Opinion
CV 20-173-BLG-SPW-KLD
05-04-2021
PETER TEAL, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Defendant.
JOINT STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER
Kathleen L. DeSoto, United States Magistrate Judge.
Defendant has filed an unopposed motion requesting the Court enter a stipulated protective order governing the disclosure of sensitive records protected under the Privacy Act. (Doc. 18.) See 5 U.S.C. § 552a(b)(11). The parties have filed an executed Stipulation for Protective Order for the Court's consideration. (Doc. 20.) Good cause appearing, IT IS ORDERED that Defendant's motion is GRANTED and the Court ORDERS as follows:
1. All documents, information and evidence produced in this litigation by the United States related to employment/personnel files or medical records, or that contain sensitive information regarding an individual such as personal identifying information, shall be used only for the purposes of and within the confines of this case. All such documents and items shall be shown only to the parties to this case, their attorneys and attorneys' employees, any parties' retained or unretained experts or consultants, judges, court personnel, or mediators agreed upon by the parties to conduct a settlement conference, and/or witnesses to prepare for or during deposition or trial testimony. Such documents may be used as exhibits during depositions, motions for summary judgment and for trial. None of the documents or information described above shall be released, shown to, or otherwise disclosed to any other person, firm or entity, except as described above, unless ordered by the Court.
2. At the conclusion of this lawsuit, all of the records described above shall be returned to counsel for Defendant United States, or destroyed by Plaintiffs' counsel.
3. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein, in no event shall this Protective Order be construed as a waiver by any of the parties of the right to assert any privilege against disclosure, or any other basis justifying the nondisclosure of documents, including but not limited to the attorney-client and work product privileges. The parties shall retain the right to interpose objections to specific discovery requests or responses, and to submit motions seeking to quash production of documents or to compel production.