Pizzuto v. Sharkninja Operating, LLC

Background

The parties, through counsel, jointly requested a protective order under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c). They sought protection for nonpublic and competitively sensitive information that might be disclosed during discovery. The court found good cause for an appropriately tailored confidentiality order covering the pretrial phase of the case.

Confidentiality Designations

The producing party may designate only material that it reasonably and in good faith believes includes previously undisclosed financial information; information about ownership or control of a nonpublic company; business plans, product-development information, or marketing plans; personal or intimate information about an individual; or another category that the court later designates as confidential. The order establishes procedures for marking confidential material, producing redacted copies for public use, and designating deposition testimony and exhibits. A producing party may also correct an earlier failure to designate material before trial by notifying prior recipients in writing.

Who May Receive Confidential Material

Covered material may be disclosed only to specified recipients, including the parties and their insurers, counsel and their litigation staff, outside vendors and service providers, mediators or arbitrators, people identified as recipients of a document, potential witnesses, experts and other specialized advisers, deposition stenographers, and the court. Mediators, arbitrators, witnesses, experts, and certain other recipients must first receive the order and sign the required nondisclosure agreement. Counsel must retain those signed agreements and provide them as required by the order.

Court Filings and Challenges

A party filing material under seal must also file a letter brief and supporting declaration explaining, on a particularized basis, why continued sealing is justified. The order requires public redacted filings and sealed unredacted copies when confidential material is included in court submissions. The court retains discretion over whether to give confidential treatment to material submitted in connection with a motion or other proceeding and states that it is unlikely to seal material introduced into evidence at trial. Parties may object to confidentiality designations or request additional disclosure limits, such as attorneys’ eyes only, and must bring unresolved disputes to the court under its individual practices.

Use, Privilege, and Return of Material

Recipients may use confidential discovery material only to prosecute or defend this action and related appeals, not for business, commercial, competitive, or unrelated litigation purposes. The order does not waive objections to discovery, privilege, work-product protection, or objections to evidence at trial. If privileged or work-product material is inadvertently disclosed, the receiving party must return or destroy it within five business days after notification and provide a certification. The producing party must then provide a privilege log within five business days, while retaining the burden of establishing privilege or protection.

Within 60 days after final disposition of the action, including appeals, recipients must return confidential material or destroy it with the producing party’s permission and certify that they have kept no copies or other reproductions. Counsel specifically retained for the case may keep an archival copy of certain case materials, but those copies remain subject to the order. The order survives the end of the litigation, and the court retains jurisdiction to enforce it and impose contempt sanctions.

Ruling

On May 28, 2024, Judge Philip M. Halpern entered the stipulated confidentiality and protective order and included the attached nondisclosure agreement. The order binds the parties and other people covered by its terms.