Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-caed-2_15-cv-02035/USCOURTS-caed-2_15-cv-02035-2/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 365
Nature of Suit: Personal Injury - Product Liability
Cause of Action: 28:1332 Diversity-Petition for Removal

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BARNES &

THORNBURG LLP 

ATTORNEYS AT LAW

LOS ANGELES

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[PROPOSED] STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 

JOANNE NOZISKA and

TERRY NOZISKA, 

Plaintiffs, 

v. 

DEPUY ORTHOPAEDICS, INC., 

 Defendant.

No. 2:15-cv-02035-TLN-EFB

STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER

Plaintiffs JOANNE NOZISKA AND TERRY NOZISKA (“Plaintiffs”) and Defendant 

DEPUY ORTHOPAEDICS, INC. (“DePuy”), (hereafter collectively “Parties” or “the Parties”), 

hereby stipulate and agree, through their respective attorneys of record, to the entry of this 

Protective Order to protect the confidential status of protected information during discovery in 

this litigation. 

1. This is a medical device product liability action in which the Plaintiffs allege that 

the DePuy Agility LP ankle system implanted in Joanne Noziska failed. The parties anticipate 

that discovery and expert disclosures will encompass certain confidential and proprietary 

information of DePuy, which designs, manufactures and sells orthopaedic prescription medical 

devices. The orthopaedic medical device field is a highly regulated industry in which DePuy and 

its many competitors must expend substantial resources creating processes and procedures to 

comply with the FDA’s good manufacturing practices regulations, and submitting confidential 

design, manufacturing, materials, and process information to the FDA before such devices can be 

marketed. Accordingly, the Parties have agreed a Protective Order is appropriate to prevent the 

improper disclosure or use of such information while permitting plaintiffs the access necessary to 

evaluate and prosecute their claims. 

2. “Protected Information” means a trade secret or other confidential research, 

development, or commercial information properly designated and labeled as such by the party 

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STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 

producing it. Examples of such Protected Information are: 

a. Engineering drawings showing the design and exact dimensions, 

specifications, tolerances, and similar information related to the DePuy 

Agility LP Tibial Insert P/N 1404-34-000, Lot No.C4GD11000, the Agility 

LP Tibial Tray, P/N 1404-14-000, Lot No. C13811000, and the Agility LP 

Talar, P/N 1404-04-000, Lot No. A3NF31000, the products at issue in this 

litigation; 

b. Specifications, certifications and manufacturing process descriptions and 

records which reflect how DePuy manufactures the DePuy Agility LP 

Tibial, P/N 1404-34-000; Lot No. C4GD11000, the Agility LP Tibial Tray, 

P/N 1404-14-000, Lot No. C13811000, and the Agility LP Talar, P/N 

1404-04-000, Lot No. A3NF31000, the products at issue in this litigation; 

c. DePuy’s internal processes, complaint investigation, sales statistics, and 

other similar matters which are confidential and proprietary and have 

independent economic value because they are not known to DePuy’s 

competitors and have entailed substantial cost to develop and are necessary 

for a medical device company to comply with governing FDA regulations; 

and 

d. Information classified as confidential by federal or state law or regulation. 

3. Protected Information shall be used only for the conduct of this litigation and for 

no other purpose whatsoever, and shall not be given, shown, made available, or communicated in 

any way to anyone except: 

a. The Court and court personnel (including the court having jurisdiction over 

any appeal); 

b. Court reporters used in connection with the litigation; 

c. Any person who (i) wrote or received a copy of the document designated 

confidential before it was furnished in this litigation, or (ii) was present or 

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STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 

participated in a meeting or discussion of the protected information before 

it was furnished in this litigation; 

d. Any mediators, secretaries, paraprofessional assistants, and other 

employees of such mediators who are actively engaged in assisting the 

mediators in connection with this matter; 

e. Employees of outside copying, document imaging and facsimile services; 

f. Present counsel of record for the parties and secretaries, paraprofessional 

assistants, and other employees or agents of such counsel who are actively 

engaged in assisting counsel in connection with this matter; 

g. The parties themselves and outside experts or consultants whose advice 

and consultation are being or will be used by the parties in connection with 

preparing for the litigation, and the staffs of such experts or consultants; 

and 

h. Witnesses or deponents in the course of this litigation. 

4. Disclosure shall be made to persons identified in subparagraphs 3.g and h above 

only as necessary for the litigation, and only after the person to whom disclosure is made has 

been informed of the Protective Order, and has agreed in writing to be bound by it, by signing 

the form of acknowledgment attached to this Protective Order as Attachment A. The terms of 

this Protective Order shall be explained to such persons by the persons disclosing the 

Protected Information. The executed acknowledgment shall be retained by counsel disclosing 

the Protected Information. Protected Information shall not be disclosed to any person in any 

manner not specified in this Protective Order. 

