Estate of Cindy Lou Hill v. Naphcare Inc

Opinion

2 U.S. F DIL ISE TD R I IN C TT H CE O URT EASTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 3 Mar 03, 2021

SEAN F. MCAVOY, CLERK 4

EASTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 6

7 ESTATE OF CINDY LOU HILL, by and through its personal NO: 2:20-CV-410-RMP 8 representative, Joseph A. Grube, and CYNTHIA METSKER, individually, PROTECTIVE ORDER 9 Plaintiffs, 10 v. 11 NAPHCARE, INC., an Alabama 12 corporation; HANNA GUBITZ, individually; and SPOKANE 13 COUNTY, a political subdivision of the State of Washington, 14 Defendants. 15

16 BEFORE THE COURT is a stipulated protective order, ECF No. 19, by 17 Plaintiffs Estate of Cindy Lou Hill and Cynthia Metsker and Defendants Naphcare, 18 Inc., Hanna Gubitz, and Spokane County. A district court may issue protective 19 orders regarding discovery upon a showing of good cause. Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c). 20 Before issuing a stipulated protective order, a district court judge should ensure that 21 1 the protective order’s restrictions do not infringe on the public’s general right to 2 inspect and copy judicial records and documents. See Kamakana v. City and Cty. of 3 Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178 (9th Cir. 2006); see also Courthouse News Serv. v. 4 Planet, 947 F.3d 581, 589 (9th Cir. 2020) (recognizing a long-held First Amendment

5 right of access to court proceedings and documents). 6 Having reviewed the protective order and the remaining record, the Court 7 finds good cause to grant the stipulated motion and enter the agreed-upon

8 protective order. Accordingly, the parties’ stipulated protective order, ECF No. 9 19, is ACCEPTED in the form set forth below. 11 1. The parties agree that litigation of this case, through discovery or

12 otherwise, may involve exchange of certain documents and information that is 13 ordinarily maintained by the disclosing party as confidential, private, and/or 14 proprietary. To facilitate the exchange of such information without fear or

15 repercussion of releasing it into the public arena, the parties mutually agree 16 that there is good cause to enter into this order of protection (Protective Order) 17 to ensure that the information remains confidential, private, and not shared

18 outside of this litigation or in the public arena. It is to be used solely within 19 and for purposes of this litigation. 20 2. For purposes of this Protective Order, “Confidential Information” 21 means any material containing confidential information and designated as 1 such by the disclosing party upon production. Any documents a party wishes 2 to claim as confidential and subject to this protective order shall be 3 prominently marked as such by stamping on each page the words 4 “CONFIDENTIAL – SUBJECT TO PROTECTIVE ORDER” or substantially

5 similar language. Any such designation must be based on the disclosing 6 party’s good faith belief that the information is confidential, private, and/or 7 proprietary. In addition, nothing in this Protective Order shall prevent or

8 preclude the disclosing party from redacting certain information within the 9 disclosed Confidential Information that is privileged and/or otherwise 10 protected from discovery. 11 3. The recipient of any Confidential Information shall maintain such

12 information in a reasonably secure and safe area and shall exercise the same 13 standard of protection as is exercised by the recipient with its own proprietary 14 information.

15 4. Confidential Information shall not be disclosed outside of this action, 16 but may be made available to the following persons or entities for purposes 17 related to this lawsuit:

18 a. The parties and their attorneys, including paralegals and staff 19 working under the direct supervision of such counsel; 20 21 1 b. Officers, directors, and employees (including in-house counsel) 2 of the receiving party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary 3 for this litigation; 4 c. Expert witnesses or consultants retained in this action to whom

5 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation; 6 d. Representatives of insurance carriers to whom disclosure is 7 reasonably necessary for this litigation;

8 e. The Court, its personnel, and court reporters and their staff; 9 f. Copy or imaging services retained by counsel to assist in the 10 duplication of confidential material, provided that counsel for the 11 party retaining the copy or imaging service instructs the service

12 not to disclose any confidential material to third parties and to 13 immediately return all originals and copies of any confidential 14 material;

15 g. During their depositions, witnesses in the action to whom 16 disclosure is reasonably necessary, unless otherwise agreed by 17 the designating party or ordered by the court. Pages of

18 transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that 19 reveal Confidential Information must be separately bound by the 20 court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as 21 permitted under this agreement; and 1 h. The author or recipient of a document containing the information 2 or a custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew 3 the information. 4 5. Plaintiffs may move to challenge the designation of any such document

5 as confidential by filing a motion within sixty days of receipt of such 6 documents. Until such time, and unless a motion challenging such materials 7 is granted, they will be treated as confidential under this Protective Order.

8 6. Nothing in this Protective Order shall be considered a waiver of any 9 privilege or any other objection to the admissibility of evidence at trial, in any 10 pretrial proceeding or on appeal. This Protective Order does not constitute a 11 waiver of any party’s right to object to discovery on any other ground.

12 7. If a party inadvertently discloses Confidential Information in violation 13 of this Protective Order, the disclosing party shall, within three business days 14 of discovering the inadvertent omission, inform both the receiving party and

15 the designating party in writing of the inadvertent disclosure and the specific 16 Confidential Information at issue. The disclosing party shall ensure that the 17 receiving party treats all inadvertent disclosures of Confidential Information

18 as confidential until (i) the parties agree to further treatment of the 19 inadvertently disclosed material, or (ii) the Court issues an order addressing 20 the appropriate treatment of the inadvertently disclosed Confidential 21 Information. 1 8. Within thirty (30) days after the termination of this lawsuit (whether by 2 dismissal, final judgment, appeal, or settlement), all Confidential Information 3 (including all copies) in the possession or control of the parties, their counsel, 4 their agents, or any other person, shall be returned to counsel for the

5 designating party or, in the alternative, permanently destroyed. 6 9. After the termination of this lawsuit, the provisions of this Order shall 7 continue to be binding and this Court shall retain jurisdiction over the parties

8 and any other person who has access to Confidential Information and related 9 information produced pursuant to this Order for the sole purpose of 10 enforcement of its provisions. The confidentiality obligations imposed by this 11 agreement shall remain in effect until a designating party agrees otherwise in

12 writing or the Court orders otherwise. 13 IT IS SO ORDERED. The District Court Clerk is directed to enter this 14 Order and provide copies to counsel.

15 DATED March 3, 2021.

16 s/ Rosanna Malouf Peterson United States District Judge 18 19 20 21