Plata Capital Limited v. Financial Technology Partners L.P. and FTP Securities…

Background

The parties, through their counsel, jointly requested a protective order under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c). The request concerned nonpublic and confidential materials that would be exchanged during discovery. The court found good cause for an appropriately tailored order governing the pretrial phase of the action.

Confidentiality designations

The order permits a producing person or that person’s counsel to designate discovery material as “Confidential” when the designation is reasonably and in good faith considered necessary to protect proprietary information, trade secrets, sensitive nonpublic financial or business information, personal or intimate information, information subject to a confidentiality duty, or other information qualifying for protection under Rule 26(c)(1)(G). The order also permits redaction of nonresponsive information when applicable law requires redaction, including certain sensitive personal information.

A producing person or counsel may use the higher designation “Highly Confidential—Attorneys’ Eyes Only” for proprietary or competitively sensitive technical, financial, or other business information whose disclosure is likely to cause irreparable harm or significantly impair the designating party’s competitive position. The parties are expected to discuss materials requiring that designation, but absent further agreement those materials may be disclosed only to the people and entities listed in the order.

Deposition transcripts and exhibits are presumptively treated as confidential during the deposition and for 30 days after each party’s counsel receives the transcript. During or after that period, the producing person or counsel may identify specific testimony or exhibits as confidential or highly confidential. A party challenging a designation must provide written notice stating the grounds for the objection; if the parties cannot resolve the dispute, the party seeking protection must request a protective order under the court’s individual rules.

Permitted disclosures and use

Confidential materials may be disclosed to specified recipients, including the parties and their insurers, counsel and litigation-support personnel, witnesses and their counsel when necessary for the litigation, mediators or arbitrators who sign the required nondisclosure agreement, certain persons identified in the documents, consultants and experts who sign that agreement, deposition stenographers, and the court and its personnel.

Highly Confidential—Attorneys’ Eyes Only materials generally may be disclosed to outside counsel and necessary personnel, litigation-support providers, persons approved by written agreement or court order, mediators or arbitrators who sign the required agreement, certain persons identified in the documents, consultants and experts who sign the agreement, qualifying fact witnesses at depositions or court proceedings, stenographers, and the court and its personnel. Recipients may use protected material only to prosecute or defend this action, not for business, commercial, or competitive purposes.

Court filings, privilege, and personal information

The order requires parties intending to file protected material or use it at a hearing or trial to notify the producing party. If the producing party does not agree to public filing, the filing party must initially file the material under seal or with redactions and seek permission to do so. The producing party must then explain the need for sealing or redaction within the time specified by the order. The order states that the court may unseal documents if the required findings for sealing cannot be made.

Recipients must protect personally identifying information, including examples such as Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, passwords, and information that may be used for identity theft. A recipient experiencing a data breach must immediately notify the producing person and cooperate in addressing the breach.

If a producing party claims that inadvertently produced information is protected by attorney-client privilege, work-product protection, or another privilege or immunity, the receiving party must return, sequester, or destroy the material and may not use it except in connection with a motion to compel production. The order states that the production does not waive the privilege or immunity under Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d). Privileged redactions must be marked and may be challenged under the same process used for confidentiality designations.

Duration and enforcement

The protective order survives termination of the litigation. Within 30 days after final disposition, protected discovery materials and copies must be returned to the producing person or destroyed if the producing person permits destruction. The order warns that willful violations may result in contempt punishment and states that the court retains jurisdiction as necessary to enforce the order or impose sanctions for contempt.

Disposition

On September 18, 2025, Judge Paul A. Engelmayer signed the order and marked it “SO ORDERED.” The document addresses discovery confidentiality and related procedures; it does not decide the parties’ underlying claims or counterclaims.