Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-caed-2_03-cv-02524/USCOURTS-caed-2_03-cv-02524-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 110
Nature of Suit: Insurance
Cause of Action: 28:1332 Diversity-(Citizenship)

---

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

Stipulated Protective Order; Case No. CIV S-03-2524 MCE GGH 

SEYFARTH SHAW LLP 

Peter E. Romo, Jr. (SBN: 38925) 

Robin M. Cleary (SBN: 192489) 

560 Mission Street, Suite 3100 

San Francisco, California 94105 

Telephone: (415) 397-2823 

Facsimile: (415) 397-8549 

Attorneys for Plaintiff 

PROTECTIVE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY 

AARON & WILSON, LLP 

Timothy C. Wilson (SBN: 173928) 

150 Post Street, Suite 400 

San Francisco, California 94108 

Telephone: (415) 438-7800 

Facsimile: (415) 438-7808 

Attorneys for Defendant 

MARIE F. WILLIAMS 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 

PROTECTIVE LIFE INSURANCE 

COMPANY, 

Plaintiff, 

v. 

MARIE F. WILLIAMS, 

Defendant. 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

______________________________________ 

MARIE F. WILLIAMS, 

Counterclaimant, 

v. 

PROTECTIVE LIFE INSURANCE 

COMPANY, 

Counter-defendant. 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

No. 2:03-cv-02524-MCE-GGH 

STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 

PDF created with pdfFactory trial version www.pdffactory.com

Case 2:03-cv-02524-MCE -GGH Document 41 Filed 07/12/07 Page 1 of 11
1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

2 

Stipulated Protective Order; Case No. CIV S-03-2524 MCE GGH 

1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS

Disclosure and discovery activity in this action are likely to involve production of 

confidential, proprietary, or private information for which special protection from public 

disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecuting this litigation would be 

warranted. Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the court to enter the 

following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order does not confer 

blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and that the protection it affords 

extends only to the limited information or items that are entitled under the applicable legal 

principles to treatment as confidential. The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 

10, below, that this Stipulated Protective Order creates no entitlement to file confidential 

information under seal; General Local Rule 39-141 sets forth the procedures that must be 

followed and reflects the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the 

court to file material under seal. 

2. DEFINITIONS

2.1 Party: any party to this action, including any party’s officers, directors, 

employees, consultants, retained experts, and outside counsel (and their support staff). 

2.2 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless of 

the medium or manner generated, stored, or maintained (including, among other things, 

testimony, transcripts, or tangible things) that are produced or generated in disclosures or 

responses to discovery in this matter. 

2.3 “Confidential” Information or Items: Information (regardless of how 

generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things contemplated under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c). 

2.4 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material 

from a Producing Party. 

2.5 Producing Party: a Party or non-party that produces Disclosure or 

Discovery Material in this action. 

2.6 Designating Party: a Party or non-party that designates information or 

items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as “Confidential” 

PDF created with pdfFactory trial version www.pdffactory.com

Case 2:03-cv-02524-MCE -GGH Document 41 Filed 07/12/07 Page 2 of 11
1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

3 

Stipulated Protective Order; Case No. CIV S-03-2524 MCE GGH 

2.7 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 

designated as “Confidential” 

2.8 Outside Counsel: attorneys who are not employees of a Party but who are 

retained to represent or advise a Party in this action. 

2.9 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a Party. 

2.10 Counsel (without qualifier): Outside Counsel and House Counsel (as well 

as their support staffs). 

2.11 Expert: a person or business entity, including its employees and 

subcontractors, with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter pertinent to the litigation 

who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an expert witness or as a consultant in 

this action and who is not a current employee of a Party’s competitor and who, at the time of 

retention, has no pending application or offer to become an employee of a Party’s competitor. 

This definition includes a professional jury or trial consultant retained in connection with this 

litigation. 

2.12 Professional Vendors: persons or entities that provide litigation support 

services (e.g., photocopying; videotaping; translating; preparing exhibits or demonstrations; 

organizing, storing, retrieving data in any form or medium; etc.) and their employees and 

subcontractors. 

3. SCOPE

The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only Protected Material 

(as defined above), but also any information copied or extracted therefrom, as well as all copies, 

excerpts, summaries, or compilations thereof, plus testimony, conversations, or presentations by 

parties or counsel to or in court or in other settings that might reveal Protected Material. 

