Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-caed-1_15-cv-00557/USCOURTS-caed-1_15-cv-00557-6/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Praetorian Insurance Company
Counter Defendant
Western Milling, LLC
Counter Claimant

Document Text:

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Joint Stipulation for Protective Order

Case No.: 1:15-cv-00557-DAD-EPG

Gary R. Selvin, State Bar No. 112030

Nancy J. Strout, State Bar No. 121096

SELVIN WRAITH HALMAN LLP

505 14th Street, Suite 1200

Oakland, CA 94612

Telephone: (510) 874-1811

Facsimile: (510) 465-8976

E-mail: gselvin@selvinwraith.com

nstrout@selvinwraith.com

Attorneys for Plaintiff and Counter-Defendant,

PRAETORIAN INSURANCE COMPANY

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

ROBERT E. COYLE UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE - FRESNO

PRAETORIAN INSURANCE COMPANY, an 

Illinois corporation,

Plaintiff,

v.

WESTERN MILLING LLC, a California 

limited liability company,

Defendant.

Case No.: 1:15-cv-00557-DAD-EPG

For All Purposes Assigned To: Hon. Dale A. 

Drozd, Courtroom 5, 7th floor – Fresno

Discovery Matters: Hon. Magistrate Judge 

Erica P. Grosjean, Courtroom 10, 6th Floor -

Fresno

JOINT STIPULATION FOR PROTECTIVE 

ORDER

Complaint Filed: April 10, 2015

Counter-Claim Filed: December 7, 2015

WESTERN MILLING LLC, a California 

limited liability company,

Counter-Complainant,

v.

PRAETORIAN INSURANCE COMPANY, an 

Illinois corporation; and DOES 1-25,

Counter-Defendant.

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Joint Stipulation for Protective Order

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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. 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.

2. DEFINITIONS

2.1 CHALLENGING PARTY: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation of 

information or items under this Order.

2.2 "CONFIDENTIAL" INFORMATION OR ITEMS: information (regardless of how 

generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things reflecting confidential or personal information that 

counsel or any of the stipulating parties have in good faith designated as “Confidential”.

2.3 COUNSEL: Outside Counsel and (as well as their support staff).

2.4 DESIGNATING PARTY: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or items 

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

2.5 DISCLOSURE OR DISCOVERY MATERIAL: all items or information, regardless 

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

transcripts, and tangible things) that are produced or generated in disclosures or responses to 

discovery in this matter.

2.6 EXPERT: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter pertinent to 

the litigation who (1) has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as an expert witness or 

consultant in this action, (2) is not a past or current employee of a Party or of a Party’s competitor, 

and (3) at the time of retention, is not anticipated to become an employee of a Party or of a Party’s 

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

this litigation.

2.7 NON-PARTY: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal 

entity not named as a Party to this action.

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Joint Stipulation for Protective Order

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2.8 OUTSIDE COUNSEL: attorneys who are not employees of a Party but are retained 

to represent or advise a Party and have appeared in this action on behalf of that Party or are affiliated 

with a law firm which has appeared on behalf of that Party.

2.9 PARTY: any party to this action, including all of its officers, directors, employees, 

consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel (and their support staff).

2.10 PRODUCING PARTY: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or Discovery 

Material in this action.

2.11 PROFESSIONAL VENDORS: persons or entities that provide litigation support 

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

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

subcontractors.

2.12 PROTECTED MATERIAL: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is designated 

as “Confidential”. 

2.13 RECEIVING PARTY: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material from a 

Producing Party.

3. SCOPE

3.1 The protections conferred by this 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 their 

Counsel that might reveal Protected Material.

4. DURATION

4.1 Even after final disposition 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 or arbitrator’s 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 

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Joint Stipulation for Protective Order

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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 Designating Party’s attention that information or items designated for 

protection do not qualify for protection at all, or do not qualify for the level of protection initially 

asserted, then the Designating 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, Disclosure or Discovery Material that qualifies for 

protection under this Order must be clearly designated as such 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” to each page that 

contains protected material. If only a portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for 

protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making 

appropriate markings in the margins).

(b) for testimony given in deposition or in other pre-trial or trial proceedings, that the Party or 

Non-Party offering or sponsoring the testimony identify on the record, 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 

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Joint Stipulation for Protective Order

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gives the testimony may invoke on the record (before the deposition, hearing, or other proceeding is 

concluded) a right to have up to twenty (20) days 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 Protective Order. 

