Whittier v. Seattle Tunnel Partners et al

Filing 56

LETTER FROM COURT re 55 Stipulation and Proposed Order re Protective Order signed by Judge Robert S. Lasnik. The Court is declining to sign. (TH)

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

ROBERT S. LASNIK
DISTRICT JUDGE

[phone]

August 1, 2018

Monique Wirrick
Perkins Coie LLP
1201 Third Ave., Suite 4900
Seattle, WA 98101

Kevin Hastings
Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala PLLC
911 Pacific Ave., Suite 200
Seattle, WA 98402

Delivered Via CM/ECF
RE:

Whittier v. Seattle Tunnel Partners, C17-0751RSL
Stipulated Protective Order

Dear Counsel:
On July 31, 2018, the Court received your proposed “Stipulated Protective Order.” Dkt.
# 55.
Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c), protective orders may be entered to protect parties from
annoyance, embarrassment, or undue burden or to protect confidential commercial
information. 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 order must also comply with the applicable federal and local procedural
rules.
The agreed protective order submitted in this case is deficient because it is too broad and
gives too much discretion to the parties to designate information as “confidential.” The
order mentions certain categories of documents which may be protected from public
view, but those categories are simply examples and do not limit the scope of the order.
Rather, the parties have included a catch-all provision treating all “commercial”

information as “confidential.” Any protective order entered by the Court must clearly
identify the class or type of documents subject to the order and the need for
confidentiality
The agreed 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