Chartwell Pharmaceuticals LLC v. Woodfield Pharmaceutical, LLC
- Philip Halpern
- 7:20-cv-00099
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 10
In Chartwell Pharmaceuticals v. Woodfield Pharmaceuticals, Judge Halpern entered a protective order governing confidential discovery.
The parties, their counsel and representatives, discovery providers, witnesses, experts, consultants, mediators, arbitrators, court personnel, and other people who receive confidential discovery material are bound by the order or its disclosure restrictions.
What happened
Chartwell Pharmaceuticals, LLC v. Woodfield Pharmaceuticals, LLC concerned the parties’ request for protection of nonpublic and competitively sensitive information they might disclose during discovery.
The order limits disclosure of information marked confidential, allows disclosure only to specified people, and requires additional recipients such as witnesses and experts to sign confidentiality agreements. It also addresses sealed court filings, objections to confidentiality designations, inadvertent disclosure of privileged material, and the return or destruction of confidential materials after the case ends.
Judge Philip M. Halpern found good cause and ordered the parties and other covered people to follow the stipulated confidentiality and protective order. The order does not decide the underlying dispute or the admissibility of evidence.
The detailed version
- Chartwell Pharmaceuticals LLC v. Woodfield Pharmaceutical, LLC · No. 7:20-cv-00099
- Philip Halpern
- May 7, 2020
Background
The parties, through counsel, jointly requested a protective order under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c). They sought to protect nonpublic and competitively sensitive information that might be disclosed during discovery. The court found good cause for an appropriately limited order governing the pretrial phase of the case.
Confidential information
The order permits a producing party to designate as confidential only material it reasonably and in good faith believes includes previously undisclosed information such as financial information, ownership or control information about a nonpublic company, business plans, product-development or marketing information, personal or intimate information, or another category that the court later protects.
The order explains how confidential designations must be made for documents and other discovery material. Deposition testimony may be designated during the deposition or within 30 days afterward. During that 30-day period, the entire deposition transcript must be treated as confidential. A producing party may also correct a prior failure to designate material before trial by giving written notice to prior recipients.
Limits on disclosure and use
People covered by the order may disclose confidential discovery material only to specified recipients, including the parties, their insurers and the insurers’ counsel; counsel and litigation support staff; outside vendors; mediators or arbitrators; certain people identified on a document; potential witnesses; experts and specialized advisers; deposition transcribers; and the court and its personnel. Mediators, arbitrators, witnesses, experts, and specialized advisers must first receive the order and sign the required nondisclosure agreement.
Recipients may use confidential discovery material only to prosecute or defend this action and any appeals. They may not use it for business, commercial, competitive, or unrelated litigation purposes. The order does not restrict a party’s rights concerning its own documents or information.
Court filings, challenges, and privilege
A party filing documents under seal must publicly file a redacted version and provide the court with an unredacted version under seal, along with the required justification for continued sealing. The court retains discretion over whether to keep confidential material sealed when it is submitted in connection with a motion or other proceeding and warns that material introduced at trial is unlikely to remain sealed.
A party may object to a confidentiality designation or request additional disclosure limits, such as attorneys’ eyes only treatment, before trial. If the parties cannot resolve the issue, they must present the dispute to the court under the court’s individual practices.
The order also provides that an inadvertent disclosure of attorney-client privileged or attorney-work-product material does not itself waive the protection. After a claim of inadvertent disclosure, the receiving party generally must return or destroy the material within five business days, while preserving procedures for seeking a court order requiring production. The disclosing party retains the burden of showing that the material is privileged or protected.
End of the case and enforcement
Within 60 days after the final disposition of the action, including appeals, recipients must return confidential discovery material or destroy it with the producing party’s permission and certify that they have not retained copies or other reproductions. Attorneys specifically retained for the action may keep certain archival materials, which remain subject to the order.
The order continues after the litigation ends. The court retains jurisdiction as necessary to enforce the order and impose contempt sanctions for violations.
Ruling
Judge Philip M. Halpern issued the stipulated confidentiality and protective order. The order governs discovery-related confidentiality and does not decide the parties’ underlying claims, waive objections or privileges, or determine whether evidence is admissible at trial.
Read the full 10-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.