Elliott v. Genuine Parts Company
Filing
17
PROTECTIVE ORDER re parties' 16 Stipulated MOTION for Protective Order signed by U.S. District Judge John C Coughenour. (TH)
THE HONORABLE JOHN C. COUGHENOUR
1
2
3
4
5
6
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON
AT SEATTLE
7
8
9
ROBERT ELLIOTT, an Individual,
10
Plaintiff,
CASE NO. C17-0692-JCC
PROTECTIVE ORDER
v.
11
GENUINE PARTS COMPANY, a Georgia
Corporation doing business in Washington
as GENUINE PARTS COMPANY and
NAPA AUTO PARTS,
12
13
14
Defendant.
15
16
17
1.
PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS
18
Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, proprietary, or
19
private information for which special protection may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties
20
hereby stipulate to and petition the court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The
21
parties 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 confidential
24
treatment under the applicable legal principles, and it does not presumptively entitle parties to file
25
confidential information under seal.
26
//
PROTECTIVE ORDER
C17-0692-JCC
PAGE - 1
1
2.
“CONFIDENTIAL” MATERIAL
2
“Confidential” material shall include the following documents and tangible things
3
produced or otherwise exchanged: documents produced by Defendant that involve the disclosure of
4
trade secrets, confidential, private, financial, personal, medical or business information of Defendant
5
and/or GPC’s current or former employees and customers, and those documents produced by Plaintiff
6
that involve the disclosure of financial and/or medical information of Plaintiff.
7
3.
SCOPE
8
The protections conferred by this agreement cover not only confidential material (as
9
defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from confidential material; (2) all
10
copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of confidential material; and (3) any testimony,
11
conversations, or presentations by parties or their counsel that might reveal confidential material.
12
However, the protections conferred by this agreement do not cover information that is in the public
13
domain or becomes part of the public domain through trial or otherwise.
14
4.
ACCESS TO AND USE OF CONFIDENTIAL MATERIAL
15
4.1 Basic Principles. A receiving party may use confidential material that is disclosed or
16
produced by another party or by a non-party in connection with this case only for prosecuting,
17
defending, or attempting to settle this litigation. Confidential material may be disclosed only to
18
the categories of persons and under the conditions described in this agreement. Confidential
19
material must be stored and maintained by a receiving party at a location and in a secure manner
20
that ensures that access is limited to the persons authorized under this agreement.
21
4.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless otherwise ordered by
22
the court or permitted in writing by the designating party, a receiving party may disclose any
23
confidential material only to:
24
25
(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;
26
PROTECTIVE ORDER
C17-0692-JCC
PAGE - 2
1
(b) the officers, directors, and employees (including in house counsel) of the
2
receiving party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation, unless the parties
3
agree that a particular document or material produced is for Attorney’s Eyes Only and is so
4
designated;
5
(c) experts and consultants to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this
6
litigation and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A);
7
(d) the court, court personnel, and court reporters and their staff;
8
(e) copy or imaging services retained by counsel to assist in the duplication of
9
confidential material, provided that counsel for the party retaining the copy or imaging service
10
instructs the service not to disclose any confidential material to third parties and to immediately
11
return all originals and copies of any confidential material;
12
(f) during their depositions, witnesses in the action to whom disclosure is
13
reasonably necessary and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound”
14
(Exhibit A), unless otherwise agreed by the designating party or ordered by the court. Pages of
15
transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal confidential material must
16
be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted
17
under this agreement;
18
19
(g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a custodian
or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information.
20
4.3 Filing Confidential Material. Before filing confidential material or discussing or
21
referencing such material in court filings, the filing party shall confer with the designating party
22
to determine whether the designating party will remove the confidential designation, whether the
23
document can be redacted, or whether a motion to seal or stipulation and proposed order is
24
warranted. Local Civil Rule 5(g) sets forth the procedures that must be followed and the standards
25
that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court to file material under seal.
