Romanchuk v. Board of Trustees of Southern California United Food & Commercial Workers Joint Pension Trust Fund

          Gary M. Romanchuk, Plaintiff, represented by Bradford Frederick Ginder, Hollister & Brace, Bruce N. Anticouni, Anticouni & Associates APC, Joseph A. Garofolo, Garofolo Law Group PC & Marcus S. Bird, Hollister and Brace.

          Board of Trustees of the Southern California United Food and Commercial Workers Unions and Food Employers Joint Pension Trust Fund, Defendant, represented by Daniel E. Curry, Schwartz Steinsapir Dohrmann and Sommers LLP & Henry M. Willis, Schwartz Steinsapir Dohrmann and Sommers LLP.

          Southern California United Food and Commercial Workers Unions and Food Employers Joint Benefit Funds Administration LLC, Defendant, represented by Daniel E. Curry, Schwartz Steinsapir Dohrmann and Sommers LLP & Henry M. Willis, Schwartz Steinsapir Dohrmann and Sommers LLP.

          Appeals Committee of the Board of Trustees of the Southern California United Food and Commercial Workers Unions and Food Employers Joint Pension Trust, Defendant, represented by Daniel E. Curry, Schwartz Steinsapir Dohrmann and Sommers LLP & Henry M. Willis, Schwartz Steinsapir Dohrmann and Sommers LLP.

          STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER COVERING DISCLOSURES NOT IDENTIFYING PLAN PARTICIPANTS AND BENEFICIARIES (L.R. 8-3)

          KAREN L. STEVENSON, Magistrate Judge.

         Pursuant to Rule 26(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and based on the parties' Stipulated Protective Order Covering Disclosures Not Identifying Plan Participants and Beneficiaries (L.R. 8-3) ("Stipulation") filed on July 28, 2016, the terms of the protective order to which the parties have agreed are adopted as a protective order of this Court (which generally shall govern the pretrial phase of this action) except to the extent, as set forth below, that those terms have been modified by the Court's amendment of paragraphs, 1, 5.1, 7.2, and 14 of the Stipulation.

         AGREED TERMS OF THE PROTECTIVE ORDER AS ADOPTED AND MODIFIED BY THE COURT^[1]

         1. A. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS

         Disclosure and discovery activity in this action are likely to involve production of confidential, proprietary, or private information for which special protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order.

         The parties acknowledge that this This Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited information or items described below that are entitled to confidential treatment under applicable legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, as As set forth in Section 12.3, below, that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under seal; Civil Local Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court to file material under seal.

         B. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT

         This action is likely to involve sensitive information concerning individual plan participants and beneficiaries and financial information relating to the operation of the Southern California United Food and Commercial Workers Unions and Food Employers Joint Pension Trust Fund ("the Plan") for which special protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecution of this action is warranted. The parties will address the handling of information indentifying individual Plan participants and beneficiaries, both putative class members and others, in a separate proposed Protective Order; this Stipulated Protective Order covers only confidential and proprietary materials and information requested in discovery in this action, including matters relating to the operations and financial condition of the Plan. It is not contemplated by the parties that personal identities (as opposed to identifiers) or medical conditions of individual Plan participants and beneficiaries will be disclosed by Defendants, or any of them, under this Stipulated Protective Order.

         Such confidential and proprietary materials and information consist of, among other things, confidential business or financial information, information regarding confidential business practices, or other confidential information, information otherwise generally unavailable to the public, or which may be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure under state or federal statutes, court rules, case decisions, or common law. Accordingly, to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes over confidentiality of discovery materials, to adequately protect information the parties are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the parties are permitted reasonable necessary uses of such material in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, to address their handling at the end of the litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such information is justified in this matter. It is the intent of the parties that information will not be designated as confidential for tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated without a good faith belief that it has been maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause why it should not be part of the public record of this case.

         2. DEFINITIONS

         2.1 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of information or items under this Order.

         2.2 "CONFIDENTIAL" Information or Items: information (regardless of how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), other than sensitive information relating to individual Plan participants and beneficiaries, which is addressed by a separate Protective Order.

         2.3 Counsel: Counsel of Record, namely attorneys who have been retained to represent or advise a party to this action and have appeared in this action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm which has appeared on behalf of that party, and their support staff.

         2.4 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as "CONFIDENTIAL."

         2.5 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or generated in disclosures or responses to discovery in this matter.

         2.6 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an expert witness or as a consultant in this action.

         2.7 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity not named as a Party to this action.

         2.8 Party: any party to this action, including all of its officers, directors, employees, consultants, retained experts, and Counsel of Record (and their support staffs).

         2.9 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or Discovery Material in this action.

         2.10 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) and their employees and subcontractors.

         2.11 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated as "CONFIDENTIAL."

         2.12 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery ...