Opinion
NO: CV-10-5124-RMP.
July 14, 2011
ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER
Before the Court is the Defendant's Motion for Stipulated Protective Order, ECF No. 15. The parties have stipulated to entry of a protective order that they have provided to the Court.
Pursuant to CR 26(c), and according to the Stipulation of the parties,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED:
1. Any documents produced by a party in this action which are, in good faith, determined by the producing party to contain confidential or proprietary information, including without limitation financial information, trade secrets, personnel and payroll information, or other commercially sensitive or personally sensitive information of a non-public nature, may be designated as confidential, and so marked, by stamping each page of the document "Confidential." If the document is more than 25 pages in length, stamping the front page "Confidential" shall be sufficient to cover the entire document under this Protective Order. The parties shall act in good faith and on a reasonable basis when designating the following materials "CONFIDENTIAL":
(a) Medical records and healthcare information;
(b) Personnel records of employees;
(c) Payroll information;
(d) Salary information;
(e) Salary surveys;
(f) Salary guidelines and pay-grade levels;
(g) Social Security numbers;
(i) Financial and business information of Defendant not subject to public disclosure; and
(j) Any other information not in the public domain and that is reasonably and in good faith believed by the producing party to contain trade secret, proprietary, or highly-sensitive business information.
2. When used in this Order, the word "documents" means all written, recorded or graphic matter whatsoever, however created and whatever the medium on which it was produced or reproduced, including, but not limited to, documents produced by any party, whether pursuant to CR 33 or 34, subpoena, or by agreement, and may also include deposition transcripts and exhibits, and any portions of any court papers which quote from or summarize any of the foregoing.
3. All confidential documents and all information contained therein, shall be used by the party(ies) to whom the documents are disclosed solely for the prosecution and/or defense of this action, and shall not be further disseminated, except as specifically set forth below.
4. Except with prior written consent of the party asserting confidential treatment, confidential documents and the information contained therein may be disclosed only to the following persons:
(a) Counsel for the party(ies) to whom the confidential disclosure has or is to be made, and secretaries, paralegal assistants, and other employees of such counsel who are assisting counsel in the prosecution and/or defense of this action. Counsel shall be responsible for ensuring that his or her associates and employees are informed of the terms of this Order and agree to abide by them;
(b) The parties to this litigation, provided they are informed of the terms of this Order and agree to abide by them;
(c) Outside consultants and experts retained by any party for the purpose of assisting in the prosecution and/or defense of this action, but only after the consultant or expert has read this Order and agrees in writing to be bound by it, as set forth in Exhibit A. Upon Order of the Court, for good cause shown, these agreements shall be available for inspection by counsel for the party producing the confidential document;
(d) Deposition witnesses during their depositions, or trial witnesses at trial, when necessary for, or otherwise relevant or helpful to, such witness's testimony, provided that confidential documents and the information contained therein may be disclosed to non-party deposition or trial witnesses only after the witness has read this Order and agrees in writing to be bound by it, as set forth in Exhibit A. Upon Order of the Court, for good cause shown, these agreements shall be available for inspection by counsel for the party producing the confidential document;
(e) Any mediator(s) retained by the parties, during the course of any mediation or in connection with the mediator's preparation for mediation, provided that the mediator is informed of the terms of this Order and agrees to be bound by them, as set forth in Exhibit A. Upon Order of the Court, for good cause shown, these agreements shall be available for inspection by counsel for the party producing the confidential document; and
(f) The Court.
5. All persons, other than counsel of record, to whom such confidential information is disclosed pursuant to this Order shall:
a. Not make any copy, summary or exhibit of or from such documents or information except at the specific request of and for the use of counsel solely for the purposes of this litigation;
b. Not permit such document to leave his or her custody or control;
c. Not reveal such document or information contained therein to any person not already subject to the provisions of this Order;
d. Not reveal or use such document or information contained therein except for the limited purposes set forth in paragraph 3 hereinabove; and
e. Return promptly to counsel any copy of such document entrusted to him or her when no longer required by him or her for the purpose requested by counsel.
6. Confidential documents and information derived therefrom may be referred to in interrogatory answers, motions, briefs and other court papers and in deposition testimonies and marked as deposition exhibits in this action, but only if the portion of the court paper where such confidential documents or information is revealed is appropriately marked. A party intending to file with the Court a document that arguably contains confidential documents or information derived therefrom shall provide seven (7) business day notice to the party who produced the confidential document to determine whether it should move the Court for an order sealing such information pursuant to GR 15.
7. The use of documents designated confidential and information derived therefrom during the course of the trial of this action shall be governed by further stipulation of the parties or further Order of this Court. Except as to the use at trial of confidential documents and information derived therefrom, this Order shall remain effective until such time as it is superseded by stipulation of the parties or Order of this Court.
8. At the conclusion of the litigation of this action, or upon settlement or dismissal, documents designated as confidential, and all copies of such documents (other than exhibits of record), shall be returned to the source from which they were produced or at the direction of the producing party, destroyed.
9. Nothing in this Order shall prevent any party to this action from moving the Court to remove the confidential designation from a particular document, from seeking modification of this Order or other or further protection or relief, or from objecting to discovery which it believes to be otherwise improper.
10. Nothing contained in this Order shall affect in any way or to any degree the admissibility of any discovery material or any information disclosed under the terms of this Order. The admissibility of such material and information shall be governed by the Evidence Rules and the Rules of Civil Procedure in the same manner as any other potential evidence in this case.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
The District Court Executive is hereby directed to enter this Order and to provide copies to counsel.