JOHN A. MENDEZ, District Judge.
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 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 that this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under seal and proper procedures and protocol under Local Rules, Court Rules, and Civil Procedure must be followed if and when a party seeks permission from the Court to file materials under seal.
1. In this Stipulation and Protective Order, the words set forth below shall have the following meanings:
a. "Proceeding" means the above-entitled proceeding, Elliot v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. et al, Case No. 2:13-CV-01027-JAM-CMK in the above entitled Court.
b. "Court" means any judge to which this Proceeding may be assigned, including Court staff participating in such proceedings.
c. "Confidential" means any information which is in the possession of a Designating Party who believes in good faith that such information is entitled to confidential treatment under applicable law, including but not limited to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 26(c).
d. "Confidential Materials" means any Documents, Testimony or Information as defined below designated as "Confidential" pursuant to the provisions of this Stipulation and Protective Order.
e. "Designating Party" means the Party that designates Materials as "Confidential."
f. "Disclose" or "Disclosed" or "Disclosure" means to reveal, divulge, give, or make available Materials, or any part thereof, or any information contained therein.
g. "Documents" means (i) any "Writing," "Original," and "Duplicate" as those terms are defined by California Evidence Code Sections 250, 255, and 260, which have been produced in discovery in this Proceeding by any person, and (ii) any copies, reproductions, or summaries of all or any part of the foregoing.
h. "Information" means the content of Documents or Testimony.
i. "Testimony" means all depositions, declarations or other testimony taken or used in this Proceeding.
j. "Designating Party" means a Party or Non-Party that designates information or items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as "Confidential."
k. "Challenging Party" means a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of information or items under this Order.
l. "Protected Material" means any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated as "CONFIDENTIAL."
2. 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 the Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material.
3. The Designating Party shall have the right to designate as "Confidential" any Documents, Testimony or Information that the Designating Party in good faith believes to contain non-public information that is entitled to confidential treatment under applicable law.
4. The entry of this Stipulation and Protective Order does not alter, waive, modify, or abridge any right, privilege or protection otherwise available to any Party with respect to the discovery of matters, including but not limited to any Party's right to assert the attorney-client privilege, the attorney work product doctrine, or other privileges, or any Party's right to contest any such assertion.
5. Any Documents, Testimony or Information to be designated as "Confidential" must be clearly so designated before the Document, Testimony or Information is Disclosed or produced. The parties may agree that the case name and number are to be part of the "Confidential" designation. The "Confidential" designation should not obscure or interfere with the legibility of the designated Information.
6. The inadvertent production by any of the undersigned Parties or non-Parties to the Proceedings of any Document, Testimony or Information during discovery in this Proceeding without a "Confidential" designation, shall be without prejudice to any claim that such item is "Confidential" and such Party shall not be held to have waived any rights by such inadvertent production. In the event that any Document, Testimony or Information that is subject to a "Confidential" designation is inadvertently produced without such designation, the Party that inadvertently produced the document shall give written notice of such inadvertent production within twenty (20) days of discovery of the inadvertent production, together with a further copy of the subject Document, Testimony or Information designated as "Confidential" (the "Inadvertent Production Notice"). Upon receipt of such Inadvertent Production Notice, the Party that received the inadvertently produced Document, Testimony or Information shall promptly destroy the inadvertently produced Document, Testimony or Information and all copies thereof, or, at the expense of the producing Party, return such together with all copies of such Document, Testimony or Information to counsel for the producing Party and shall retain only the "Confidential" designated Materials. Should the receiving Party choose to destroy such inadvertently produced Document, Testimony or Information, the receiving Party shall notify the producing Party in writing of such destruction within ten (10) days of receipt of written notice of the inadvertent production. This provision is not intended to apply to any inadvertent production of any Information protected by attorney-client or work product privileges. In the event that this provision conflicts with any applicable law regarding waiver of confidentiality through the inadvertent production of Documents, Testimony or Information, such law shall govern.
