Saddle Mountain Minerals, LLC v. City of Richland, No. 4:2022cv05055 - Document 11 (E.D. Wash. 2022)
Court Description: ORDER granting [ECF No. 10] Motion for Protective Order. Signed by Judge Thomas O. Rice.
Download PDF
<![CDATA[
Saddle Mountain Minerals, LLC v. City of Richland Doc. 11 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 9 10 SADDLE MOUNTAIN MINERALS, 11 LLC, 12 Plaintiff, CASE NO. 4:22-CV-05055-TOR STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 13 v. 14 CITY OF RICHLAND, a municipal corporation of the State of Washington, 15 Defendant. 16 17 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 18 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, 19 proprietary, or private information for which special protection may be warranted. 20 Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the court to enter the 21 following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this 22 agreement is consistent with this court’s rules. It does not confer blanket protection 23 on all disclosures or responses to discovery, the protection it affords from public 24 disclosure and use extends only to the limited information or items that are entitled 25 to confidential treatment under the applicable legal principles, and it does not 26 presumptively entitle parties to file confidential information under seal. STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER - 1 Dockets.Justia.com 1 2. “CONFIDENTIAL” MATERIAL 2 “Confidential” material shall include the following documents and tangible 3 things produced or otherwise exchanged: income statements, balance sheets, profit 4 and loss statements, corporate federal and state tax returns, depreciation schedules, 5 and detailed general ledger reports of expenses and income for Saddle Mountain 6 Minerals, L.L.C. and all current and former members and managers of Saddle 7 Mountain Minerals, L.L.C.. 8 3. SCOPE 9 The protections conferred by this agreement cover not only confidential 10 material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from 11 confidential material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of 12 confidential material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or presentations by 13 parties or their counsel that might reveal confidential material. However, the protections conferred by this agreement do not cover 14 15 information that is in the public domain or becomes part of the public domain 16 through trial or otherwise. 17 4. ACCESS TO AND USE OF CONFIDENTIAL MATERIAL 18 4.1 Basic Principles. A receiving party may use confidential material that 19 is disclosed or produced by another party or by a non-party in connection with this 20 case only for prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this litigation. 21 Confidential material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under 22 the conditions described in this agreement. Confidential material must be stored 23 and maintained by a receiving party at a location and in a secure manner that 24 ensures that access is limited to the persons authorized under this agreement. 25 26 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER - 2 1 4.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless 2 otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the designating party, a 3 receiving party may disclose any confidential material only to: (a) 4 the receiving party’s counsel of record in this action, as well as 5 employees of counsel to whom it is reasonably necessary to disclose the 6 information for this litigation; (b) 7 the officers, directors, and employees (including in house 8 counsel) of the receiving party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this 9 litigation, unless the parties agree that a particular document or material produced 10 is for Attorney’s Eyes Only and is so designated; (c) 11 experts and consultants to whom disclosure is reasonably 12 necessary for this litigation and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and 13 Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 14 (d) the court, court personnel, and court reporters and their staff; 15 (e) copy or imaging services retained by counsel to assist in the 16 duplication of confidential material, provided that counsel for the party retaining 17 the copy or imaging service instructs the service not to disclose any confidential 18 material to third parties and to immediately return all originals and copies of any 19 confidential material; (f) 20 during their depositions, witnesses in the action to whom 21 disclosure is reasonably necessary and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and 22 Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise agreed by the designating 23 party or ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits 24 to depositions that reveal confidential material must be separately bound by the 25 court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted under this 26 agreement; STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER - 3 (g) 1 the author or recipient of a document containing the 2 information or a custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the 3 information. 4.3 4 Filing Confidential Material. Before filing confidential material or 5 discussing or referencing such material in court filings, the filing party shall confer 6 with the designating party to determine whether the designating party will remove 7 the confidential designation, whether the document can be redacted, or whether a 8 motion to seal or stipulation and proposed order is warranted. During the meet and 9 confer process, the designating party must identify the basis for sealing the specific 10 confidential information at issue, and the filing party shall include this basis in its 11 motion to seal, along with any objection to sealing the information at issue. 