Baldia v. RN Express Staffing Registry LLC

Background

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

Confidential Information

A producing party may designate only material it reasonably and in good faith believes includes previously undisclosed financial information; information about ownership or control of a nonpublic company; business, product-development, or marketing plans; personal or intimate information about an individual; or another category that the court later protects. The order requires confidential portions of discovery material to be clearly marked, and generally requires a redacted copy for future public use.

Deposition testimony may be treated as confidential if the designation is made on the record or if specific pages and lines are identified in writing within 30 days after the deposition. During that 30-day period, the entire transcript must be treated as confidential. A producing party may also later designate material that was initially produced without a confidentiality designation.

Who May Receive Protected Material

Confidential discovery material may be disclosed only to specified recipients, including the parties and their insurers, counsel and litigation-support staff, outside vendors, mediators or arbitrators, certain people identified in documents, potential witnesses, experts and specialized advisers, deposition transcription staff, and the court. Witnesses, experts, mediators, and arbitrators must first receive the order and sign the required nondisclosure agreement. Counsel must retain those agreements and produce them to opposing counsel before the person testifies or when the case ends, whichever comes first.

Recipients may use confidential material only to prosecute or defend this case and related appeals. They may not use it for business, commercial, competitive, or other litigation purposes. The order also requires recipients to take precautions against unauthorized or accidental disclosure.

Sealing, Challenges, and Additional Protections

A party filing material under seal must simultaneously submit a letter brief and supporting declaration explaining, on a particularized basis, why continued sealing is justified. Public redacted copies must be filed through the electronic filing system, while unredacted copies are filed under seal and provided to the court and opposing counsel. The court retains discretion over whether to keep material confidential 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 challenge a confidentiality designation before trial by giving written notice stating the specific grounds for the objection. A party seeking additional restrictions, such as attorneys’-eyes-only treatment, must use a similar procedure. If the parties cannot resolve the dispute promptly, counsel must bring it to the court under the court’s individual practices.

Duration and Enforcement

The order does not waive objections to discovery, privilege, or evidentiary objections, and it does not decide whether evidence is admissible at trial. It permits disclosure when required by a lawful subpoena, other compulsory process, law, or a government agency, subject to notice requirements. Within 60 days after final disposition, including appeals, recipients generally must return or destroy confidential material and certify that they kept no copies or reproductions. Litigation counsel may retain specified archival case files, which remain subject to the order.

The order continues after the litigation ends. The court retains jurisdiction over people subject to the order as necessary to enforce its obligations or impose contempt sanctions. Judge Paul G. Gardephe entered the stipulated order after finding good cause.