Samsky v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.

          Hon. Christine Snyder Hearing Judge.

          PROTECTIVE ORDER PURSUANT TO STIPULATION OF THE PARTIES

          Hon. Jean P. Rosenbluth United States Magistrate Judge.

         Having read the Stipulation of the Parties for Protective Order and good cause appearing, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED AND DECREED AS FOLLOWS:

         1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS

         Disclosure and discovery activity in this action may 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. The parties have stipulated to the following Protective Order. 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. As set forth in Section 11.3, below, that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under seal; Civil Local Rules 79-5.1 through 79-5.3 and 79-7 set 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.

         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) in that it contains, by accepted legal standards, confidential research, development, trade secret, or commercial information, or any other personal information of any Party or a Party's customer, provided that the Party or third-party has made efforts to maintain confidentiality that are reasonable under the circumstances, whether the CONFIDENTIAL Information is: a document, electronically stored information (“ESI”), or other written material or image; information contained in a document, ESI, or other material; information revealed during a deposition; information revealed in an interrogatory, answer, or written responses to discovery; information revealed during a meet and confer, or otherwise in connection with formal or informal discovery.

         2.3 Counsel (without qualifier): Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as 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 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.

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

         2.9 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 have been retained to represent or advise a party to this action on issues related to this action.

         2.10 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).

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

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

         2.13 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 2.14 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 reveal Protected Material. However, the protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order do not cover the following information: (a) any information that is in the public domain at the time of disclosure to a Receiving Party or becomes part of the public domain after its disclosure to a Receiving Party as a result of publication not involving a violation of this Order, including becoming part of the public record through trial or otherwise; and (b) any information known to the Receiving Party prior to the disclosure or obtained by the Receiving Party after the disclosure from a source who obtained the information lawfully and under no obligation of confidentiality to the Designating Party. Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by a separate agreement or order.

         4. DURATION

         Even after final disposition of this litigation, the confidentiality obligations imposed by this Order shall remain in effect until a Designating Party agrees otherwise in writing or a court order otherwise directs. Final disposition shall be deemed to be the later of (1) dismissal of all claims and defenses in this action, with or without prejudice; and (2) final judgment herein after the completion and exhaustion of all appeals, rehearings, remands, trials, or reviews of this action, including the time limits for filing any motions or applications for extension of time pursuant to applicable law.

         5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL

         5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written communications that qualify - so that other portions of the material, documents, items, or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber or retard the case development process or to impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating Party to sanctions. If it comes to a Designating Party's attention that information or items that it designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the mistaken designation.

         5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this Order (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for protection under this Order ...