5. The party and counsel receiving Protected Information, and their consultants and 

experts, shall keep it within their exclusive possession and control, except as provided in 

paragraph 3, shall maintain such material and information in their offices or other secure 

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STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 

facility, and shall not make copies, extracts, summaries, or descriptions of the Protected 

Information or any portion thereof, except as convenient or necessary for use in this litigation. 

6. Designation of information as Protected Information is not determinative of 

whether the designation is appropriate. If a party seeks to challenge the designation on the 

ground that such protection is not warranted under controlling law, the following procedure 

shall be utilized: 

a. The party challenging the designation shall give counsel for 

the designating party notice, in writing, specifying the 

Protected Information for which the designation is 

challenged and the reasons for the challenge; 

b. If the parties cannot reach agreement, the party designating 

the Protected Information shall, within 15 days of receipt of 

that notice, file and serve a motion and supporting brief 

seeking the protection of this information. The party filing a 

brief containing or referring to Protected Information shall 

seek leave to file it under seal, and the other party shall not 

oppose such request. The designated Protected Information 

shall remain confidential until the issue is resolved by the 

Court or by the agreement of the parties. 

c. On any motions arising out of the designation of any 

material as Protected Information, the burden of justifying 

the designation shall lie with the designating party. 

 

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STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 

7. Before briefs and related documents which contain or refer to Protected 

Information are filed with the Court, counsel for Plaintiffs and counsel for DePuy shall confer 

in good faith to discuss how to avoid disclosing Protected Information in the filing. If counsel 

cannot agree on a method to avoid disclosing Protected Information in the filing, then the 

party seeking to file a brief or related documents shall also file a motion for leave to file under 

seal the brief and related documents, in accordance with local rules and governing law. The 

parties shall serve each other by email with copies of the materials that are sought to be filed 

under seal. 

8. Before a party moves to file under seal any brief or related document containing its 

Protected Information, counsel for that party shall perform a document-specific, good faith 

examination of the brief or related documents to be filed under seal to ensure that they meet 

the legal and factual criteria for such treatment. In the event a party receiving Protected 

Information files under seal a brief or related material containing the other party’s Protected 

Information, counsel for the designating party shall perform a document-specific, good faith 

examination of the materials filed under seal to ensure that they meet the legal and factual 

criteria for continued maintenance under seal and will promptly file a request with the Court 

that the filings be unsealed if those criteria are not met. If material being maintained by the 

Court under seal no longer meets the legal and factual criteria for continued maintenance 

under seal - because of the passage of time or some other development - the designating party 

shall promptly file a request with the Court that the filings be unsealed. 

9. The parties shall be entitled to identify on their final exhibit lists and use Protected 

Information for trial; provided, however, counsel for the designating party shall be entitled to 

seek appropriate protection, by motions in limine or otherwise, for any document so 

identified. 

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STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 

10. Any non-party from whom discovery is sought shall have the same rights and be 

subject to the same obligations under this Protective Order as if it were a party. The 

undersigned will treat as confidential Protected Information designated by a non-party in 

accordance with this Protective Order, regardless whether the non-party is or becomes a 

signatory to this Protective Order. 

11. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B) and Federal Rule of Evidence 502 

shall govern inadvertent production of privileged materials. Upon notice that a document or 

item containing privileged information has been produced, the producing party shall promptly 

notify the receiving parties of the claim of privilege and the basis for it. Within three business 

days after receipt of a notice that a document or item containing privileged information has 

been produced, the receiving party shall return, sequester or destroy the document or item, 

and all copies thereof, until the claim has been resolved, even if the party disputes the 

underlying privilege. To the extent that the information in the document or item has already 

been used or described in other documents generated or maintained by a receiving party, the 

receiving party shall take steps promptly to retrieve and sequester such documents until the 

privilege claim has been resolved. If a receiving party disclosed the information being notified 

of its inadvertent production, the receiving party shall take reasonable steps to retrieve that 

information until the privilege claim has been resolved. A party’s return of allegedly 

privileged materials is without prejudice to its right to seek a judicial determination of that 

privilege claim. 

12. If any party or person subject to this Protective Order violates or threatens to 

violate any of its terms, an aggrieved party may immediately apply to the Court for 

appropriate relief permitted under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. 

