Heydlauff v. The Boeing Company

Filing 14

LETTER FROM THE COURT declining to sign Stipulated 13 Motion for Protective Order signed by Judge Robert S. Lasnik.(RS)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON
UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE
700 STEWART STREET
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 98101

ROBERT S. LASNIK
DISTRICT JUDGE

[phone]

July 27, 2017

Delivered Via CM/ECF
RE:

Heydlauff v. The Boeing Company, C17-687RSL
Stipulated Protective Order

Dear Counsel:
On July 26, 2017, the Court received your proposed Stipulated Motion for Entry of
Protective Order and Proposed Protective Order (Dkt. # 13).
Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c), protective orders may be entered to protect confidential
commercial information and/or to limit the scope of specific disclosures. Such protective
orders may issue upon a showing of good cause. Although parties may agree on
confidentiality among themselves, when they request that the Court be involved, the
proposed order must be narrowly drawn, identifying both the type of information that is
to be protected and, if not obvious, the reason such protection is warranted.
The stipulated protective order submitted in this case is deficient in the following
respects:
Section 5.2(b) of the proposed order would allow a party to offer
testimony in open court and then unilaterally designate some or all of the
testimony as protected material. Documents presented or testimony offered in
the courtroom are generally matters of public record. Access to the transcript
of courtroom proceedings will be restricted only upon motion and a
compelling showing that the need for confidentiality outweighs the public’s
right of access.

The stipulated protective order received by the Court will remain lodged in the file, but

will not be entered. The parties may resubmit a proposed order if they remedy the
deficiencies identified in this letter.

Sincerely,

A
Robert S. Lasnik
United States District Judge