Delorenzo v. Coffey

Nature of the Order

The court entered a stipulated confidentiality agreement and protective order proposed by Jesse DeLorenzo and the defendants. The agreement is intended to facilitate the production, exchange, and discovery of documents and information that the parties believe should receive confidential treatment.

Confidential Information and Disclosure

A party or nonparty may designate documents or testimony as confidential if they contain trade secrets, proprietary business information, private or personal information, competitively sensitive information, or other information that the designating party reasonably believes could harm its business or its customers’ or clients’ businesses. Confidential information generally may be disclosed only to specified people, including litigation personnel, counsel and their staff, experts and consultants who agree in writing to follow the order, certain persons identified in the materials, the court, mediators, deposition personnel, and trial or deposition witnesses.

The receiving party may use the information only for this litigation. Depositions are presumptively confidential during the deposition and for 15 days after counsel receive the transcript, after which they must be classified appropriately. A receiving party may challenge a confidentiality designation; if the producing party does not remove it within seven days, the receiving party may ask the court to do so. The producing party bears the burden of showing that the designation is proper.

Privileged Material and Court Filings

The order provides procedures for handling information accidentally produced and claimed to be protected by attorney-client privilege, the work-product doctrine, or another privilege. Upon request, the receiving party generally must stop reviewing or disclosing the material and return, sequester, or destroy copies within three business days. The order also provides procedures for privilege logs, challenges to privilege, and disputes involving material used in depositions or dispositive-motion filings.

Documents containing confidential information must be filed according to Judge Oetken’s individual practices. No document may be filed under seal without a further court order addressing the specific document or portions to be sealed. A sealing request must address the governing standards, including the authority identified in the order. The order also preserves the application of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2, which permits specified redactions without another court application.

Duration and Disposition

The agreement remains binding after the litigation ends, subject to the order’s provisions concerning court exhibits, written permission, or further court modification. Within 30 days after final termination of the litigation by settlement or completion of appeals, confidential information generally must be returned or destroyed, although counsel may retain specified case files and work product. The order does not waive objections to discovery, privileges, or requests for stronger confidentiality protections.

Ruling

Judge J. Paul Oetken ordered the parties to comply with the stipulated confidentiality agreement and protective order. The document concerns discovery management and confidentiality; it does not resolve the merits of the parties’ claims.