United States District Court, D. South Carolina, Rock Hill Division
CONFIDENTIALITY ORDER
PAIGE
J. GOSSETT, UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
Whereas,
the parties to this Consent Confidentiality Order
(“parties”), have stipulated that certain
discovery material is and should be treated as confidential,
and have agreed to the terms of this order; accordingly, it
is this 26th day of June, 2019, ORDERED:
1.
Scope. All documents produced in the course
of discovery, all responses to discovery requests and all
deposition testimony and deposition exhibits and any other
materials which may be subject to discovery (hereinafter
collectively “documents”) shall be subject to
this Order concerning confidential information as set forth
below.
2.
Form and Timing of Designation. Confidential
documents shall be so designated by placing or affixing the
word “CONFIDENTIAL” on the document in a manner
which will not interfere with the legibility of the document
and which will permit complete removal of the Confidential
designation. Documents shall be designated CONFIDENTIAL prior
to, or contemporaneously with, the production or disclosure
of the documents. Inadvertent or unintentional production of
documents without prior designation as confidential shall not
be deemed a waiver, in whole or in part, of the right to
designate documents as confidential as otherwise allowed by
this Order.
3.
Documents Which May be Designated
Confidential. Any party may designate documents as
confidential but only after review of the documents by an
attorney[1] who has, in good faith, determined that
the documents contain information protected from disclosure
by statute, sensitive personal information, trade secrets, or
confidential research, development, or commercial
information. The certification shall be made concurrently
with the disclosure of the documents, using the form attached
hereto at Attachment A which shall be executed subject to the
standards of Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
Information or documents which are available in the public
sector may not be designated as confidential.
4.
Depositions. Portions of depositions shall
be deemed confidential only if designated as such when the
deposition is taken or within seven business days after
receipt of the transcript. Such designation shall be specific
as to the portions to be protected.
5.
Protection of Confidential Material.
a.
General Protections. Documents designated
CONFIDENTIAL under this Order shall not be used or disclosed
by the parties or counsel for the parties or any other
persons identified below (¶ 5.b.) for any purposes
whatsoever other than preparing for and conducting the
litigation in which the documents were disclosed (including
any appeal of that litigation). The parties shall not
disclose documents designated as confidential to putative
class members not named as plaintiffs in putative class
litigation unless and until one or more classes have been
certified.
b.
Limited Third Party Disclosures. The parties
and counsel for the parties shall not disclose or permit the
disclosure of any documents designated CONFIDENTIAL under the
terms of this Order to any other person or entity except as
set forth in subparagraphs (1)-(5) below, and then only after
the person to whom disclosure is to be made has executed an
acknowledgment (in the form set forth at Attachment B
hereto), that he or she has read and understands the terms of
this Order and is bound by it. Subject to these requirements,
the following categories of persons may be allowed to review
documents which have been designated CONFIDENTIAL pursuant to
this Order:
(1) counsel and employees of counsel for the parties who have
responsibility for the preparation and trial of the lawsuit;
(2) parties and employees of a party to this Order but only
to the extent counsel shall certify that the specifically
named individual party or employee's assistance is
necessary to the conduct of the litigation in which the
information is disclosed[2];
(3) court reporters engaged for depositions and those
persons, if any, specifically engaged for the limited purpose
of making photocopies of documents;
(4) consultants, investigators, or experts (hereinafter
referred to collectively as “experts”) employed
by the parties or counsel for the parties to assist in the
preparation and trial of the lawsuit; and
(5) other persons only upon consent of the producing party or
upon order of the court and on such conditions as are agreed
to or ordered.
c.
Control of Documents. Counsel for the
parties shall take reasonable efforts to prevent unauthorized
disclosure of documents designated as Confidential pursuant
to the terms of this order. Counsel shall maintain a record
of those persons, including employees of counsel, who have
reviewed or been given access to the documents along with the
originals of the forms signed by those persons acknowledging
their obligations under this Order.
d.
Copies. All copies, duplicates, extracts,
summaries or descriptions (hereinafter referred to
collectively as “copies”), of documents
designated as Confidential under this Order or any portion of
such a document, shall be immediately affixed with the
designation “CONFIDENTIAL” if the word does not
already appear on the copy. All such copies shall be afforded
the full protection of this Order.
6.
Filing of Confidential Materials. In the
event a party seeks to file any material that is subject to
protection under this Order with the court, that party shall
take appropriate action to insure that the documents receive
proper protection from public disclosure including: (1)
filing a redacted document with the consent of the party who
designated the document as confidential; (2) where
appropriate (e.g. in relation to discovery and
evidentiary motions), submitting the documents solely for
in camera review; or (3) where the preceding
measures are not adequate, seeking permission to file the
document under seal pursuant to the procedural steps set
forth in Local Civil Rule 5.03, DSC, or such other rule or
procedure as may apply in the relevant jurisdiction. Absent
extraordinary circumstances making prior consultation
impractical or inappropriate, the party seeking to submit the
document to the court shall first consult with counsel for
the party who designated the document as confidential to
determine if some measure less restrictive than filing the
document under seal may serve to provide adequate protection.
This duty exists irrespective of the duty to consult on the
underlying motion. Nothing in this Order shall be construed
as a prior directive to the Clerk of Court to allow any
document be filed under seal. The parties understand that
documents may be filed under seal only with the permission of
the court after proper motion pursuant to Local Civil Rule
5.03.
7.
Greater Protection of Specific Documents. No
party may withhold information from discovery on the ground
that it requires protection greater than that afforded by
this Order unless the ...