12 Failure to satisfy this requirement will result in the motion to seal being denied, in 13 accordance with the strong presumption of public access to the Court’s files. 14 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 15 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. 16 Each party or non-party that designates information or items for protection under 17 this agreement must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that 18 qualifies under the appropriate standards. The designating party must designate for 19 protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written 20 communications that qualify, so that other portions of the material, documents, 21 items, or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept 22 unjustifiably within the ambit of this agreement. 23 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations 24 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper 25 purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber or delay the case development process or 26 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER - 4 1 to impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) expose the 2 designating party to sanctions. 3 If it comes to a designating party’s attention that information or items that it 4 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, the designating party must 5 promptly notify all other parties that it is withdrawing the mistaken designation. 6 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in 7 this agreement (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(b) below), or as 8 otherwise stipulated or ordered, disclosure or discovery material that qualifies for 9 protection under this agreement must be clearly so designated before or when the 10 material is disclosed or produced. (a) 11 Information in documentary form: (e.g., paper or electronic 12 documents and deposition exhibits, but excluding transcripts of depositions or 13 other pretrial or trial proceedings), the designating party must affix the word 14 “CONFIDENTIAL” to each page that contains confidential material. If only a 15 portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the producing 16 party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making 17 appropriate markings in the margins). (b) 18 Testimony given in deposition or in other pretrial proceedings: 19 the parties and any participating non-parties must identify on the record, during the 20 deposition or other pretrial proceeding, all protected testimony, without prejudice 21 to their right to so designate other testimony after reviewing the transcript. Any 22 party or non-party may, within fifteen days after receiving the transcript of the 23 deposition or other pretrial proceeding, designate portions of the transcript, or 24 exhibits thereto, as confidential. If a party or non-party desires to protect 25 confidential information at trial, the issue should be addressed during the pre-trial 26 conference. STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER - 5 (c) 1 Other tangible items: the producing party must affix in a 2 prominent place on the exterior of the container or containers in which the 3 information or item is stored the word “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or 4 portions of the information or item warrant protection, the producing party, to the 5 extent practicable, shall identify the protected portion(s). 5.3 6 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent 7 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive 8 the designating party’s right to secure protection under this agreement for such 9 material. Upon timely correction of a designation, the receiving party must make 10 reasonable efforts to ensure that the material is treated in accordance with the 11 provisions of this agreement. 12 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 13 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any party or non-party may challenge a 14 designation of confidentiality at any time. Unless a prompt challenge to a 15 designating party’s confidentiality designation is necessary to avoid foreseeable, 16 substantial unfairness, unnecessary economic burdens, or a significant disruption 17 or delay of the litigation, a party does not waive its right to challenge a 18 confidentiality designation by electing not to mount a challenge promptly after the 19 original designation is disclosed. 20 6.2 Meet and Confer. The parties must make every attempt to resolve any 21 dispute regarding confidential designations without court involvement. Any motion 22 regarding confidential designations or for a protective order must include a 23 certification, in the motion or in a declaration or affidavit, that the movant has 24 engaged in a good faith meet and confer conference with other affected parties in 25 an effort to resolve the dispute without court action. The certification must list the 26 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER - 6 1 date, manner, and participants to the conference. A good faith effort to confer 2 requires a face-to-face meeting or a telephone conference. 6.3 3 Judicial Intervention. If the parties cannot resolve a challenge without 4 court intervention, the designating party may file and serve a motion to retain 5 confidentiality. The burden of persuasion in any such motion shall be on the 6 designating party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose 7 (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may 8 expose the challenging party to sanctions. All parties shall continue to maintain the 9 material in question as confidential until the court rules on the challenge. 10 7. