Doe v. DNA Diagnostics Center, LLC
- Gregory Woods
- 1:25-cv-02878
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 10
In Doe v. DNA Diagnostics Center, LLC, Judge Woods entered a stipulated protective order governing confidential discovery in Jane Doe’s case.
Jane Doe, DNA Diagnostics Center, LLC, Winn Health Labs, LLC, their counsel and representatives, and other people who receive or have actual notice of confidential discovery material under the order.
What happened
In Jane Doe v. DNA Diagnostics Center, LLC and Winn Health Labs, LLC, the parties asked the court to set rules for protecting nonpublic and competitively sensitive information exchanged during discovery. The court found good cause and entered their stipulated confidentiality agreement and protective order.
The order permits parties to designate certain information as confidential, including previously undisclosed financial, business, ownership, marketing, personal, and health information. It limits disclosure to specified people, requires nondisclosure agreements for some recipients, and restricts use of the information to this case and any appeals. It also establishes procedures for challenging confidentiality designations and filing confidential material with the court.
Judge Gregory H. Woods ordered the parties and other people covered by the order to follow these rules. The order does not itself decide that any material is confidential or guarantee that material will remain sealed at trial; it remains effective after the case ends, and the court retains authority to enforce it.
The detailed version
- Doe v. DNA Diagnostics Center, LLC · No. 1:25-cv-02878
- Gregory Woods
- July 8, 2025
Nature of the Order
This is a stipulated confidentiality agreement and protective order under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c). The parties, through counsel, requested protection for nonpublic and competitively sensitive information that could be disclosed during discovery. The court found good cause for an appropriately tailored order and ordered the parties and other covered persons to comply.
Information That May Be Designated Confidential
A producing party may designate only the portions of discovery material that it reasonably and in good faith believes contain 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, including nonpublic health information; or another category that the court later gives confidential status. The order defines discovery material broadly as information of any kind produced or disclosed during discovery.
The order states that it does not decide whether any designated material is actually confidential. The court retains discretion to determine whether to give confidential treatment to particular material and warns that it is unlikely to seal or otherwise protect material introduced as evidence at trial.
Limits on Disclosure and Use
People subject to the order may disclose confidential discovery material only to listed categories of recipients, including the parties, their insurers and insurers’ counsel; counsel retained for the case and their assigned staff; outside vendors; mediators or arbitrators; certain people identified on documents; potential witnesses; experts and other specialized advisers; deposition transcription providers; and the court and its personnel. Witnesses, experts, mediators, arbitrators, and certain other recipients must first receive the order and sign the required nondisclosure agreement. Counsel must retain those agreements and produce them as specified in the order.
Recipients may use confidential discovery material only to prosecute or defend this case and any appeals, not for another purpose or litigation. They must take precautions against unauthorized or inadvertent disclosure. The order does not waive objections to discovery, privileges, or protections, and it does not decide whether evidence is admissible at trial.
Designations, Court Filings, and Disputes
The order provides procedures for marking ordinary discovery material and for designating deposition testimony and exhibits. During the 30 days after a deposition, the entire transcript must be treated as confidential; within that period, specific pages and lines may be designated. A producing party may also later designate material that was initially produced without a confidentiality designation and must provide replacement versions within two business days after notice.
A party objecting to a confidentiality designation may give written notice stating the grounds before trial. A party seeking additional disclosure limits, such as an attorneys’-eyes-only restriction, must likewise give written notice stating the grounds. If the parties cannot promptly resolve the dispute, counsel must bring it to the court under the court’s individual practices.
When confidential material is filed with the court, the parties must publicly file a redacted version and file the unredacted version under seal, along with the required application and supporting declaration. The party seeking sealing must justify it on a particularized basis. The order states that documents may be unsealed unless the court can make specific findings that sealing is essential to preserve higher values and is narrowly tailored to that interest.
End of the Case and Enforcement
Within 60 days after final disposition, including all appeals, recipients must return confidential material to the producing party or destroy it if the producing party permits, and certify that they have retained no copies or other reproductions. Counsel specifically retained for the case may keep archival copies of certain case materials and work product, but those copies remain subject to the order. The order survives termination of the litigation, and the court retains jurisdiction as necessary to enforce its obligations or impose contempt sanctions.
Read the full 10-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.