Vital Distributions, LLC v. Pepperidge Farm, Inc.

District Court, E.D. California·Decided May 10, 2022·No. 2:22-cv-00319·Unknown

Opinion

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

2 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, SACRAMENTO DIVISION 3 4 5 VITAL DISTRIBUTIONS, LLC, a California ) Case No. 2:22-cv-00319-MCE-KJN limited liability company, ) 6 ) STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER Plaintiff, ) 7 ) ) vs. 8 ) PEPPERIDGE FARM, INCORPORATED, ) 9 a Connecticut corporation, ) ) 10 Defendants. ) ) 11 12 PURPOSE AND GOOD CAUSE FOR PROTECTIVE ORDER 13 Disclosure and discovery activity in this action are likely to involve the production of 14 confidential, proprietary, or private information for which special protection from public disclosure 15 and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. Pursuant to 16 Local Rule 141.1(c)(1), the types of information eligible for protection in this action includes 17 customer and pricing information, purchase and sale data, and other valuable research, development, 18 commercial, financial, technical and/or other proprietary information. Such confidential and 19 proprietary materials and information consists of, among other things, confidential business or 20 financial information, information regarding confidential business practices, or other confidential, 21 development, or commercial information (including information implicating privacy rights of third 22 parties), information otherwise generally unavailable to the public, or which may be privileged or 23 otherwise protected from disclosure under state or federal statutes, court rules, case decisions, or 24 common law. 25 Pursuant to Local Rule 141.1(c)(2), there is a need to protect this type of evidence. A party’s 26 trade secret, confidential, competitive, or proprietary information could be abused if its use were not 27 limited to this lawsuit. For example, third party competitors could exploit confidential information to 1 their advantage were it made public. In some cases, disclosure of this type of evidence could breach 2 confidentiality agreements or violate privacy or consumer protection laws. 3 Accordingly, Plaintiff VITAL DISTRIBUTIONS, LLC (“Plaintiff”) and Defendant 4 PEPPERIDGE FARM, INCORPORATED (“Defendant”) (collectively, the “Parties”) seek a 5 Stipulated Protective Order pursuant to Local Rule 141.1(c)(3) as opposed to entering into a private 6 agreement, because the proposed Order provides mechanisms for the resolution of disputes and the 7 handling of designated evidence that involve the Court. Therefore, to expedite the flow of 8 information, to facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes over confidentiality of discovery materials, 9 to adequately protect information the Parties are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that the Parties 10 are permitted reasonable necessary uses of such material in preparation for and in the conduct of trial, 11 to address their handling at the end of the litigation, and to serve the ends of justice, there is good 12 cause for a protective order for such information. It is the intent of the Parties that information will 13 not be designated as confidential for tactical reasons and that nothing be so designated without a good 14 faith belief that it has been maintained in a confidential, non-public manner, and there is good cause 15 why it should not be part of the public record of this case. 16 Therefore, the Parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the following 17 Stipulated Protective Order (“Protective Order”). The Parties have agreed to be bound by the terms of 18 this Protective Order.

19 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 20 21 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS. 22 Disclosure and discovery activity in this action are likely to involve production of confidential, 23 proprietary, or private information for which special protection from public disclosure and from use 24 for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation may be warranted. Accordingly, the parties 25 hereby stipulate to and petition the court to enter the following Stipulated Protective Order. The 26 parties acknowledge that this Order does not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses 27 to discovery and that the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the 1 principles. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 12.3, below, that this Stipulated 2 Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information under seal; Local Rule 141 sets 3 forth the procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied when a party seeks 4 permission from the court to file material under seal. 5 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 2.1 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of information 7 or items under this Order. 8 2.2 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of how it is 9 generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for protection under Federal Rule of 10 Civil Procedure 26(c). 11 2.3 Counsel (without qualifier): Outside Counsel of Record and House Counsel (as well as 12 their support staff). 13 2.4 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or items that it 14 produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 15 2.5 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of the medium or 16 manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, among other things, testimony, 17 transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or generated in disclosures or responses to discovery 18 in this matter. 19 2.6 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter pertinent to the 20 litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an expert witness or as a consultant 21 in this action. 22 2.7 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this action. House Counsel 23 does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside counsel. 24 2.8 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity 25 not named as a Party to this action. 26 2.9 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party to this action but 27 are retained to represent or advise a party to this action and have appeared in this action on behalf of that 1 2.10 Party: any party to this action, including all of its officers, directors, employees, 2 consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their support staffs). 3 2.11 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or Discovery Material in 4 this action. 5 2.12 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support services (e.g., 6 photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or 7 retrieving data in any form or medium) and their employees and subcontractors. 8 2.13 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated as 9 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 10 2.14 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material from a 11 Producing Party. 12 3. SCOPE. 13 The protections conferred by this Protective Order cover not only Protected Material (as 14 defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from Protected Material; (2) all 15 copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, 16 conversations, or presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material.

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Vital Distributions, LLC v. Pepperidge Farm, Inc., (E.D. Cal. 2022).

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