160 Lee Street Condominium Homeowners' Association v. Mid-Century Insurance Company
Filing
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MODEL STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER signed by Judge Marsha J. Pechman. (PM)
The Honorable Marsha J. Pechman
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON
AT SEATTLE
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160 LEE STREET CONDOMINIUM
HOMEOWERS’ ASSOCIATION,
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CASE NO. 2:17-cv-01170 MJP
MODEL STIPULATED
PROTECTIVE ORDER
Plaintiff,
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v.
MID-CENTURY INSURANCE
COMPANY,
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Defendant.
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17 1.
PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS
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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 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 confidential
24 treatment under the applicable legal principles, and it does not presumptively entitle parties to file
25 confidential information under seal.
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Stipulated Protective Order - 1
1 2.
“CONFIDENTIAL” MATERIAL
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“Confidential” material shall include the following documents and tangible things
3 produced or otherwise exchanged: financial records of the plaintiff and possibly of individual
4 members of the plaintiff HOA, as well as any personally identifying information such a Social
5 Security numbers, birth dates, account numbers, and the like that should not be made generally
6 available to the public at large; defendant’s underwriting files; defendant’s manuals and
7 guidelines; defendant’s training materials; documents relating to defendant’s policies, practices
8 and procedures; defendant’s organizational charts; and defendant’s claims-handling standards.
9 3.
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SCOPE
The protections conferred by this agreement cover not only confidential material (as
11 defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from confidential material; (2) all
12 copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of confidential material; and (3) any testimony,
13 conversations, or presentations by parties or their counsel that might reveal confidential material.
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However, the protections conferred by this agreement do not cover information that is in
15 the public domain or becomes part of the public domain through trial or otherwise.
16 4.
ACCESS TO AND USE OF CONFIDENTIAL MATERIAL
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4.1
Basic Principles. A receiving party may use confidential material that is disclosed
18 or produced by another party or by a non-party in connection with this case only for prosecuting,
19 defending, or attempting to settle this litigation. Confidential material may be disclosed only to the
20 categories of persons and under the conditions described in this agreement. Confidential material
21 must be stored and maintained by a receiving party at a location and in a secure manner that ensures
22 that access is limited to the persons authorized under this agreement.
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4.2
Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless otherwise ordered
24 by the court or permitted in writing by the designating party, a receiving party may disclose any
25 confidential material only to:
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Stipulated Protective Order - 2
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(a)
the receiving party’s counsel of record in this action, as well as employees
2 of counsel to whom it is reasonably necessary to disclose the information for this litigation;
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(b)
the officers, directors, and employees (including in house counsel) of the
4 receiving party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation, unless the parties
5 agree that a particular document or material produced is for Attorney’s Eyes Only and is so
6 designated;
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(c)
experts and consultants to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this
8 litigation and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A);
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(d)
the court, court personnel, and court reporters and their staff;
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(e)
copy or imaging services retained by counsel to assist in the duplication of
11 confidential material, provided that counsel for the party retaining the copy or imaging service
12 instructs the service not to disclose any confidential material to third parties and to immediately
13 return all originals and copies of any confidential material;
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(f)
during their depositions, witnesses in the action to whom disclosure is
15 reasonably necessary and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound”
16 (Exhibit A), unless otherwise agreed by the designating party or ordered by the court. Pages of
17 transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal confidential material must
18 be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted
19 under this agreement;
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(g)
the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a
21 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information.
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4.3
Filing Confidential Material. Before filing confidential material or discussing or
23 referencing such material in court filings, the filing party shall confer with the designating party
24 to determine whether the designating party will remove the confidential designation, whether the
25 document can be redacted, or whether a motion to seal or stipulation and proposed order is
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Stipulated Protective Order - 3
1 warranted. Local Civil Rule 5(g) sets forth the procedures that must be followed and the standards
2 that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court to file material under seal.
3 5.
DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL
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5.1
Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. Each party
5 or non-party that designates information or items for protection under this agreement must take
6 care to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies under the appropriate
7 standards. The designating party must designate for protection only those parts of material,
8 documents, items, or oral or written communications that qualify, so that other portions of the
9 material, documents, items, or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept
10 unjustifiably within the ambit of this agreement.
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Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations that are
12 shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper purpose (e.g., to
13 unnecessarily encumber or delay the case development process or to impose unnecessary expenses
14 and burdens on other parties) expose the designating party to sanctions.
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If it comes to a designating party’s attention that information or items that it designated for
16 protection do not qualify for protection, the designating party must promptly notify all other parties
17 that it is withdrawing the mistaken designation.
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5.2
Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this
19 agreement (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise stipulated or
20 ordered, disclosure or discovery material that qualifies for protection under this agreement must
21 be clearly so designated before or when the material is disclosed or produced.
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(a)
Information in documentary form: (e.g., paper or electronic documents and
23 deposition exhibits, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial proceedings),
24 the designating party must affix the word “CONFIDENTIAL” to each page that contains
25 confidential material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection,
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Stipulated Protective Order - 4
1 the producing party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate
2 markings in the margins).
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(b)
Testimony given in deposition or in other pretrial proceedings: the parties
4 and any participating non-parties must identify on the record, during the deposition or other pretrial
5 proceeding, all protected testimony, without prejudice to their right to so designate other testimony
6 after reviewing the transcript. Any party or non-party may, within fifteen days after receiving the
7 transcript of the deposition or other pretrial proceeding, designate portions of the transcript, or
8 exhibits thereto, as confidential. If a party or non-party desires to protect confidential information
9 at trial, the issue should be addressed during the pre-trial conference.
