IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS
BEAUMONT DIVISION
PLAINTIFF §
§
Plaintiffs, §
§ CIVIL ACTION No. 1:YR-cv-XXX
v. §
§ JUDGE RON CLARK
DEFENDANT §
§ Initials
Defendants. §
PROTECTIVE ORDER
The court sua sponte issues this Protective Order to facilitate document disclosure and
production under the Local Rules of this court and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Unless
modified pursuant to the terms contained in this Order, this Order shall remain in effect through
the conclusion of this litigation. No privilege or protection under state or federal statutory or
common law is waived by any disclosure of information connected with the litigation pending
before this court, made in accordance with the terms of this Order, and any such disclosure shall
not be deemed to be a waiver of any privilege or protection in any other federal or state proceeding.
See Fed. R. Evid. 502.
In support of this Order, the court finds that:
1. Documents or information containing confidential proprietary and business information
and/or trade secrets (“Confidential Information”) that bear significantly on the parties’ claims or
defenses is likely to be disclosed or produced during the course of discovery in this litigation;
2. The parties to this litigation may assert that public dissemination and disclosure of
Confidential Information could severely injure or damage the party disclosing or producing the
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Confidential Information and could place that party at a competitive disadvantage;
3. Counsel for the party or parties receiving Confidential Information are, at present, without
sufficient information to accept the representation(s) made by the party or parties producing
Confidential Information as to the confidential, proprietary, and/or trade secret nature of such
Confidential Information; and
4. To protect the respective interests of the parties and to facilitate the progress of disclosure
and discovery in this case, the following Order should issue:
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED THAT:
1. Documents or discovery responses containing Confidential Information disclosed or
produced by any party in this litigation are referred to as “Protected Documents.” Except as
otherwise indicated below, all documents or discovery responses designated by the producing
party as “Confidential” and which are disclosed or produced to the attorneys for the other parties to
this litigation are Protected Documents and are entitled to confidential treatment as described
below.
2. Protected Documents shall not include (a) advertising materials, (b) materials that on their
face show that they have been published to the general public, or (c) documents that have
submitted to any governmental entity without request for confidential treatment.
3. At any time after the delivery of Protected Documents, counsel for the party or parties
receiving the Protected Documents may challenge the Confidential designation of all or any
portion thereof by providing written notice thereof to counsel for the party disclosing or producing
the Protected Documents. If the parties are unable to agree as to whether the confidential
designation of discovery material is appropriate, the party or parties receiving the Protected
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Documents shall certify to the court that the parties cannot reach an agreement as to the
confidential nature of all or a portion of the Protected Documents. Thereafter, the party or parties
disclosing or producing the Protected Documents shall have ten (10) days from the date of
certification to file a motion for protective order with regard to any Protected Documents in
dispute. The party or parties producing the Protected Documents shall have the burden of
establishing that the disputed Protected Documents are entitled to confidential treatment. If the
party or parties producing the Protected Documents do not timely file a motion for protective
order, then the Protected Documents in dispute shall no longer be subject to confidential treatment
as provided in this Order. All Protected Documents are entitled to confidential treatment
pursuant to the terms of this Order until and unless the parties formally agree in writing to the
contrary, a party fails to timely move for a protective order, or a contrary determination is made by
the court as to whether all or a portion of a Protected Document is entitled to confidential
treatment.
4. Confidential Treatment. Protected Documents and any information contained therein
shall not be used or shown, disseminated, copied, or in any way communicated to anyone for any
purpose whatsoever, except as provided for below.
5. Protected Documents and any information contained therein shall be disclosed only to the
following persons (“Qualified Persons”):
(a) Outside counsel of record in this action for the party or party receiving Protected
Documents or any information contained therein;
(b) Employees of such counsel (excluding experts and investigators) assigned to and
necessary to assist such counsel in the preparation and trial of this action; and
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(c) The court.
Protected Documents and any information contained therein shall be used solely for the
prosecution of this litigation.
6. Outside counsel of record for the party or parties receiving Protected Documents may
create an index of the Protected Documents and furnish it to attorneys of record representing or
having represented parties involved in litigation involving the claims alleged in this suit against the
party or parties disclosing or producing the Protected Documents. The index may only identify
the document, date, author, and general subject matter of any Protected Document, but may not
reveal the substance of any such document. Counsel for the party or parties receiving Protected
Documents shall maintain a current log of the names and addresses of persons to whom the index
was furnished.
7. The term “copy” as used herein means any photographic, mechanical or computerized
copy or reproduction of any document or thing, or any verbatim transcript, in whole or in part, of
such document or thing.
8. To the extent that Protected Materials or information contained therein are used in
depositions, such documents or information shall remain subject to the provisions of this Order,
along with the transcript pages of the deposition testimony referring to the Protected Materials or
information contained therein. If such material is used at trial or in hearings, the parties may seek
separate order to seal the documents.
9. Any deposition reporter or transcriber who reports or transcribes testimony in this action
shall agree that all “confidential” information designated as such under this Order shall remain
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“confidential” and shall not be disclosed by them, except pursuant to the terms of this Order, and
that any notes or transcriptions of such testimony (and any accompanying exhibits) will be
retained by the reporter or delivered to counsel of record.
10. Inadvertent or unintentional production of documents or information containing
Confidential Information which are not designated “confidential” shall not be deemed a waiver in
whole or in part of a claim for confidential treatment.
11. The party or parties receiving Protected Documents shall not under any circumstances sell,
offer for sale, advertise, or publicize Protected Documents or any information contained therein.
12. After termination of this litigation, the provisions of this Order shall continue to be
binding, except with respect to those documents and information that become a matter of public
record. This court retains and shall have continuing jurisdiction over the parties and recipients of
the Protected Documents for enforcement of the provisions of this Order following termination of
this litigation.
13. Upon termination of this action by dismissal, judgment, or settlement, counsel for the party
or parties receiving Protected Documents shall return the Protected Documents to the counsel for
the party or parties disclosing or producing the Protected Documents. The party or parties
receiving the Protected Documents shall keep their attorney work product which refers or relates
to any Protected Documents. Attorney work product may be used in subsequent litigation
provided that such use does not disclose Protected Documents or any information contained
therein.
14. This Order shall be binding upon the parties and their attorneys, successors, executors,
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personal representatives, administrators, heirs, legal representatives, assigns, subsidiaries,
divisions, employees, agents, independent contractors, or other persons or organizations over
which they have control.
15. The court anticipates that the parties may file a motion to modify the terms hereof with
respect to the sharing of Protected Documents with experts and consultants; shifting the cost
burden of production equitably; and other terms that may be reasonably required to protect a party
as provided in Rule 26(b) or (c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
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