JAMES L. ROBART, District Judge.
By order dated December 20, 2018, this Court ordered Defendants to un-redact or otherwise produce two categories of information pursuant to an appropriate protective order: (a) information that would tend to reveal names of countries on a list that would trigger a Security Advisory Opinion ("SAO") requirement for refugee applicants from those countries, which shall be marked "Attorneys' Eyes Only"; and (b) personally identifying information of individual refugee applicants. See Order Granting in Part & Denying in Part Plaintiffs' Motion to Compel, Dkt. #171, at 23-24, 27. In accordance with that Order, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order.
The parties acknowledge that this agreement is consistent with LCR 26(c). It does not confer blanket protection on all disclosures or responses to discovery, the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited information specified herein, and it does not presumptively entitle parties to file Confidential information under seal.
"Confidential" material refers to (a) the personally identifying information of individual refugee applicants; and (b) information that would tend to reveal the identification of those countries on a list that would trigger an SAO requirement for refugee applicants from those countries.
The protections conferred by this agreement cover not only Confidential material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from Confidential material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Confidential material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or presentations by parties or their counsel that might reveal Confidential material.
However, the protections conferred by this agreement do not cover information that is in the public domain or becomes part of the public domain through trial or otherwise.
4.1
4.2
(a) the receiving party's counsel of record in this action, as well as employees of counsel to whom it is reasonably necessary to disclose the information for this litigation;
(b) the officers, directors, and employees (including in house counsel) of the receiving party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation, except for information that would tend to reveal names of countries on a list that would trigger an SAO requirement for refugee applicants from those countries, which information is designated as "Attorney's Eyes Only";
(c) experts and consultants to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the "Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound" (Exhibit A);
(d) the Court, court personnel, and court reporters and their staff;
(e) copy or imaging services retained by counsel to assist in the duplication of Confidential material, provided that counsel for the party retaining the copy or imaging service instructs the service not to disclose any Confidential material to third parties and to immediately return all originals and copies of any Confidential material;
(f) during their depositions, witnesses in the action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary and who have signed the "Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound" (Exhibit A), unless otherwise agreed by the designating party or ordered by the Court. Pages of transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Confidential material must be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted under this agreement; and
(g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information.
4.3
5.1
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 delay the case development process or to impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) 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, the designating party must promptly notify all other parties that it is withdrawing the mistaken designation.
5.2
(a)
For documents Defendants produced prior to December 20, 2018 in redacted form and with redacted portions clearly identified: If, after the re-production of those documents hereunder, Plaintiffs are unable to determine which part of a page marked "CONFIDENTIAL" Defendants intend to designate as covered by this order, Plaintiffs shall so notify Defendants. Within five (5) business days after that notification, or some other timeframe agreed upon between the parties, Defendants shall re-produce the page(s) identified by Plaintiffs with the protected portion(s) clearly identified (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins), unless the parties agree to some other means of identifying the protected material.
For documents produced by Defendants for the first time after December 20, 2018; If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection under this order, Defendants must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins).
(b)
(c)
5.3
6.1
6.2
6.3
If a party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this action as "CONFIDENTIAL," that party must:
(a) promptly notify the designating party in writing and include a copy of the subpoena or court order;
(b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or order to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or order is subject to this agreement. Such notification shall include a copy of this agreement; and
(c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by the designating party whose Confidential material may be affected.
If a receiving party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed Confidential material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this agreement, the receiving party must immediately (a) notify in writing the designating party of the unauthorized disclosures and all steps to remediate that unauthorized disclosure; (b) use its best efforts to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the protected material, or request that the unauthorized recipient delete and/or destroy the Confidential material; (c) inform the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this agreement; and (d) request that such person or persons execute the "Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound" that is attached hereto as Exhibit A.
Within 60 days after the termination of this action, including all appeals, each receiving party must return all Confidential material to the producing party, including all copies, extracts and summaries thereof. Alternatively, the parties may delete and/or destroy the Confidential material.
Notwithstanding this provision, counsel are entitled to retain archival copies of all documents filed with the court, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such materials contain Confidential material.
The confidentiality obligations imposed by this agreement shall remain in effect until a designating party agrees otherwise in writing or a court orders otherwise.
IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD.
PURSUANT TO STIPULATION, IT IS SO ORDERED.
I, _________________________ [print or type full name], of ________________________ [print or type full address], declare under penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and understand the Stipulated Protective Order that was issued by the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington on _____ [date] in the case of Doe, et al. v. Trump, et al., No. 17-cv-00178 (JLR) and in the case of Jewish Family Service of Seattle, et al. v. Trump, et al., No. 17-cv-01707 (JLR). I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and acknowledge that failure to so comply could expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. I solemnly promise that I will not disclose in any manner any information or item that is subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance with the provisions of this Order.
I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of this action.