Viesse v. Tacoma Screw Products, Inc. et al

Filing 24

STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER granting 23 Amended Motion for Protective Order. Signed by U.S. District Judge John C Coughenour. (PM)

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THE HONORABLE JOHN C. COUGHENOUR 1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 7 8 9 10 ALBERT VIESSE, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated, STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER Plaintiff, 11 CASE NO. C16-1026-JCC v. 12 13 TACOMA SCREW PRODUCTS, INC., et al., 14 Defendants. 15 16 17 STIPULATION 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 18 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, proprietary, or private 19 information for which special protection may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby 20 stipulate to and petition the court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties 21 acknowledge that this agreement is consistent with LCR 26(c). It does not confer blanket 22 protection on all disclosures or responses to discovery, the protection it affords from public 23 disclosure and use extends only to the limited information or items that are entitled to 24 confidential treatment under the applicable legal principles, and it does not presumptively entitle 25 parties to file confidential information under seal. 26 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER PAGE - 1 1 2. “CONFIDENTIAL” MATERIAL 2 “Confidential” material shall include the following documents and tangible things produced or 3 otherwise exchanged: Various price information and agreements designated by third parties as 4 confidential or documents containing sensitive, financial or confidential information about third 5 parties or parties. 6 Tacoma Screw Products proprietary and confidential business information that is “Confidential”, 7 includes, but is not limited to: 8 Contracts; 9 Price Quotes; 10 Banking and Credit/Debit Information; 11 Customer Names and related Customer Data/Information; 12 Sales information; and 13 Similar proprietary or confidential business data. 14 3. SCOPE 15 The protections conferred by this agreement cover not only confidential material 16 (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from confidential material; 17 (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of confidential material; and (3) any 18 testimony, conversations, or presentations by parties or their counsel that might reveal 19 confidential material. However, the protections conferred by this agreement do not cover 20 information that is in the public domain or becomes part of the public domain through trial or 21 otherwise. 22 4. ACCESS TO AND USE OF CONFIDENTIAL MATERIAL 23 4.1 Basic Principles. A receiving party may use confidential material that is disclosed or 24 produced by another party or by a non-party in connection with this case only for prosecuting, 25 defending, or attempting to settle this litigation. Confidential material may be disclosed only to 26 the categories of persons and under the conditions described in this agreement. Confidential STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER PAGE - 2 1 material must be stored and maintained by a receiving party at a location and in a secure manner 2 that ensures that access is limited to the persons authorized under this agreement. 3 4.2 4 court or permitted in writing by the designating party, a receiving party may disclose any 5 confidential material only to: Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless otherwise ordered by the 6 7 (a) the receiving party’s counsel of record in this action, as well as employees of counsel to whom it is reasonably necessary to disclose the information for this litigation; 8 9 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including in house counsel) of the receiving party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation, unless the parties 10 agree that a particular document or material produced is for Attorney’s Eyes Only and is so 11 designated; 12 13 (c) experts and consultants to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 14 (d) the court, court personnel, and court reporters and their staff; 15 (e) copy or imaging services retained by counsel to assist in the duplication of 16 confidential material, provided that counsel for the party retaining the copy or imaging service 17 instructs the service not to disclose any confidential material to third parties and to immediately 18 return all originals and copies of any confidential material; 19 (f) during their depositions, witnesses in the action to whom disclosure is 20 reasonably necessary and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” 21 (Exhibit A), unless otherwise agreed by the designating party or ordered by the court. Pages of 22 transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal confidential material must 23 be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted 24 under this agreement; 25 26 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information. STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER PAGE - 3 1 4.3 2 referencing such material in court filings, the filing party shall confer with the designating party 3 to determine whether the designating party will remove the confidential designation, whether the 4 document can be redacted, or whether a motion to seal or stipulation and proposed order is 5 warranted. Local Civil Rule 5(g) sets forth the procedures that must be followed and the 6 standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court to file material under 7 seal. 8 9 Filing Confidential Material. Before filing confidential material or discussing or 5. 5.1 DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. Each party or non- 10 party that designates information or items for protection under this agreement must take care to 11 limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies under the appropriate standards. The 12 designating party must designate for protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or 13 oral or written communications that qualify, so that other portions of the material, documents, 14 items, or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably 15 within the ambit of this agreement. Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are 16 prohibited. Designations that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an 17 improper purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber or delay the case development process or to 18 impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) expose the designating party to 19 sanctions. If it comes to a designating party’s attention that information or items that it 20 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, the designating party must promptly 21 notify all other parties that it is withdrawing the mistaken designation. 22 5.2 23 (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, 24 disclosure or discovery material that qualifies for protection under this agreement must be clearly 25 so designated before or when the material is disclosed or produced. 26 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this agreement (a) Information in documentary form: (e.g., paper or electronic documents and STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER PAGE - 4 1 deposition exhibits, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings), 2 the designating party must affix the word “CONFIDENTIAL” to each page that contains 3 confidential material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for 4 protection, the producing party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by 5 making appropriate markings in the margins). 