Chapman v. Desimone Farms, Inc

Nature of the Order

The parties jointly requested a confidentiality and protective order under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c). The court found good cause for an appropriately limited order governing the pretrial phase of the case and entered the stipulated order.

Information Covered

The order applies to discovery material, meaning information produced or disclosed during discovery, that a producing party reasonably and in good faith designates as confidential. Listed categories include previously undisclosed financial information; information about ownership or control of a nonpublic company; business plans, product-development information, and marketing plans; personal or intimate information; and other categories the court later designates as confidential.

The producing party generally must mark the protected material and provide a version with the confidential information redacted. Special procedures apply to deposition transcripts and exhibits. A producing party may also later designate previously produced material as confidential by notifying earlier recipients in writing.

Permitted Disclosures and Use

Confidential discovery material may be disclosed only to specified recipients, including the parties and their insurers, counsel and assigned support staff, outside vendors, certain people identified on documents, deposition stenographers, the court, and certain witnesses, experts, mediators, and arbitrators. Before receiving the material, the latter group must be given the order and sign the required nondisclosure agreement.

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 unrelated litigation purposes. The order does not waive objections to discovery, privilege, or protections, and it does not decide whether evidence is admissible at trial.

Court Filings and Sealing

A party filing confidential material with the court must publicly file a redacted version and file the unredacted version under seal. A party seeking to file documents under seal must also submit a letter brief and supporting declaration explaining, on a particularized basis, why continued sealing is justified. The court retains discretion over whether to keep confidential any material submitted in connection with a motion or other proceeding and warns that material introduced at trial is unlikely to remain sealed.

Challenges, Privilege, and Return of Materials

A party may object to a confidentiality designation or request additional disclosure limits, such as attorneys’-eyes-only treatment, before trial. Unresolved disputes are to be brought to the court under its individual practices.

If privileged or work-product-protected material is inadvertently disclosed, the disclosure does not by itself waive the protection. After receiving a claim of inadvertent disclosure, the recipient must return or destroy the material within five business days and provide a certification. The producing party must then provide a privilege log within five business days, and the recipient may ask the court to order production. The producing party retains the burden of establishing privilege or protection.

Within 60 days after final disposition of the case, including appeals, recipients must return or, with the producing party’s permission, destroy confidential material and certify that they have kept no copies or summaries. Attorneys specifically retained for the case may keep archival copies of certain case materials, but those copies remain subject to the order. The order survives the end of the litigation, and the court retains jurisdiction to enforce it and impose contempt sanctions.