United States District Court, D. North Dakota
PROTECTIVE ORDER
Honorable Charles S. Miller, Jr. United States Magistrate
Judge.
[1]
This matter comes before the Court on the stipulation of the
parties, by and through their counsel of record, for the
entry of a Protective Order governing the disclosure and
handling of information provided or produced by any party
that may be protected by Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(c)(1)(G), as well as
specific personal information. The Court Orders as follows:
1. This
Protective Order governs the handling of all information
provided or produced by any party in connection with the
above captioned matter and designated as "Protected
Information" as set forth below, including, but not
limited to all, documents, written, recorded or
electronically-stored information, answer to interrogatories,
responses to requests for admissions, deposition testimony,
pleadings, affidavits, declarations, motions, briefs and
other documents filed with the Court.
2. A
party may designate as "Protected Information" any
information that the party in good faith believes constitutes
a trade secret or other confidential research, confidential
development, or confidential commercial information as well
as certain personal information (specifically Social Security
numbers, wage/salary/bonus information, tax returns,
financial statements, and healthcare records ("the
Protected Information"). Only information that a party
in good faith deems to contain Protected Information shall be
so designated, and such designation by a party shall
constitute a certification by such party and its/her/his
counsel that they are of the belief that such designation has
been made in good faith, that there are substantial reasons
to believe the information constitutes Protected Information
within the meaning of this Order, and that there is good
cause for the Protected Information to be treated differently
than other information produced during the course of this
litigation and good cause for the terms of this Order to be
applied to the Protected Information. This Protective Order
applies only to information that becomes qualified as
"Protected Information" as that phrase is described
in this paragraph subject to the procedures described in
Paragraph hereof.
3. Any
other party may object to the designation of information as
"Protected Information" by provided the designating
party with written notice within 14 days of the designation.
The parties will attempt to resolve the objection without
involvement of the Court through meet and confer efforts
within 7 days of the date of the written objection. If the
parties cannot resolve the objection, the party seeking
protection may file a motion with the Court requesting that
the Court determine whether the disputed information
qualified as Protected Information subject to the terms of
this Protective Order. This motion shall be filed no later
than 14 days after the objecting party provides written
notice to the producing party that its objection has not been
satisfactorily resolved. The party seeking production shall
have the burden of establishing that the information in
question qualifies as Protected Information as that term is
defined in the Protective Order, that there is good cause
that the information be treated differently than other
information produced during the course of this litigation,
and that there is good cause for the terms of this Order to
be applied to the information. Until the Court resolves the
motion, the information designated as "Protected
Information" shall remain subject to this Protective
Order. If a motion is not filed by the party seeking
protection within the 14-day period, the information that was
the subject of the objection shall not be considered to be
Protected Information and shall not be subject to the terms
of this Order.
4. A
party may designate information as Protected Information only
if that information is defined as "Protected
Information" in Paragraph 2. Such designation may be
made provisionally by stamping or labeling documents
"Protected Information." The information shall be
treated as protected by the terms of this Protective Order
only if the information has qualified as Protected
Information following the procedures described in Paragraphs
2 and 3. A party may designate relevant portions of
deposition testimony as "Protected Information"
within the meaning of this Protected Order either orally or
on the record or in writing within 14 days after the
transcript is made available-but only if that information
constitutes "Protected Information." Only the
relevant portions of the deposition transcript that concern
the Protected Information shall be protected by the terms of
this Order.
5.
Provision for used of the Protected Information at trial
shall be made by agreement or by Pretrial Order governing the
use and protection of the record.
6.
Protected Information may be disclosed only to: (a) the
above-named parties and their insurers; (b) the parties'
attorneys, including outside copying and litigation support
services; (c) any experts or consultants retained and/or
consulted by said parties in connection with the
above-captioned matter, including their support personnel;
(d) actual or potential witnesses in deposition or at trial;
(e) any person attending a deposition being conducted in this
case; (f) interviewed individuals whom counsel have a good
faith belief have knowledge concerning the subject matter
described in the Protected Information; (g) the Court and
court reporters, including deposition court reporters and
their staffs; (h) any mediator appointed by the Court or
agreed to by the parties; (i) any other person to whom the
producing party agrees in writing the information may be
disclosed; and (j) to the Court in support of or in response
to any motion filed by the Parties, said use to be subject to
Paragraph 7 of this Protective Order. Disclosure shall be
made to such persons only as necessary for the prosecution or
defense of this lawsuit, and only after the persons to whom
disclosure is made have been informed of the terms of this
Protective Order and agree to be bound by it. Protected
Information shall not be disclosed to any person or in any
manner not specified in this Order or for any purpose other
than the prosecution or defense of this lawsuit.
7. The
parties shall act to preserve the confidentiality of
Protected Information. If such Protected Information is filed
with the Court, it shall be filed under seal.
8. If
any party wishes to modify this Protective Order or its
application to certain information, the party shall first
request such modification from the other parties, and if no
satisfactory agreement is reached, may petition the Court for
modification of this Order. Until modification is granted by
agreement or Order, the terms of this Protective Order will
govern.
9.
Nothing in this Protective Order shall be construed as a
waiver of any objection to the production of documents,
waiver of any privilege or work-product protection, or as an
agreement that the document is admissible at trial.
10. If
any Protected Information is sought through discovery from a
party in any other judicial or administrative proceeding, the
party who produced the Protected Information will be
immediately notified so as to permit that party an
opportunity to seek a protective order from the appropriate
court.
11.
Upon termination of this lawsuit, by judgment or settlement,
counsel for the respective parties shall take the following
steps to assure the protection of the documents and
information. To the extent any Protected Information has been
provided to counsel's clients or any consulting or
retained expert, counsel who provided the Protected
Information client or expert shall ascertain that the
documents have either been returned to counsel or have been
destroyed by the client, consulting expert, or retained
expert. Counsel may retain such documents in their own
possession pursuant to the document retention policies of
such counsel or his/her law firm, but to the extent such
documents or ...