Newman v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.

Background

The parties stipulated to, and the court entered, a protective order under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c). The order governs documents and information exchanged during the pretrial phase of Newman v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. The court found good cause for an appropriately limited confidentiality order.

Protective-order terms

Counsel may designate information as confidential when, in good faith, the designation is needed to protect proprietary, trade-secret, or other sensitive nonpublic information. Designated material must be used only for this action. It generally may be shared with the requesting party and counsel, necessary litigation employees, consultants or experts assisting with the case, and the court. Before disclosure, counsel must explain the material's confidential nature and require the recipient to sign the attached agreement to follow the order.

The order establishes procedures for challenging a confidentiality designation and states that designation does not establish that the material is relevant or admissible. Personally identifying information exchanged in discovery, including Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, passwords, and information that could be used for identity theft, must be securely maintained and shared only with authorized individuals. A receiving party experiencing a data breach must promptly notify the producing party and cooperate in addressing it.

Under Federal Rule of Evidence 502, producing attorney-client-privileged or work-product-protected material, whether inadvertently or otherwise, does not waive the protection in this case or another federal or state proceeding. The order also provides that confidential discovery is not presumed to qualify for filing under seal. The parties must follow the court's procedures and obtain a prior court order; the court expressly declined to authorize sealing merely through the protective order. After the litigation ends, confidential material must generally be returned or certified as destroyed within 30 days after final judgment is no longer subject to further appeal, although counsel may retain protected working files. Disclosure remains permitted when required by law or a valid subpoena.

Ruling and limits

The court ordered the parties to follow the stipulated restrictions and procedures. It did not review the referenced documents and made no finding that any document was confidential. Any such determination would occur through a document-by-document review under the court's procedures, subject to the presumption favoring public access to judicial documents. The order therefore regulates the handling of discovery but does not decide the underlying claims or authorize automatic sealing.