to resolve any disputes concerning 10 the treatment of Confidential Matter. If the matter has not been resolved, the party 11 advocating confidentiality must move for such protection under Rule 26(c) within 12 ten (10) court days from the notification of the challenge, or the designation shall 13 be deemed abandoned. 14 6. 15 After the termination of this action, this Order shall continue to be binding 16 upon the parties hereto and upon all persons to whom Confidential Matter has been 17 disclosed or communicated. 18 19 20 ORDER - 7 Termination 1 7. Modification 2 This Order may be modified in the event that the parties agree in writing to a 3 modification of the provisions hereof or such modification is ordered by this Court. 4 No party shall be prejudiced by having stipulated to this Order. 5 8. 6 The parties expressly acknowledge and agree that all remedies under CR 37 7 will be available to the Court, in its discretion, to sanction any violation of this 8 Order. 9 9. Remedies Scope of Protective Order 10 Nothing in this Order restricts any party from using or disclosing its own 11 confidential information for any purpose. If a designating party files Confidential 12 Matter, not under seal and without redaction, its designation shall be deemed 13 abandoned. Entry of this Order does not foreclose further agreements by the parties 14 to keep such documents, information, or things confidential or to apply to the Court 15 for protection of other documents, information, or things. 16 10. 17 The parties and any other person subject to the terms of this Order agree that 18 this Court has and retains jurisdiction during this action and after this action is 19 terminated for the purpose of enforcing this Order. 20 ORDER - 8 Retention of Jurisdiction 1 2 3 IT IS SO ORDERED. The Clerk’s Office is directed to enter this Order and provide copies to all counsel. DATED this 29th day of March 2017. 4 __________________________ SALVADOR MENDOZA, JR. United States District Judge 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 ORDER - 9 1 ATTACHMENT A 2 AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND BY STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 I, _____________________, hereby acknowledge that I have received a copy of the Stipulated Protective Order entered in the matter of Odelinda Perez, Raul Saucedo Jr., Leonardo Saucedo, Robert Sanchez, and J. Jesus Vargas v. Mercer Canyons, Inc and WAFLA, in the United States District Court Eastern District of Washington, No. 1:16-cv-03015-SMJ. I have read and agree to be bound by all of the provisions of the Stipulated Protective Order. I agree (a) not to divulge any Confidential Matter to any other person; and (b) not to use any Confidential Matter for any purpose other than this litigation. In addition, I consent to the jurisdiction and contempt power of United States District Court Eastern District of Washington with respect to the enforcement of the Stipulated Protective Order. DATED: _______________________. 15 ________________________________ Signature 16 17 ________________________________ Print Name 18 19 20 Q:\SMJ\Civil\2016\Perez et al v. Mercer Canyons Inc. et al-3015\Stipulated protective order.lc2.docx ORDER - 10

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