6 (b) Testimony given in deposition or in other pretrial or trial proceedings: the parties 7 must identify on the record, during the deposition, hearing, or other proceeding, all protected 8 testimony, without prejudice to their right to so designate other testimony after reviewing the 9 transcript. Any party or non-party may, within fifteen days after receiving a deposition transcript, 10 designate portions of the transcript, or exhibits thereto, as confidential. 11 (c) Other tangible items: the producing party must affix in a prominent place on the 12 exterior of the container or containers in which the information or item is stored the word 13 “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information or item warrant protection, 14 the producing party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected portion(s). 15 5.3 16 qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the designating party’s right to 17 secure protection under this agreement for such material. Upon timely correction of a 18 designation, the receiving party must make reasonable efforts to ensure that the material is 19 treated in accordance with the provisions of this agreement. 20 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent failure to designate 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 21 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any party or non-party may challenge a designation of 22 confidentiality at any time. Unless a prompt challenge to a designating party’s confidentiality 23 designation is necessary to avoid foreseeable, substantial unfairness, unnecessary economic 24 burdens, or a significant disruption or delay of the litigation, a party does not waive its right to 25 challenge a confidentiality designation by electing not to mount a challenge promptly after the 26 original designation is disclosed. STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER PAGE - 5 1 6.2 Meet and Confer. The parties must make every attempt to resolve any dispute regarding 2 confidential designations without court involvement. Any motion regarding confidential 3 designations or for a protective order must include a certification, in the motion or in a 4 declaration or affidavit, that the movant has engaged in a good faith meet and confer conference 5 with other affected parties in an effort to resolve the dispute without court action. The 6 certification must list the date, manner, and participants to the conference. A good faith effort to 7 confer requires a face-to-face meeting or a telephone conference. 8 6.3 9 the designating party may file and serve a motion to retain confidentiality under Local Civil Rule 10 7 (and in compliance with Local Civil Rule 5(g), if applicable). The burden of persuasion in any 11 such motion shall be on the designating party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an 12 improper purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) 13 may expose the challenging party to sanctions. All parties shall continue to maintain the material 14 in question as confidential until the court rules on the challenge. Judicial Intervention. If the parties cannot resolve a challenge without court intervention, 15 7. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED IN 16 OTHER LITIGATION 17 If a party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation that compels 18 disclosure of any information or items designated in this action as “CONFIDENTIAL,” that 19 party must: 20 21 (a) promptly notify the designating party in writing and include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 22 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to issue in the 23 other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or order is subject to this 24 agreement. Such notification shall include a copy of this agreement; and 25 26 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by the designating party whose confidential material may be affected. STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER PAGE - 6 1 8. 2 UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL If a receiving party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed 3 confidential material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this agreement, 4 the receiving party must immediately (a) notify in writing the designating party of the 5 unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the 6 protected material, (c) inform the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were 7 made of all the terms of this agreement, and (d) request that such person or persons execute the 8 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 9 10 9. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE PROTECTED MATERIAL 11 When a producing party gives notice to receiving parties that certain inadvertently produced 12 material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, the obligations of the receiving 13 parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not 14 intended to modify whatever procedure may be established in an e-discovery order or agreement 15 that provides for production without prior privilege review. Parties shall confer on an appropriate 16 non-waiver order under Fed. R. Evid. 502. 17 10. NON TERMINATION AND RETURN OF DOCUMENTS 18 Within 60 days after the termination of this action, including all appeals, each receiving party 19 must return all confidential material to the producing party, including all copies, extracts and 20 summaries thereof. Alternatively, the parties may agree upon appropriate methods of destruction. 21 Notwithstanding this provision, counsel are entitled to retain one archival copy of all documents 22 filed with the court, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, correspondence, deposition and 23 trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, 24 even if such materials contain confidential material. The confidentiality obligations imposed by 25 this agreement shall remain in effect until a designating party agrees otherwise in writing or a 26 court orders otherwise. STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER PAGE - 7 1 2 3 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. DATED: March 27, 2017 4 Chant Yedalian, Admitted Pro Hac Vice 5 /s/ Chant Yedalian_________________ Attorneys for Plaintiff 6 DATED: March 27, 2017 7 Stephanie Bloomfield, WSBA 24251 8 /s/ Stephanie Bloomfield_____________ Attorneys for Defendant 9 10 PURSUANT TO STIPULATION, IT IS SO ORDERED. 11 12 DATED this 30th day of March, 2017. A 13 14 15 John C. Coughenour UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER PAGE - 8 1 EXHIBIT A 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 3 4 I, ____________________________ [print or type full name], of 5 ____________________________ [print or type full address], declare under penalty of perjury 6 that I have read in its entirety and understand the Stipulated Protective Order that was issued by 7 the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington on _____________[date] 8 in the case of Albert Viesse v. Tacoma Screw Products, Inc. et al 2:16-cv-01026-JCC. I agree to 9 comply with and to be bound by all the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order and I 10 understand and acknowledge that failure to so comply could expose me to sanctions and 11 punishment in the nature of contempt. 12 I solemnly promise that I will not disclose in any manner any information or item that is subject 13 to this Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance with the 14 provisions of this Order. 15 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the Western 16 District of Washington for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order, 17 even if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of this action. 18 Date: 19 City and State where sworn and signed: 20 Printed name: 21 Signature: 22 23 24 25 26 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER PAGE - 9

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