City of Long Beach v. Monsanto Co.

          OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY City of Long Beach Charles Parkin, City Attorney (SBN 159162) Amy Webber, Deputy City Attorney (SBN 132174 Dawn McIntosh, Deputy City Attorney (SBN 162173) W. Ocean Blvd, BARON & BUDD, P.C. Scott Summy Texas Bar No. 19507500) Carla Burke Pickrel Bar No. 24012490 Celeste Evangelisti (SBN 225232) Brett Land Texas Bar No. 24092664 Attorneys for Plaintiff City of Long Beach

          MCDERMOTT, WILL & EMERY, LLP Lisa A. Gerson, NYBA #451940 Madison Avenue New York, NY Attorney for Defendants Monsanto Company, Solutia Inc., and Pharmacia, LLC

          PROTECTIVE ORDER

          Honorable Alka Sagar United States Magistrate Judge

         1. A. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS

         Discovery in this action is 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 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 that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable legal principles. The parties further acknowledge, 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

         Plaintiff in the above-captioned litigation has agreed to produce to Defendants confidential documents relating to Plaintiff's stormwater system - specifically, master plans that identify access points to Plaintiff's storm water system. Plaintiff asserts that the public disclosure of these documents may present public security concerns but that such data is nevertheless discoverable, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 26. As such, special protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than this lawsuit is warranted to expedite the flow of information, to facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes over confidentiality of discovery materials, and to adequately protect information the parties are entitled to keep confidential. Plaintiff affirms 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 Action: this pending federal lawsuit.

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

         2.3 “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), and as specified above in the Good Cause Statement.

         2.4 Counsel: Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as their support staff).

         2.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 2.6 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.

         2.7 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.

         2.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action. House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside counsel.

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

         2.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party to this Action but are 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 includes support staff.

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

         2.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or Discovery Material in this Action.

         2.13 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.

         2.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 2.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material from a Producing Party.

         3. SCOPE

         The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material.

         Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the trial judge. This Order does not govern ...