Opinion
C22-847RSM
01-18-2023
HONG CHANG, a Washington State resident, Plaintiff, v. LITTLE MONSTER LLC dba DL BBQ, a Washington State Limited Liability, et al., Defendants.
ORDER DENYING UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE ORDER
RICARDO S. MARTINEZ UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
This matter comes before the Court on Defendant WA Fan Tuan Inc.'s Unopposed Motion for Entry of Stipulated Protective Order, Dkt. #23.
The Court finds that the proposed Protective Order does not conform to the requirement that its “protection from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable legal principles” as stated by Local Rule 26(c)(2). Under the section entitled Confidential Material, the Court's model protective order instructs: “[t]he parties must include a list of specific documents such as ‘company's customer list' or ‘plaintiff's medical records;' do not list broad categories of documents such as ‘sensitive business material.'” Defendant Fan Tuan has not followed these instructions and instead lists the following: “(i) confidential communications between any party or non-party and its vendors, customers, or partners; and (ii) non-public financial information produced by any party or any non-party.” Dkt. #23 at 2.
The Court finds that the parties have impermissibly left the door open to labeling a wide variety of documents as confidential, including categories that can be summed up as “sensitive business material.” The parties submit no argument to justify this departure from the model protective order's guidelines. Accordingly, this Motion will be denied.
Having reviewed the briefing, along with the remainder of the record, the Court hereby finds and ORDERS that Defendant WA Fan Tuan Inc.'s Unopposed Motion for Entry of Stipulated Protective Order, Dkt. #23, is DENIED.