Perez v. DIRECTV Group Holdings, LLC

          PROTECTIVE ORDER

          Hon. Douglas F. McCormick, United States Magistrate Judge.

         1. 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. This Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and 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 13.3, below, this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle any party 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.

         2. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT

         This action will involve personal identifying information, proprietary information and other confidential matters. These materials consist of, among other things: (i) customer/subscriber information, including but not limited to names, addresses, and phone numbers; (ii) business rcords and other materials that are confidential, proprietary, or trade secret, and for which disclosure would cause competitive advantage to the Disclosing Party's competitors or would otherwise diminish or harm the Disclosing Party's (or any other Defendants') standing in the marketplace, including but not limited to vendor agreements, vendor invoices, contractors, retainers, training materials, business policies and procedures, customer relationship policies, order fulfillment systems, customer management systems, budgeting processes, invoices, financial records, research studies, technical information, strategic forecasts, financial forecasts, accounting records; (iii) information and/or documents identified as confidential and/or proprietary in a written contract and/or agreement between parties to the Action and/or between a party to the Action and a non-party to the Action; (iv) personnel records and personnel files; (v) policies and procedures pertaining to the method of investigating, auditing and responding to commercial piracy, the disclosure of which would hinder such efforts and diminish the competitive value of such efforts; and (vi) any compensation records, tax records, asset records, payment records, investment records or any other financial records maintained as confidential.

         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 to serve the ends of justice, a protective order for such information is justified in this matter.

         The Court cautions that no party may designate any information as confidential for tactical reasons and that nothing may be so designated without a good faith belief that there is good cause why it should not be part of the public record in this case.

         3. DEFINITIONS

         3.1 Action: this pending lawsuit entitled Doneyda Perez v. DIRECTV Group Holdings, LLC, et al., USDC No. CV 18-01440 JLS (DFMx) [sometimes designated as USDC No. 8:16-cv-01440-JLS-DFM].

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

         3.3 “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.

         3.4 Counsel: attorneys employed by a Party to this Action, retained to represent or advise a Party to this Action, or affiliated with a law firm which has appeared on behalf of that Party. (as well as their support staff).

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

         3.6 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 Action.

         3.7 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.

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

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

         3.10 Personal Identifying Information or “PII”: addresses, telephone numbers, social security numbers or other information used to identify any individual.

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

         3.12 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 class action administrators) and their employees and subcontractors.

         3.13 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 3.14 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material from a Producing Party.

         4. SCOPE

         The protections conferred by this 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. The Parties shall negotiate in good faith a separate agreement regarding the confidentiality of documents to be used at trial and submit such agreement to the trial judge at least one week before the final pre-trial conference. ^[1]

         5. DURATION

         Unless made available to the public during trial, 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 of extension of time pursuant to applicable law.

         6. DESIGNATING ...