7. In the event that counsel for a Party receiving Documents, Testimony or Information in discovery designated as "Confidential" objects to such designation with respect to any or all of such items, said counsel shall advise counsel for the Designating Party, in writing, of such objections, the specific Documents, Testimony or Information to which each objection pertains, and the specific reasons and support for such objections (the "Designation Objections"). Counsel for the Designating Party shall have thirty (30) days from receipt of the written Designation Objections to either (a) agree in writing to de-designate Documents, Testimony or Information pursuant to any or all of the Designation Objections and/or (b) file a motion with the Court seeking to uphold any or all designations on Documents, Testimony or Information addressed by the Designation Objections (the "Designation Motion"). Pending a resolution of the Designation Motion by the Court, any and all existing designations on the Documents, Testimony or Information at issue in such Motion shall remain in place. The Designating Party shall have the burden on any Designation Motion of establishing the applicability of its "Confidential" designation. In the event that the Designation Objections are neither timely agreed to nor timely addressed in the Designation Motion, then such Documents, Testimony or Information shall be de-designated in accordance with the Designation Objection applicable to such material.
8. Access to and/or Disclosure of Confidential Materials designated as "Confidential" shall be permitted only to the following persons:
9. Confidential Materials shall be used by the persons receiving them only for the purposes of preparing for, conducting, participating in the conduct of, and/or prosecuting and/or defending the Proceeding, and not for any business or other purpose whatsoever.
10. Any Party to the Proceeding (or other person subject to the terms of this Stipulation and Protective Order) may ask the Court, after appropriate notice to the other Parties to the Proceeding, to modify or grant relief from any provision of this Stipulation and Protective Order.
11. Entering into, agreeing to, and/or complying with the terms of this Stipulation and Protective Order shall not:
12. Any Party to the Proceeding who has not executed this Stipulation and Protective Order as of the time it is presented to the Court for signature may thereafter become a Party to this Stipulation and Protective Order by its counsel's signing and dating a copy thereof and filing the same with the Court, and serving copies of such signed and dated copy upon the other Parties to this Stipulation and Protective Order.
13. Any Information that may be produced by a non-Party witness in discovery in the Proceeding pursuant to subpoena or otherwise may be designated by such non-Party as "Confidential" under the terms of this Stipulation and Protective Order, and any such designation by a non-Party shall have the same force and effect, and create the same duties and obligations, as if made by one of the undersigned Parties hereto. Any such designation shall also function as a consent by such producing Party to the authority of the Court in the Proceeding to resolve and conclusively determine any motion or other application made by any person or Party with respect to such designation, or any other matter otherwise arising under this Stipulation and Protective Order.
14. If any person subject to this Stipulation and Protective Order who has custody of any Confidential Materials receives a subpoena or other process ("Subpoena") from any government or other person or entity demanding production of Confidential Materials, the recipient of the Subpoena shall promptly give notice of the same by electronic mail transmission, followed by either express mail or overnight delivery to counsel of record for the Designating Party, and shall furnish such counsel with a copy of the Subpoena. Upon receipt of this notice, the Designating Party may, in its sole discretion and at its own cost, move to quash or limit the Subpoena, otherwise oppose production of the Confidential Materials, and/or seek to obtain confidential treatment of such Confidential Materials from the subpoenaing person or entity to the fullest extent available under law. The recipient of the Subpoena may not produce any Documents, Testimony or Information pursuant to the Subpoena prior to the date specified for production on the Subpoena.
15. Nothing in this Stipulation and Protective Order shall be construed to preclude either Party from asserting in good faith that certain Confidential Materials require additional protection. The Parties shall meet and confer to agree upon the terms of such additional protection.
16. If, after execution of this Stipulation and Protective Order, any Confidential Materials submitted by a Designating Party under the terms of this Stipulation and Protective Order is Disclosed by a non-Designating Party to any person other than in the manner authorized by this Stipulation and Protective Order, the non-Designating Party responsible for the Disclosure shall bring all pertinent facts relating to the Disclosure of such Confidential Materials to the immediate attention of the Designating Party.