26
//
PROTECTIVE ORDER
C17-0692-JCC
PAGE - 3
1
5.
DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL
2
5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. Each party or
3
non-party that designates information or items for protection under this agreement must take care
4
to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies under the appropriate standards.
5
The designating party must designate for protection only those parts of material, documents, items,
6
or oral or written communications that qualify, so that other portions of the material, documents,
7
items, or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within
8
the ambit of this agreement. Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited.
9
Designations that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper
10
purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber or delay the case development process or to impose
11
unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) expose the designating party to sanctions. If
12
it comes to a designating party’s attention that information or items that it designated for protection
13
do not qualify for protection, the designating party must promptly notify all other parties that it is
14
withdrawing the mistaken designation.
15
5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this agreement
16
(see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise stipulated or ordered,
17
disclosure or discovery material that qualifies for protection under this agreement must be clearly
18
so designated before or when the material is disclosed or produced.
19
(a) Information in documentary form: (e.g., paper or electronic documents and
20
deposition exhibits, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings),
21
the designating party must affix the word “CONFIDENTIAL” to each page that contains
22
confidential material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection,
23
the producing party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate
24
markings in the margins).
25
(b) Testimony given in deposition or in other pretrial proceedings: the parties and
26
any participating non-parties must identify on the record, during the deposition or other pretrial
PROTECTIVE ORDER
C17-0692-JCC
PAGE - 4
1
proceeding, all protected testimony, without prejudice to their right to so designate other testimony
2
after reviewing the transcript. Any party or non-party may, within fifteen days after receiving the
3
transcript of the deposition or other pretrial proceeding, designate portions of the transcript, or
4
exhibits thereto, as confidential. If a party or non-party desires to protect confidential information
5
at trial, the issue should be addressed during the pre-trial conference.
6
(c) Other tangible items: the producing party must affix in a prominent place on the
7
exterior of the container or containers in which the information or item is stored the word
8
“CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information or item warrant protection,
9
the producing party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected portion(s).
10
5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent failure to
11
designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the designating party’s
12
right to secure protection under this agreement for such material. Upon timely correction of a
13
designation, the receiving party must make reasonable efforts to ensure that the material is treated
14
in accordance with the provisions of this agreement.
15
6.
CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS
16
6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any party or non-party may challenge a designation of
17
confidentiality at any time. Unless a prompt challenge to a designating party’s confidentiality
18
designation is necessary to avoid foreseeable, substantial unfairness, unnecessary economic
19
burdens, or a significant disruption or delay of the litigation, a party does not waive its right to
20
challenge a confidentiality designation by electing not to mount a challenge promptly after the
21
original designation is disclosed.
22
6.2 Meet and Confer. The parties must make every attempt to resolve any dispute regarding
23
confidential designations without court involvement.
24
designations or for a protective order must include a certification, in the motion or in a declaration
25
or affidavit, that the movant has engaged in a good faith meet and confer conference with other
26
affected parties in an effort to resolve the dispute without court action. The certification must list
PROTECTIVE ORDER
C17-0692-JCC
PAGE - 5
Any motion regarding confidential
1
the date, manner, and participants to the conference. A good faith effort to confer requires a face-
2
to-face meeting or a telephone conference.
3
6.3
Judicial Intervention. If the parties cannot resolve a challenge without court
4
intervention, the designating party may file and serve a motion to retain confidentiality under Local
5
Civil Rule 7 (and in compliance with Local Civil Rule 5(g), if applicable). The burden of
6
persuasion in any such motion shall be on the designating party. Frivolous challenges, and those
7
made for an improper purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on
8
other parties) may expose the challenging party to sanctions. All parties shall continue to maintain
9
the material in question as confidential until the court rules on the challenge.
10
7.
PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED IN OTHER
11
LITIGATION
12
If a party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation that compels
13
disclosure of any information or items designated in this action as “CONFIDENTIAL,” that party
14
must:
15
16
(a) promptly notify the designating party in writing and include a copy of the subpoena or
court order;
17
(b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to issue in the
18
other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or order is subject to this
19
agreement. Such notification shall include a copy of this agreement; and
20
(c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by the
21
designating party whose confidential material may be affected.
22
8.
UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL
23
If a receiving party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed confidential
24
material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this agreement, the receiving
25
party must immediately (a) notify in writing the designating party of the unauthorized disclosures,
26
(b) use its best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the protected material, (c) inform the
PROTECTIVE ORDER
C17-0692-JCC
PAGE - 6
1
person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this agreement,
2
and (d) request that such person or persons execute the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be
3
Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A.
4
9.
5
MATERIAL
INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE PROTECTED
6
When a producing party gives notice to receiving parties that certain inadvertently
7
produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, the obligations of the
8
receiving parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision
9
is not intended to modify whatever procedure may be established in an e-discovery order or
10
agreement that provides for production without prior privilege review. The parties agree to the
11
entry of a non-waiver order under Fed. R. Evid. 502(d) as set forth herein.
12
10.
NON-TERMINATION AND RETURN OF DOCUMENTS
13
Within 60 days after the termination of this action, including all appeals, each receiving
14
party must return all confidential material to the producing party, including all copies, extracts and
15
summaries thereof. Alternatively, the parties may agree upon appropriate methods of destruction.
16
Notwithstanding this provision, counsel are entitled to retain one archival copy of all
17
documents filed with the court, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, correspondence,
18
deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work
19
product, even if such materials contain confidential material.
20
21
The confidentiality obligations imposed by this agreement shall remain in effect until a
designating party agrees otherwise in writing or a court orders otherwise.
22
(Signatures on Following Page)
23
24
25
26
PROTECTIVE ORDER
C17-0692-JCC
PAGE - 7
1
IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD.
2
3
DATED: _____1/22/2018_____________
4
_/s/Henry Brudney, Esq.___________
Attorneys for Plaintiff
5
6
DATED: ____1/22/2018_______________
7
_/s/Lisa Knottek Simpson, Esq.__
Attorneys for Defendant
8
9
PURSUANT TO STIPULATION, IT IS SO ORDERED
10
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that pursuant to Fed. R. Evid. 502(d), the production of any
11
documents in this proceeding shall not, for the purposes of this proceeding or any other proceeding
12
in any other court, constitute a waiver by the producing party of any privilege applicable to those
13
documents, including the attorney-client privilege, attorney work-product protection, or any other
14
privilege or protection recognized by law.
15
16
DATED this 25th day of January 2018.
A
17
18
19
John C. Coughenour
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
PROTECTIVE ORDER
C17-0692-JCC
PAGE - 8
1
EXHIBIT A
2
ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND
3
I,
____________________________________
[print
or
type
full
name],
of
4
_________________________________ [print or type full address], declare under penalty of
5
perjury that I have read in its entirety and understand the Stipulated Protective Order that was
6
issued by the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington on
7
______________ in the case of Robert Elliott v. Genuine Parts Company, Case No. 2:17-CV-
8
00692. I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order
9
and I understand and acknowledge that failure to so comply could expose me to sanctions and
10
punishment in the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise that I will not disclose in any manner
11
any information or item that is subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity
12
except in strict compliance with the provisions of this Order.
13
I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the
14
Western District of Washington for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this Stipulated Protective
15
Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of this action.
16
Date: _______________________________
17
18
City and State where sworn and signed: _____________________________
19
20
Printed name: _________________________
21
22
Signature: ___________________________
23
24
25
26
PROTECTIVE ORDER
C17-0692-JCC
PAGE - 9
Disclaimer: Justia Dockets & Filings provides public litigation records from the federal appellate and district courts. These filings and docket sheets should not be considered findings of fact or liability, nor do they necessarily reflect the view of Justia.
Why Is My Information Online?