Johnson v. Houston County

          ORDER ON CONSENT MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE ORDER

          C. ASHLEY ROYAL UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT JUDGE

         THE COURT ALERTS THE PARTIES THAT IT HAS ADDED A FINAL PARAGRAPH TO THIS PROTECTIVE ORDER THAT WAS NOT INCLUDED IN THE CONSENT ORDER SUBMITTED TO THE COURT.

         This lawsuit is presently in the discovery stage. It appears that such discovery will involve review of confidential business information, personnel and employment-related documents, personal, sensitive medical and other confidential information relating to the parties and persons not parties to this litigation. Plaintiff Timothy R. Johnson (“Plaintiff”) and Defendants Margaret Hays, Cullen Talton, Michael Garrett, John Stinson, Jr., General Granville, Jr., the City of Warner Robins, Deborah Miller, Malcolm Derrick, Jr., H.D. Dennard, R.G. West, Brad Mules, and Stephen Lynn (“Defendants”) (collectively the “parties”), by and through their counsel, desire to avoid the needless dissemination of the above-referenced information outside of this lawsuit and, further, to avoid a dispute over the production of such information.

         Accordingly, good cause having been shown within the meaning of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and it appearing that Plaintiff and Defendants consent to entry of this Protective Order, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT:

(1) As used in this Order, the following definitions and terms shall apply:

a. “Confidential Information” means documents, information, testimony, and other tangible items to be produced or disclosed in this action that contain (A) trade secrets, confidential, commercially private, proprietary, sensitive business, financial, and/or otherwise privileged information or (B) private personal information about individuals, including current or former employees' personnel files, in which the affected persons enjoy rights and expectations of privacy and protection from disclosure, including under state and federal law or (C) medical information concerning Plaintiff. All such documents, information, or testimony will be referred to and treated as “Confidential Information” if stamped or designated “CONFIDENTIAL.”

b. “Disclosed” is used in its broadest sense and includes, inter alia, directly or indirectly shown, divulged, revealed, produced, described, transmitted or otherwise communicated, in whole or in part.

c. “Document” is defined as the term is used in Rule 34(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

d. “Counsel” means the counsel of record in this action and their law firms, as well as (i) other attorneys or consultants employed or retained by such law firms, or (ii) any attorney subsequently retained or designated by any party to appear in this action.

e. “Disclosing Party” means any party who furnishes confidential information or discovery material.

f. “Recipient” means any party who receives confidential information or discovery material.

         (2) Any party may designate any document, information, testimony, or other tangible item containing Confidential Information as defined in Paragraph (1)(a) by clearly marking each page as “CONFIDENTIAL” at the time of production. All documents and information provided by the parties which are designated as “CONFIDENTIAL” shall be treated as such by the Parties. Such Confidential Information, and all copies, summaries, compilations, notes, or abstracts thereof, shall be exclusively for use in this action and for no other purpose, and shall not be disclosed to any person except as permitted in this Order.

         (3) Deposition testimony and exhibits may be designated as Confidential Information by identification on the record during any deposition or other proceeding or by written notice to opposing counsel not later than ten (10) business days after receipt of the deposition transcript. During the ten (10) business day period and from the date of the deposition, the entire deposition transcript and testimony and all exhibits shall be deemed to be Confidential Information for all purposes. Thereafter, only those portions of the transcript and exhibits that have been designated as Confidential Information shall be so treated. At the depositions taken in this action, the reporter will be informed of the existence of this Order and will be required to operate in a manner consistent with its terms.

         (4) Entering into, agreeing to, and/or complying with the terms of this Order shall not: (a) operate as an admission by any party that any particular documents, material or information contain or reflect currently valuable trade secrets or proprietary or commercial information; or (b) prejudice in any way the right of a party at any time: (i) to seek a determination by the Court of whether any particular document, item of material or piece of information should be subject to the terms of this Order; (ii) to seek relief on appropriate notice from any provision(s) of this Order, either generally or as to any particular document, item of material or piece of information; (iii) to object to any discovery request, including the right to assert that no discovery should be had of certain documents or information; (iv) to seek documents or other information from any source; or (v) to prohibit disclosure of Confidential Information pursuant to a requirement of a governmental agency or by operation of law (including a subpoena); provided however that, with respect to this clause, the Recipient shall first promptly notify Disclosing Party at the addresses listed herein ...