17. This Stipulation and Protective Order is entered into without prejudice to the right of any Party to knowingly waive the applicability of this Stipulation and Protective Order to any Confidential Materials designated by that Party. If the Designating Party uses Confidential Materials in a non-Confidential manner, then the Designating Party shall advise that the designation no longer applies.
18. Without written permission from the Designating Party or a court order secured after appropriate notice to all interested persons, a Party may not file in the public record in this action any Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any Protected Material must comply with Local Rules, Courtroom Rules, and Code of Civil Procedure. Protected Material may only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the specific Protected Material at issue.
19. The Parties shall meet and confer regarding the procedures for use of Confidential Materials at trial and shall move the Court for entry of an appropriate order.
20. Nothing in this Stipulation and Protective Order shall affect the admissibility into evidence of Confidential Materials, or abridge the rights of any person to seek judicial review or to pursue other appropriate judicial action with respect to any ruling made by the Court concerning the issue of the status of Protected Material.
21. This Stipulation and Protective Order shall continue to be binding after the conclusion of this Proceeding and all subsequent proceedings arising from this Proceeding, except that a Party may seek the written permission of the Designating Party or may move the Court for relief from the provisions of this Stipulation and Protective Order. To the extent permitted by law, the Court shall retain jurisdiction to enforce, modify, or reconsider this Stipulation and Protective Order, even after the Proceeding is terminated.
22. Within thirty (30) days after the settlement or other termination of the Proceeding, the undersigned Parties shall have thirty (30) days to either (a) promptly return to counsel for each Designating Party all Confidential Materials and all copies thereof (except that counsel for each Party may maintain in its files, in continuing compliance with the terms of this Stipulation and Protective Order, all work product, and one copy of each pleading filed with the Court and one copy of each deposition together with the exhibits marked at the deposition), (b) agree with counsel for the Designating Party upon appropriate methods and certification of destruction or other disposition of such Confidential Materials, or (c) as to any Documents, Testimony or other Information not addressed by sub-paragraphs (a) and (b), file a motion seeking a Court order regarding proper preservation of such Materials. To the extent permitted by law the Court shall retain continuing jurisdiction to review and rule upon the motion referred to in sub-paragraph (c) herein.
23. After this Stipulation and Protective Order has been signed by counsel for all Parties, it shall be presented to the Court for entry. Counsel agree to be bound by the terms set forth herein with regard to any Confidential Materials that have been produced upon the Court approval and Order granting this Stipulation and Protective Order.
This Stipulation and Protective Order may be executed in counterparts.
I hereby acknowledge that I, ___________________[NAME], ___________________ [POSITION AND EMPLOYER], am about to receive Confidential Materials in connection with Elliot v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. et al, Case No. 2:13-CV-01027-JAM-CMK. I certify that I understand that the Confidential Materials are provided to me subject to the terms and restrictions of the Stipulated Protective Order filed in this Proceeding. I have been given a copy of the Stipulated Protective Order; I have read it, and I agree to be bound by its terms.
I understand that Confidential Materials, as defined in the Stipulated Protective Order, including any notes or other records that may be made regarding any such materials, shall not be disclosed to anyone except as expressly permitted by the Stipulated Protective Order. I will not copy or use, except solely for the purposes of this Proceeding, any Confidential Materials obtained pursuant to this Protective Order, except as provided therein or otherwise ordered by the Court in this Proceeding. I further understand I am to retain all copies of all Confidential Materials provided to me in a secure manner, and that all copies of such Materials are to remain in my personal custody until termination of my participation in this Proceeding, whereupon the copies of such Materials will be returned to counsel who provided me with such Materials.
I declare under penalty of perjury, under the laws of the United Stats of America and the State of California, that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed this ___ day of __________, 20_____ at ______________.