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STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 

13. If another court or an administrative agency subpoenas or otherwise orders 

production of Protected Information obtained under this Protective Order, the person to whom 

the subpoena or other process is directed shall promptly notify counsel for the designating 

party in writing via fax and overnight delivery of all of the following: (1) the Protected 

Information that is requested by the subpoena; (2) the date on which compliance with the 

subpoena is requested; (3) the location at which compliance with the subpoena is requested; 

(4) the identity of the party serving the subpoena; and (5) the case name, jurisdiction and 

index, docket, complaint, charge, civil action or other identification number or other 

designation identifying the litigation, administrative proceeding or other proceeding in which 

the subpoena or other process has been issued. In no event shall Protected Information be 

produced before the expiration of fifteen business days after written notice to counsel for the 

designating party. Furthermore, the person receiving the subpoena or other process shall 

cooperate with the producing party in any proceeding related thereto. 

14. This Protective Order shall be binding on the parties upon execution by counsel, 

regardless whether or when the Court enters the Protective Order; provided however that if 

the Court revises the Protective Order, then the Court’s version will control. 

15. Upon final termination of this action, whether by judgment (including any 

appeals), settlement or otherwise, counsel for the receiving party shall, upon request by the 

designating party, certify on personal knowledge in writing that they have either (a) returned to 

counsel for the designating party, or (b) shredded or destroyed, all Protected Information in their 

possession or subject to their control or furnished to consultants and/or experts, including without 

limitation, those documents whether in paper or electronic format, and all copies, summaries and 

extracts of such documents. 

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STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 

For all confidential documents in electronic format, counsel for the receiving party shall, 

upon request by the designating party, certify on personal knowledge in writing that such 

documents have been permanently deleted from all systems on which they are or were stored or 

transmitted including, without limitation, personal computers, electronic tablets, smart phones, 

portable electronic storage devices (such as flash drives, thumb drives, and personal hard drives), 

networked storage devices, and servers, along with back-up, replicated, and offline copies for all 

of the foregoing devices. 

16. The terms of this Protective Order shall survive and remain in effect after the 

termination of this lawsuit. To the extent permitted by local rules and governing law, counsel 

for the designating party shall be entitled to contact the Court to claim and retrieve documents 

containing Protective Information that were submitted to the Court. 

17. This Protective Order may be modified in writing by agreement of the parties or 

by order of the Court, consistent with controlling law. Until modification is granted by 

agreement or order of the Court, the terms of this Agreement shall govern. Provisions for the 

use of such information at trial similarly shall be made by agreement or by pre-trial order 

governing the use and protection of the record, consistent with controlling law relating to 

public access to judicial documents. 

STIPULATED TO and CONSENTED TO BY COUNSEL OF RECORD: 

DATED: 

JAMES G. O’BRIEN (SBN 308239) 

jim@toledolaw.com

ZOLL & KRANZ, LLC 

6620 West Central Avenue, Suite 100 

Toledo, OH 43617 

Telephone: (419) 841-9623 

Facsimile: (419) 841-9719 

Signature on original

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STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 

DAVID SMITH 

ELISA ZITANO 

dsmith@smithzitanolaw.com

SMITH ZITANO LAW 

641 Fulton Avenue, #200 

Sacramento, CA 95825 

Telephone: (916) 333-5933 

Attorneys for Plaintiffs 

DATED: 

GABRIELLE ANDERSON-THOMPSON 

(SBN 247039) 

gathompson@btlaw.com 

BARNES & THORNBURG LLP 

2029 Century Park East, Suite 300 

Los Angeles, California 90067 

Telephone: (310) 284-3880 

Facsimile: (310) 284-3894 

JOSEPH G. EATON (Admitted Pro Hac Vice) 

joe.eaton@btlaw.com 

BARNES & THORNBURG LLP 

11 South Meridian Street 

Indianapolis, IN 46204 

Telephone: (317) 231-7705 

Facsimile: (317) 231-7433 

Attorneys for Defendant 

DEPUY ORTHOPAEDICS, INC. 

PURSUANT TO STIPULATION, IT IS SO ORDERED. 

DATED: April 13, 2016. 

Signature on original

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STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 

EXHIBIT “A” 

CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT 

The undersigned hereby acknowledges that he/she has read the Protective Order executed 

by the attorneys of record for the parties in the action presently pending in the United States 

District Court for the Eastern District of California, captioned Joanne Noziska and Terry Noziska 

v. DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., et al., Case No. 2:15-cv-02035, and understands the terms thereof 

and agrees, upon threat of penalty of contempt, to be bound by such terms. 

Dated: _______________ By: _________________________________________ 

 

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