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(c)
Other tangible items: the producing party must affix in a prominent place
11 on the exterior of the container or containers in which the information or item is stored the word
12 “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information or item warrant protection,
13 the producing party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected portion(s).
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5.3
Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent failure to
15 designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive the designating party’s
16 right to secure protection under this agreement for such material. Upon timely correction of a
17 designation, the receiving party must make reasonable efforts to ensure that the material is treated
18 in accordance with the provisions of this agreement.
19 6.
CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS
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6.1
Timing of Challenges. Any party or non-party may challenge a designation of
21 confidentiality at any time. Unless a prompt challenge to a designating party’s confidentiality
22 designation is necessary to avoid foreseeable, substantial unfairness, unnecessary economic
23 burdens, or a significant disruption or delay of the litigation, a party does not waive its right to
24 challenge a confidentiality designation by electing not to mount a challenge promptly after the
25 original designation is disclosed.
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6.2
Meet and Confer. The parties must make every attempt to resolve any dispute
2 regarding 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 declaration
4 or affidavit, that the movant has engaged in a good faith meet and confer conference with other
5 affected parties in an effort to resolve the dispute without court action. The certification must list
6 the date, manner, and participants to the conference. A good faith effort to confer requires a face7 to-face meeting or a telephone conference.
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6.3
Judicial Intervention. If the parties cannot resolve a challenge without court
9 intervention, the designating party may file and serve a motion to retain confidentiality under Local
10 Civil Rule 7 (and in compliance with Local Civil Rule 5(g), if applicable). The burden of
11 persuasion in any such motion shall be on the designating party. Frivolous challenges, and those
12 made for an improper purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on
13 other parties) may expose the challenging party to sanctions. All parties shall continue to maintain
14 the material in question as confidential until the court rules on the challenge.
15 7.
PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED IN OTHER
16 LITIGATION
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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 party
19 must:
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(a)
promptly notify the designating party in writing and include a copy of the
21 subpoena or court order;
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(b)
promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to
23 issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or order is
24 subject to this agreement. Such notification shall include a copy of this agreement; and
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(c)
cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by
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1 8.
UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL
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If a receiving party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed confidential
3 material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this agreement, the receiving
4 party must immediately (a) notify in writing the designating party of the unauthorized disclosures,
5 (b) use its best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the protected material, (c) inform the
6 person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this agreement,
7 and (d) request that such person or persons execute the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be
8 Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A.
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INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE PROTECTED
10 MATERIAL
When a producing party gives notice to receiving parties that certain inadvertently
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12 produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, the obligations of the
13 receiving parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision
14 is not intended to modify whatever procedure may be established in an e-discovery order or
15 agreement that provides for production without prior privilege review. The parties agree to the
16 entry of a non-waiver order under Fed. R. Evid. 502(d) as set forth herein.
17 10.
NON TERMINATION AND RETURN OF DOCUMENTS
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Within 60 days after the termination of this action, including all appeals, each receiving
19 party 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.
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Notwithstanding this provision, counsel are entitled to retain one archival copy of all
22 documents filed with the court, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, correspondence,
23 deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work
24 product, even if such materials contain confidential material.
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The confidentiality obligations imposed by this agreement shall remain in effect until a
26 designating party agrees otherwise in writing or a court orders otherwise.
Stipulated Protective Order - 7
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IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD.
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4 DATED: October 3, 2017
s/ Steven A. Stolle_________
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Steven A. Stolle, WSBA No. 30807
STOLLE LAW GROUP, P.S.
1001 Fourth Avenue, Suite 4050
Seattle, WA 98154
Tel: 206-228-2214
Fax: 206-284-3439
Email: sstolle@stollelawgroup.com
Attorneys for Plaintiff
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DATED: October 3, 2017
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s/Francis J. Maloney__________
Francis J. Maloney, WSBA No. 45081
Maloney Lauersdorf Reiner, PC
1111 Burnside Street, Suite 300
Portland, Oregon 97214
Tel: 503-245-1518
Fax: 503-245-1417
Email: fjm@mlrlegalteam.com
Attorneys for Defendant
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PURSUANT TO STIPULATION, IT IS SO ORDERED
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IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that pursuant to Fed. R. Evid. 502(d), the production of any
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documents in this proceeding shall not, for the purposes of this proceeding or any other proceeding
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in any other court, constitute a waiver by the producing party of any privilege applicable to those
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1 documents, including the attorney-client privilege, attorney work-product protection, or any other
2 privilege or protection recognized by law.
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4 DATED: October 4, 2017
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A
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Marsha J. Pechman
United States District Judge
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Stipulated Protective Order - 9
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EXHIBIT A
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND
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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 [date] in the
7 case of 160 Lee Street Condominium Homeowners’ Association v. Mid-Century Insurance
8 Company, No. 2:17-cv-01170 MJP. I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms of this
9 Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and acknowledge that failure to so comply could
10 expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise that I will
11 not disclose in any manner any information or item that is subject to this Stipulated Protective
12 Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance with the provisions of this Order.
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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 City and State where sworn and signed:
18 Printed name:
19 Signature:
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