Opinion
1:22-CV-03196-CM
10-11-2022
CATRIONA MULCAHY, Plaintiff, v. TJX COMPANIES, INC. and MARSHALLS OF MA, INC., Defendants.
RUSSO LAW LLP MATTHEW FUSSO, ESQ., ATTORNEYS FOR PLAINTIFF SIMMONS JANNACE DELUCA, LLP Daniel P. Borbet (db-6400) Attorneys for Defendants THE TJX COMPANIES INC. i/s/h/a TJX COMPANIES INC. AND MARSHALLS OF MA, INC.
RUSSO LAW LLP MATTHEW FUSSO, ESQ., ATTORNEYS FOR PLAINTIFF
SIMMONS JANNACE DELUCA, LLP Daniel P. Borbet (db-6400) Attorneys for Defendants THE TJX COMPANIES INC. i/s/h/a TJX COMPANIES INC. AND MARSHALLS OF MA, INC.
CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT AND PROTECTIVE ORDER
HON. COLLEEN MCMAHON, U.S.D.J.
IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED by the undersigned attorneys for the respective parties, that with regard to material disclosed in the course of the above-captioned lawsuit ("Lawsuit") which constitute or contain medical information, trade secrets or other confidential research, development, or commercial information of the parties ("Confidential Material"), the following procedures shall govern:
1. This Order is meant to encompass all forms of disclosure which may contain Confidential Material, including any medical record, document, pleading, exhibit, declaration, affidavit, deposition, transcript, inspection, documents containing proprietary information and all other tangible items.
2. The parties may designate any Confidential Material produced or filed in this lawsuit, as confidential and subject to the terms of this Order by making such materials "Confidential". If any material has multiple pages, this designation need only be placed on the first page of such material. Any material designated as "Confidential" shall not be disclosed to any person or entity, except to the parties, counsel for the respective parties, and expert witnesses assisting counsel in this Lawsuit, and the Court.
3. Any material designated as confidential pursuant to above shall be used solely for the purposes of this Lawsuit and for no other purposes.
4. The parties and counsel for the respective parties (.including legal assistants and other personnel) are deemed to be bound by this Confidentiality Agreement.
5. Only counsel of record in this Lawsuit shall be permitted to disseminate Confidential Material within the context of this lawsuit.
6. If additional persons become parties to this lawsuit, they shall net have access to any Confidential Material until they execute their written agreement to be bound by the terms of this Order.
7. In the event that any question is asked at- a deposition that calls for the disclosure of Confidential Material, the witness shall answer such question. (unless otherwise instructed not to do so on the grounds of privilege) provided that the only person in attendance at the deposition are persons who are qualified to receive such information pursuant to this Order. Deposition testimony may be designated as confidential following the testimony having been given provided that: (1) such testimony is identified and designated on the record at the deposition, or (2) non-designating counsel is notified of the designation in writing within thirty days after receipt by the designating party of the respective deposition. transcript. All deposition transcripts in their entirety shall be treated in the interim as "Confidential" pursuant to paragraph 2 above. When Confidential Material is incorporated in a deposition transcript, the party designating such information confidential shall make arrangements with the court reporter not to disclose any information except in accordance with the terms of this Order.
8. if a deponent refuses to Confidentiality Agreement, disclosure of Confidential Material during the deposition shall, not constitute a waiver of confidentiality.
9. With respect to any communications to the Court including any pleadings, motions or other papers, all documents containing Confidential Material shall be communicated to the Court in a sealed envelope or other appropriate sealed container on which shall be written the caption of this Lawsuit, an indication of the nature of the contents of the sealed envelope or container, and the words "CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION SUBJECT TO PROTECTIVE ORDER". All communications shall indicate clearly which portions are designated to be "Confidential". Any communications containing Confidential Material shall be returned to the submitting party upon termination of this Lawsuit (whether by dismissal or final judgment).
10. An application to seal records/documents will be made to the assigned District Judge or the assigned Magistrate Judge, if appropriate.
11. If a non-designating party is subpoenaed or ordered to produce Confidential Material by another court or administrative agency, such party shall promptly notify the designating party of the pending subpoena or Order and shall not produce and Confidential Material' until the designating party has had reasonable time to object or otherwise take appropriate steps to protect such Confidential Material.
12. If a party believes that any Confidential Material, does not contain confidential information, it may contest the applicability of this Order to such information by notifying the designating party's counsel in writing and identify the information contested. The parties shall have thirty days after such notice to meet and confer and attempt to resolve the issue. If the dispute is not resolved within such period, the party seeking the protection shall have thirty days in which to make a motion for a protective order with respect to contested information. information that is subject to a dispute as to whether it is properly designated shall be treated as designated in accordance with the provisions of this Order until the Court issues a ruling.
13. Inadvertent failure to designate any material "Confidential" shall not constitute a waiver of an otherwise valid claim of confidentiality pursuant to this Order, so long as a claim of confidentiality is asserted within fifteen days after discovery of the inadvertent failure. At such time, arrangements shall be made by the parties to designate the material "Confidential" in accordance with this Order.
14. Other than counsel for the parties herein, prior to any individual viewing documents deemed confidential, each individual must execute the form annexed hereto as Exhibit A.
15. This Agreement shall be without prejudice to the right of any party to oppose production of any information or object to its admissibility into evidence.
16. When any counsel of record in this Lawsuit or any attorney who has executed a Confidentiality Agreement becomes aware of any violation of this Order, or of facts constituting good cause to believe that a violation of thus Agreement may have occurred, such attorney shall report that there may have beer, a violation of this Agreement to the Court and all counsel of record.
17. After the termination of this Lawsuit, the provisions of this Agreement shall continue to be binding and this Court shall retain jurisdiction over the parties and any other person who has access to documents and information produced pursuant to this Agreement for the sole purpose of enforcement of its provision.
SO ORDERED.
EXHIBIT A
I have been informed by counsel that certain documents or information to be disclosed to me in connection with the matter entitled: ___ have been designated as confidential. I have been informed that any such documents or information labeled "CONFIDENTIAL" are confidential by Order of the Court.
I hereby agree that I will not disclose any information contained in such documents to any other person. I further agree not to use any such information for any purpose other than this litigation.
THE FOLLOWING ADDENDUM IS DEEMED INCORPORATED INTO THE PARTIES' STIPULATION AND CONFIDENTIALITY ORDER
The parties understand that the Court's “so ordering” of this stipulation does not make the Court a party to the stipulation or imply that the Court agrees that documents designated as “Confidential” by the parties are in fact confidential.
It has been this Court's consistent experience that confidentiality stipulations are abused by parties and that much material that is not truly confidential is designated as such. The Court does not intend to be a party to such practices. The Court operates under a presumption that the entire record should be publicly available.
The Court does not ordinarily file decisions under seal or redact material from them. If the Court issues a decision in this case that refers to “confidential” material under this stipulation, the decision will not be published for ten days. The parties must, within that ten day period, identify to the court any portion of the decision that one or more of them believe should be redacted, provide the court with the purportedly confidential material, and explain why that material is truly confidential. The Court will then determine whether the material is in fact genuinely deserving of confidential treatment. The Court will only redact portions of a publicly-available decision if it concludes that the material discussed is in fact deserving of such treatment. The Court's decision in this regard is final.
If this addendum is acceptable to the parties, the court will sign their proposed confidentiality stipulation, subject to the addendum. If this addendum is not acceptable, the court will not sign the stipulation, and should allegedly confidential material be produced, the parties will be referred to the magistrate judge for a document by document review and decision on whether that document should be subject to confidential treatment.