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED 11 IN OTHER LITIGATION 12 If a party is served with a subpoena, a motion for a court order issued in 13 other litigation to compel disclosure of any information or items designated in this 14 action as “CONFIDENTIAL,” or a request under the Washington Public Records 15 Act, that party must: 16 (a) promptly notify the designating party in writing and include a 17 copy of the subpoena, motion, court order or request under the Washington Public 18 Records Act; 19 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena 20 or order to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by 21 the subpoena or order is subject to this agreement. Such notification shall include a 22 copy of this agreement; 23 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be 24 pursued by the designating party whose confidential material may be affected; and 25 26 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER - 7 (d) 1 in regard to a request under the Washington Public Records 2 Act, not release the information marked CONFIDENTIAL without the consent of 3 the designating party or a court order. 4 8. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 5 If a receiving party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed 6 confidential material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under 7 this agreement, the receiving party must immediately (a) notify in writing the 8 designating party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve 9 all unauthorized copies of the protected material, (c) inform the person or persons 10 to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this agreement, 11 and (d) request that such person or persons execute the “Acknowledgment and 12 Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 13 9. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE 14 PROTECTED MATERIAL When a producing party gives notice to receiving parties that certain 15 16 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other 17 protection, the obligations of the receiving parties are those set forth in Federal 18 Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify 19 whatever procedure may be established in an e-discovery order or agreement that 20 provides for production without prior privilege review. The parties agree to the 21 entry of a non-waiver order under Fed. R. Evid. 502(d) as set forth herein. 22 10. NON TERMINATION AND RETURN OF DOCUMENTS 23 Within 60 days after the termination of this action, including all appeals, 24 each receiving party must return all confidential material to the producing party, 25 including all copies, extracts and summaries thereof. Alternatively, the parties may 26 agree upon appropriate methods of destruction. STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER - 8 1 Notwithstanding this provision, counsel are entitled to retain one archival 2 copy of all documents filed with the court, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, 3 correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work 4 product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such materials contain 5 confidential material. 6 The confidentiality obligations imposed by this agreement shall remain in 7 effect until a designating party agrees otherwise in writing or a court orders 8 otherwise. 9 10 IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 11 DATED: October 19, 2022 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DATED: October 19, 2022 /s/Kenneth W. Harper, WSBA #25578 Attorneys for Plaintiff /s/Richard M. Stephens, WSBA #21776 Attorneys for Defendant PURSUANT TO STIPULATION, IT IS SO ORDERED IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that pursuant to Fed. R. Evid. 502(d), the production of any documents in this proceeding shall not, for the purposes of this proceeding or any other federal or state proceeding, constitute a waiver by the producing party of any privilege applicable to those documents, including the attorney-client privilege, attorney work-product protection, or any other privilege or protection recognized by law. 21 22 23 DATED: October 21, 2022. 24 The Honorable Thomas O. Rice United States District Court Judge 25 26 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER - 9 1 2 EXHIBIT A 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 4 I, ____________________________________ [print or type full name], of 5 ____________________________________ [print or type full address], declare 6 under penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and understand the 7 Stipulated Protective Order that was issued by the United States District Court for 8 the Eastern District of Washington on [date] in the case of Saddle Mountain 9 Minerals, LLC v. City of Richland, No. 4:22-CV-05055-TOR. 10 I agree to comply with and to be bound by all the terms of this Stipulated 11 Protective Order and I understand and acknowledge that failure to so comply could 12 expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. I solemnly 13 promise that I will not disclose in any manner any information or item that is 14 subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict 15 compliance with the provisions of this Order. 16 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District 17 Court for the Eastern District of Washington for the purpose of enforcing the terms 18 of this Stipulated Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur 19 after termination of this action. 20 Date: 21 City and State where sworn and signed: 22 Printed name: 23 Signature: 24 25 26 STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER - 10
]]>
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You
should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google
Privacy Policy and
Terms of Service apply.