4. DURATION

PDF created with pdfFactory trial version www.pdffactory.com

Case 2:03-cv-02524-MCE -GGH Document 41 Filed 07/12/07 Page 3 of 11
1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

4 

Stipulated Protective Order; Case No. CIV S-03-2524 MCE GGH 

Even after the termination of this litigation, the confidentiality obligations imposed by 

this Order shall remain in effect until a Designating Party agrees otherwise in writing or a court 

order otherwise directs. 

5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL

5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. 

Each Party or non-party that designates information or items for protection under this 

Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that qualifies under the 

appropriate standards. A Designating Party must take care to designate for protection only those 

parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written communications that qualify – so that other 

portions of the material, documents, items, or communications for which protection is not 

warranted are not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order. Mass, indiscriminate, or 

routinized designations are prohibited. Designations that are shown to be clearly unjustified, or 

that have been made for an improper purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber or retard the case 

development process, or to impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties), expose 

the Designating Party to sanctions. If it comes to a Party’s or a non-party’s attention that 

information or items that it designated for protection do not qualify for protection at all, or do not 

qualify for the level of protection initially asserted, that Party or non-party must promptly notify 

all other parties that it is withdrawing the mistaken designation. 

5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in this Order 

(see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a), below), or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, 

material that qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so designated before the 

material is disclosed or produced. 

Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 

(a) for information in documentary form (apart from transcripts of depositions 

or other pretrial or trial proceedings), that the Producing Party affix the legend 

“CONFIDENTIAL” at the top of each page that contains protected material. If only a portion or 

portions of the material on the page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also must 

clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 

PDF created with pdfFactory trial version www.pdffactory.com

Case 2:03-cv-02524-MCE -GGH Document 41 Filed 07/12/07 Page 4 of 11
1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

5 

Stipulated Protective Order; Case No. CIV S-03-2524 MCE GGH 

(b) for testimony given in deposition or in other pretrial or trial proceedings, 

that the Party or non-party offering or sponsoring the testimony identify on the record, if possible 

before the protected testimony if given, but in any event before the close of the deposition, 

hearing, or other proceeding, all protected testimony. When it is impractical to identify 

separately each portion of testimony that is entitled to protection, and when it appears that 

substantial portions of the testimony may qualify for protection, the Party or non-party that 

sponsors, offers, or gives the testimony may invoke on the record (before the deposition or 

proceeding is concluded) a right to have up to twenty (20) days from receipt of the deposition 

transcript to identify the specific portions of the testimony as to which protection is sought. Only 

those portions of the testimony that are appropriately designated for protection within the twenty 

(20) days shall be covered by the provisions of this Stipulated Protective Order. 

Transcript pages containing Protected Material must be separately bound by the 

court reporter, who must affix to the top of each such page the legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” 

(c) for information produced in some form other than documentary, and for 

any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place on the exterior of 

the container or containers in which the information or item is stored the legend 

“CONFIDENTIAL.” If only portions of the information or item warrant protection, the 

Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected portions. 

5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent failure to 

designate qualified information or items as “Confidential” does not, standing alone, waive the 

Designating Party’s right to secure protection under this Order for such material. If material is 

appropriately designated as “Confidential” after the material was initially produced, the 

Receiving Party, on timely notification of the designation, must make reasonable efforts to 

ensure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this Order. 

/// 

/// 

PDF created with pdfFactory trial version www.pdffactory.com

Case 2:03-cv-02524-MCE -GGH Document 41 Filed 07/12/07 Page 5 of 11
1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

6 

Stipulated Protective Order; Case No. CIV S-03-2524 MCE GGH 

6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS

6.1 Timing of Challenges. Unless a prompt challenge to a Designating Party’s 

confidentiality designation is necessary to avoid foreseeable substantial unfairness, unnecessary 

economic burdens, or a later significant disruption or delay of the litigation, a Party does not 

waive its right to challenge a confidentiality designation by electing not to mount a challenge 

promptly after the original designation is disclosed. 

