Opinion
No. 98 C 1729
April 24, 2001
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
ConAgra Foods, Inc. ("ConAgra"), a nonparty in this dispute between Linda Zamecnik ("Zamecnik") and principal defendant Associated Packaging Enterprises, Inc., has sought to modify the protective order entered by this Court on November 17, 2000. Zamecnik has filed her response, and the matter is currently set for a telephonic status hearing on May 9. But there is plainly no need to await that date to rule on ConAgra's motion, for it is clearly without merit in light of Zamecnik's response.
Indeed, the protective order at issue was originally entered on an agreed basis, based on ConAgra's having declined to produce requested documents without the entry of such an order (which was issued essentially in the form and containing the substantive provisions that ConAgra had requested). Despite the passage of several months since mid-November, however, ConAgra has not complied with its production obligations, so that Zamecnik's counsel has been compelled to seek further judicial relief. No ConAgra — still not having complied — complains that it would b disadvantaged competitively by having to live up to its obligations.
That complaint is wholly unpersuasive, while Zamecnik's response is correspondingly persuasive. No sound basis exists for granting ConAgra further relief. Its motion is denied, and it is ordered to pay the incremental costs that Zamecnik has incurred because of her counsel's need to take action to enforce her established rights and to defend against ConAgra's efforts to alter them.