Demastes v. Midwest Diversified Management Corp

District Court, W.D. North Carolina·Decided November 17, 2020·No. 3:19-cv-00065·Unknown

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA CHARLOTTE DIVISION CIVIL ACTION NO. 3:19-CV-065-RJC-DCK MELISSA DEMASTES, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) STIPULATED CONSENT ) PROTECTIVE ORDER ) MIDWEST DIVERSIFIED MANAGEMENT ) CORP., d/b/a Carmel Maintenance, LLC, ) MIDWEST DIVERSIFIED MANAGEMENT ) CORP EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLAN AND ) TRUST, WATERFORD SQUARE ) APARTMENTS, LLC, PIPER GLEN ) APARTMENTS ASSOCIATES, LLC, JAMES ) N. GORDON and DOES 100, ) ) Defendants. ) )

This Stipulated Consent Protective Order (“Protective Order”) is made and agreed to between the Parties, by and through their respective counsel of record, pursuant to Fed. Rule Civ. Proc. 26(e) and Local Rule 6.1(i), subject to approval and entry by this Court, to expedite the flow of discovery materials, facilitate the prompt resolution of discovery disputes and disputes concerning confidentiality, protect certain materials and information designated as Confidential or Attorneys’ Eyes Only (“Protected Material”), and ensure that protection is afforded only to material and information so designated. THEREFORE, it is hereby stipulated by the Parties, and approved by the Court as follows: 1. The nature of the disputes in this action are such that confidential and/or proprietary information, including but not limited to documents, electronically stored information and other materials concerning the business or personal affairs of the Parties as well as confidential and personal information, including information related to other employees/former employees who are not parties to this action, is likely to be the subject of discovery. 2. This Protective Order shall govern the handling of all documents, data,

depositions, deposition exhibits, interrogatory responses, admissions, testimony and other information produced, given, or disclosed by any party or any non-party during proceedings in the above-captioned action, and designated either “Confidential” or “Attorneys’ Eyes Only” as set forth herein. 3. Protected Material disclosed or produced in this litigation in any form, whether designated as Confidential or Attorneys’ Eyes Only, may only be used by the non-designating Party for purposes of this litigation, and shall not be used for any other purpose or disclosed to any other person or entity except as specifically provided herein. Specifically, any person in possession of Protected Material shall not, under any circumstances:

(a) Use any Protected Material in any other proceeding that is not directly related to this matter; (b) Use, attempt to use or disclose any Protected Material for any business purpose in competition with or adverse to the Party to whom the information belongs; (c) Use attempt to use or disclose any Protected Material for any purpose designed to embarrass, harass, intimidate or otherwise reflect negatively on party or non-party witness; or (d) Use attempt to use or disclose any Protected Material for any purpose other than this action. 4. Except for use by counsel for the Parties hereto in the course of this litigation, no person granted access to Protected Material shall make any copies, reproductions, transcripts, transmissions or facsimiles of the same or any portion thereof. Counsel of record are responsible for employing reasonable measures to control, consistent with this Protective Order, duplication of, access to, and distribution of copies of documents and/or other materials containing Protected

Material. The Parties shall not duplicate any documents and/or other items containing Protected Material except working copies and copies to be filed in court under seal. 5. “Confidential” material as used herein means information which the designating party reasonably and in good faith deems to constitute trade-secrets, proprietary data, and/or commercial, financial, private, personal or personnel information which the designating party has maintained in confidence or has an obligation or duty to maintain in confidence. 6. “Attorneys’ Eyes Only” material as used herein means information which the designating party reasonably and in good faith deems to constitute particularly sensitive business or financial documents, information, research, development or commercial information. It is

expressly understood by the Parties that the purpose of the “Attorneys’ Eyes Only” designation is to permit the Parties to prosecute or defend this action to the fullest extent possible, but also to restrict disclosure of information or material that is extremely sensitive and/or highly confidential, the disclosure of which would create a substantial risk of injury to the proprietary, business, competitive, security, and/or privacy interests of the Parties and/or nonparties, which injury could not be avoided by less restrictive means. 7. Unless otherwise ordered by the Court or permitted in writing by the designating Party, information designated “Confidential”: (a) shall be only be revealed to: i. the Parties to this Action; ii. Counsel for the Parties and their staff; iii. Any stenographer or videographer used in connection with this litigation; iv. the Court and Court staff; and

v. Employees of a Party or Deponents/witnesses designated by a Party, including experts provided such person has been determined by counsel for the Party providing access to the material to be necessary to review such information for purposes of this litigation. (b) Disclosure of material designated as Confidential shall be made to persons identified in subparagraph (a) above: i. only as necessary for this litigation; and ii. only after the person to whom disclosure is made has been informed of this Protective Order, and has agreed in writing to be bound by it, by

signing the form of acknowledgment attached to this Protective Order as “Exhibit A – Acknowledgment of Receipt of Stipulated Consent Protective Order.” Provided however that an executed Acknowledgment will not be specifically required for those persons designated in Paragraph 7. (a) ii - iv above, but nothing herein prevents the producing party from seeking additional or heightened protection for specified documents or material, by expressly requesting that such persons comply with the foregoing requirements of this subparagraph, including execution of Exhibit A, prior to disclosure of such specified documents to such persons. (c) Counsel for the Party disclosing information designated Confidential shall provide a copy of this Protective Order to such persons to whom Confidential information is disclosed and shall retain the executed Acknowledgment for each person to whom Confidential information is disclosed. (d) Information designated Confidential shall not be disclosed to any person

in any manner not specified in this Protective Order. In the event such person refuses to sign an agreement in the form of the attached Exhibit A, the party desiring to disclose the Confidential information may seek appropriate relief from this Court. 8. Unless otherwise ordered by the Court or permitted in writing by the designating Party, material designated “Attorneys’ Eyes Only” may only be viewed and inspected by: (a) counsel of record and their staff; (b) in house counsel for the corporate Parties; (c) any stenographer or videographer used in connection with this litigation; and

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Demastes v. Midwest Diversified Management Corp, (W.D.N.C. 2020).

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