6.2 Meet and Confer. A Party that elects to initiate a challenge to a Designating 

Party’s confidentiality designation must do so in good faith and must begin the process by 

conferring either directly, that is, in voice-to-voice dialogue, or in writing with counsel for the 

Designating Party. In conferring, the challenging Party must explain the basis for its belief that 

the confidentiality designation was not proper and must give the Designating Party an 

opportunity to review the designated material, to reconsider the circumstances, and, if no change 

in designation is offered, to explain the basis for the chosen designation. A challenging Party 

may proceed to the next stage of the challenge process only if it has engaged in this meet-andconfer process first. The Party designating material as CONFIDENTIAL is under an obligation 

to respond quickly and substantively to the meet-and-confer efforts of the challenging party. 

6.3 Judicial Intervention. A Party that elects to press a challenge to a confidentiality 

designation after considering the justification offered by the Designating Party may file and 

serve a motion under Civil Local Rule 78-230 (and in compliance with General Local Rule 39-

141, if applicable) that identifies the challenged material and sets forth in detail the basis for the 

challenge. Each such motion must be accompanied by a competent declaration that affirms that 

the movant has complied with the meet-and-confer requirements imposed in the preceding 

paragraph. 

The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the Designating 

Party. Until the court rules on the challenge, all parties shall continue to afford the material in 

question the level of protection to which it is entitled under the Producing Party’s designation. 

/// 

/// 

PDF created with pdfFactory trial version www.pdffactory.com

Case 2:03-cv-02524-MCE -GGH Document 41 Filed 07/12/07 Page 6 of 11
1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

7 

Stipulated Protective Order; Case No. CIV S-03-2524 MCE GGH 

7. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL

7.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is disclosed 

or produced by another Party or by a non-party in connection with this case only for prosecuting, 

defending, or attempting to settle this litigation. Such Protected Material may be disclosed only 

to the categories of persons and under the conditions described in this Order. When the litigation 

has been terminated, a Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of section 11, below 

(FINAL DISPOSITION). 

Protected Material must be stored and maintained by a Receiving Party at a location and 

in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons authorized under this Order. 

7.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless otherwise 

ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a Receiving Party may 

disclose any information or item designated CONFIDENTIAL only to: 

(a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of record in this action and 

employees of said Counsel to whom it is reasonably necessary to disclose the information for 

this litigation; 

(b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of the 

Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have 

signed the “Agreement to Be Bound by Protective Order” (Exhibit A); 

(c) Experts and consultants (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party 

who have signed the “Agreement to Be Bound by Protective Order” (Exhibit A); 

(d) the Court and its personnel; 

(e) court reporters, their staffs, and professional vendors to whom disclosure 

is reasonably necessary for this litigation; 

(f) during their depositions, witnesses in the action to whom disclosure is 

reasonably necessary and who have signed the “Agreement to Be Bound by Protective Order” 

(Exhibit A). Pages of transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal 

Protected Material must be separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to 

anyone except as permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order. 

PDF created with pdfFactory trial version www.pdffactory.com

Case 2:03-cv-02524-MCE -GGH Document 41 Filed 07/12/07 Page 7 of 11
1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

8 

Stipulated Protective Order; Case No. CIV S-03-2524 MCE GGH 

(g) the author of the document or the original source of the information. 

8. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED IN 

OTHER LITIGATION. 

If a Receiving Party is served with a subpoena, document request or an order 

issued in other litigation that would compel disclosure of any information or items designated in 

this action as “CONFIDENTIAL,” the Receiving Party must so notify the Designating Party, in 

writing (by fax, if possible) immediately and in no event more than three (3) court days after 

receiving the subpoena or order. Such notification must include a copy of the subpoena, 

document request or court order. 

The Receiving Party also must immediately inform in writing the Party who 

caused the subpoena, document request or order to issue in the other litigation that some or all 

the material covered by the subpoena or order is the subject of this Protective Order. In addition, 

the Receiving Party must deliver a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order promptly to the Party 

in the other action that caused the subpoena, document request or order to issue. 

The purpose of imposing these duties is to alert the interested parties to the 

existence of this Protective Order and to afford the Designating Party in this case an opportunity 

to try to protect its confidentiality interests in the court from which the subpoena, document 

request or order issued. The Designating Party shall bear the burdens and the expenses of 

seeking protection in that court of its confidential material, and nothing in these provisions 

should be construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this action to disobey a 

lawful directive from another court. 

9. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL

If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed Protected 

Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this Stipulated Protective 

Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in writing the Designating Party of the 

unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve all copies of the Protected Material, 

(c) inform the person or persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of 

PDF created with pdfFactory trial version www.pdffactory.com

Case 2:03-cv-02524-MCE -GGH Document 41 Filed 07/12/07 Page 8 of 11
1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

9 

Stipulated Protective Order; Case No. CIV S-03-2524 MCE GGH 

this Order, and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment and 

Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 

10. FILING PROTECTED MATERIAL. Without written permission from the 

Designating Party or a court order secured after appropriate notice to all interested persons, a 

Party may not file in the public record in this action any Protected Material. A Party that seeks 

to file under seal any Protected Material must comply with General Local Rule 39-141. 

11. FINAL DISPOSITION. Unless otherwise ordered or agreed in writing by the 

Producing Party, within sixty (60) days after the final termination of this action, each Receiving 

Party must return all Protected Material to the Producing Party. As used in this subdivision, “all 

Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other form of 

reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. With permission in writing from the 

Designating Party, the Receiving Party may destroy some or all of the Protected Material instead 

of returning it. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving Party 

must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same person or entity, 

to the Designating Party) by the sixty (60) day deadline that identifies (by category, where 

appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or destroyed and that affirms that the 

Receiving Party has not retained any copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or other forms 

of reproducing or capturing any of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, 

Counsel are entitled to retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, transcripts, legal 

memoranda, correspondence or attorney work product, even if such materials contain Protected 

Material. Any such archival copies that contain or constitute Protected Material remain subject 

to this Protective Order as set forth in Section 4 (DURATION), above. 

12. MISCELLANEOUS

12.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any 

person to seek its modification by the Court in the future. 

12.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this 

Protective Order, no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to disclosing or 

producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this Stipulated Protective 

PDF created with pdfFactory trial version www.pdffactory.com

Case 2:03-cv-02524-MCE -GGH Document 41 Filed 07/12/07 Page 9 of 11
1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

10 

Stipulated Protective Order; Case No. CIV S-03-2524 MCE GGH 

Order. Similarly, no Party waives any right to object on any ground to use in evidence of any of 

the material covered by this Protective Order. 

IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD. 

DATED: April ___, 2007 SEYFARTH SHAW LLP 

 

 _________________________ 

Robin M. Cleary 

 Attorneys for Plaintiff 

 PROTECTIVE LIFE 

 INSURANCE COMPANY 

DATED: April ___, 2007 AARON & WILSON, LLP 

 

 _________________________ 

Timothy C. Wilson 

 Attorneys for Defendant 

 MARIE F. WILLIAMS 

PURSUANT TO STIPULATION, IT IS SO ORDERED, with the exception that once this 

litigation is terminated, the Court’s power of enforcement shall also terminate. 

DATED: July 11, 2007 

__________________________________ 

MORRISON C. ENGLAND, JR 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 

PDF created with pdfFactory trial version www.pdffactory.com

Case 2:03-cv-02524-MCE -GGH Document 41 Filed 07/12/07 Page 10 of 11
1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

11 

Stipulated Protective Order; Case No. CIV S-03-2524 MCE GGH 

EXHIBIT A

ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND

I, _____________________________ [print or type full name], of _________________ 

[print or type full address], declare under penalty of perjury that I have read in its entirety and 

understand the Stipulated Protective Order that was issued by the United States District Court for 

the Eastern District of California on _________ [date] in the case of Protective Life Insurance 

Company v. Marie F. Williams, Case No. CIV S-03-2524 MCE GGH. I agree to comply with 

and to be bound by all the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order. I solemnly promise that I 

will not disclose in any manner any information or item that is subject to this Stipulated 

Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict compliance with the provisions of this 

Order. 

I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the 

Eastern District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this Stipulated Protective 

Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of this action. 

I hereby appoint __________________________ [print or type full name] of 

_______________________________________ [print or type full address and telephone 

number] as my California agent for service of process in connection with this action or any 

proceedings related to enforcement of this Stipulated Protective Order. 

Date: _________________________________ 

City and State where sworn and signed: _________________________________ 

Printed name: ______________________________ 

 [printed name] 

Signature: __________________________________ 

 [signature] 

SF1 28211353.2 

PDF created with pdfFactory trial version www.pdffactory.com

Case 2:03-cv-02524-MCE -GGH Document 41 Filed 07/12/07 Page 11 of 11