Doe v. Uniquest Delaware, LLC

Background

The parties jointly requested a protective order under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c) for nonpublic and confidential information exchanged during discovery. The plaintiff represented that she had not publicly disclosed her identity in connection with her trafficking allegations and intended not to disclose her identity or image in connection with the case or underlying allegations while the case was pending.

The court found that discovery would involve confidential information whose public disclosure could harm the producing person or a third party with confidentiality obligations. It found good cause for a tailored confidentiality order covering the pretrial phase of the case. The order also states that it does not automatically protect every discovery response and does not itself authorize filing materials under seal.

Order

Judge P. Kevin Castel issued the protective order. It creates three designations for discovery material: “Confidential,” “Attorneys’ Eyes Only,” and “Plaintiff’s True Identity.” Confidential material may include previously undisclosed financial, ownership, business, marketing, personal, or intimate information. Attorneys’ Eyes Only material may include trade secrets and competitively sensitive proprietary information, including franchisor defendants’ franchise systems and financial terms. Information identifying the plaintiff may include her name, aliases, birth date, Social Security number, and current or prior addresses.

The order permits Jane Doe to proceed under a pseudonym during the pretrial phase, while reserving the parties’ ability to reassess pseudonym use at trial. It requires the plaintiff’s counsel to provide her true identity and specified information about alleged traffickers and their known associates to defense counsel within 15 days after entry of the order.

Protected material may generally be disclosed only to specified parties, counsel, insurers, litigation-support providers, mediators, arbitrators, certain witnesses and experts, court personnel, records custodians, and other listed recipients. Many recipients must receive the order and sign a nondisclosure agreement. Attorneys’ Eyes Only material may not be shared with officers, directors, employees, or in-house counsel of nonproducing defendants.

The plaintiff’s true identity may be disclosed to listed categories of people for litigation purposes, including certain witnesses, government personnel, and—after 30 days’ notice to the plaintiff—the alleged trafficker or associates to the limited extent needed to assist with testimony. The plaintiff’s and her family’s physical location may not be disclosed. Without the plaintiff’s permission or a written court order, her identity may not be disclosed in the public record.

The order limits use of protected material to prosecuting and defending this action and related appeals. It sets procedures for challenging confidentiality designations, handling third-party confidential information, responding to subpoenas, and addressing unauthorized or inadvertent disclosures. A filing under seal requires a separate court order, and a party seeking to file another party’s confidential information must follow specified notice and sealing procedures. The order also provides that inadvertent disclosure of privileged material does not waive the privilege under Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d).

The protective order survives the end of the litigation. Within 30 days after final disposition, protected discovery material and copies must be returned or destroyed. The court retains jurisdiction to enforce the order and address contempt, and it will consider defendants’ requests to modify the protections after they receive and investigate the plaintiff’s true identity. The order does not resolve the merits of the underlying claims.