Alternatively, a Party or Non-Party offering or sponsoring the testimony may specify, at the 

deposition or up to twenty (20) days afterwards if that period is properly invoked, that the entire 

transcript shall be treated as “CONFIDENTIAL”.

Parties shall give the other parties notice if they reasonably expect a deposition, hearing, or 

other proceeding to include Protected Material so that the other parties can ensure that only 

authorized individuals who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit 

A) are present at those proceedings. The use of a document as an exhibit at a deposition shall not in 

any way affect its designation as “CONFIDENTIAL”. 

Transcripts containing Protected Material shall have an obvious legend on the title page that 

the transcript contains Protected Material, and the title page shall be followed by a list of all pages 

(including line numbers as appropriate) that have been designated as Protected Material. The 

Designating Party shall inform the court reporter of these requirements. 

(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 a 

portion or portions of the information or item warrant protection, the Producing Party, to the extent 

practicable, shall identify the protected portion(s). 

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 assure that the material is treated in accordance with the provisions of this 

Order.

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Joint Stipulation for Protective Order

Case No.: 1:15-cv-00557-DAD-EPG

6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS

6.1 Timing of Challenges

Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a designation of confidentiality at any time. Unless a 

prompt challenge to a Designating Party’s confidentiality designation is necessary to avoid 

foreseeable, substantial unfairness, unnecessary economic burdens, or a 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

The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute resolution process by providing written notice 

of each designation it is challenging and describing the basis for each challenge. The parties shall 

attempt to resolve each challenge in good faith and must begin the process by conferring directly (in 

writing or voice-to-voice dialogue). 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 and confer 

process first or establishes that the Designating Party is unwilling to participate in the meet and 

confer process in a timely manner.

6.3 Judicial Intervention

A Challenging Party, after considering the justification offered by the Designating Party, may 

file and serve a motion consistent with this Protective Order 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 the movant has complied with the meet and confer requirements 

imposed by 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.

/ / /

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Joint Stipulation for Protective Order

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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 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, as well as employees of 

said Outside Counsel to whom it is reasonably necessary to disclose the information for this 

litigation;

(b) the officers, directors, and employees of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is 

reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to

Be Bound,” attached hereto as Exhibit A;

(c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is 

reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to 

Be Bound” (Exhibit A);

(d) the Judge, the Court, and its personnel;

(e) court reporters and their staff, professional jury or trial consultants, and Professional 

Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this litigation and who have signed the 

“Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A);

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

necessary and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), 

unless otherwise agreed by the Designating Party or ordered by the Court. Pages of transcribed 

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Joint Stipulation for Protective Order

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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 

Protective Order.

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

7.3 Filing of "CONFIDENTIAL" Information or Items with the Court

Documents containing confidential information shall not be filed with the Court absent: (a) 

consent from the party designating the materials as confidential; or (b) the issuance of a sealing order 

from the Court addressing such confidential information. If the designating party does not consent, 

the party seeking to file documents containing confidential information with the Court shall file a 

motion or an application for an order sealing the document, pursuant to Rule 2.551 of the California 

Rules of Court.

8. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL. 

8.1 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 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 this Order, and (d) 

request such person or persons to execute an acknowledgment and agreement to be bound by this 

protective order.

9. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED IN OTHER 

LITIGATION. 

If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation that compels 

disclosure of any information or items designated in this action as “CONFIDENTIAL”, that Party 

must:

(a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification shall include a 

copy of the subpoena or court order;

(b) promptly notify in writing the party, who caused the subpoena or order, to issue in the 

other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the subpoena or order is subject to this 

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Protective Order. Such notification shall include a copy of this Protective Order; and

(c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be pursued by the 

Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected.1

If the Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with the subpoena or 

court order shall not produce any information designated in this action as “CONFIDENTIAL” before 

a determination by the court from which the subpoena or order issued, unless the Party has obtained 

the Designating Party’s permission. The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense 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.

10. A NON-PARTY’S PROTECTED MATERIAL SOUGHT TO BE PRODUCED IN THIS 

LITIGATION. 

(a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a Non-Party in this 

action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL”. Such information produced by Non-Parties in 

connection with this litigation is protected by the remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing 

in these provisions should be construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional 

protection.

(b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to produce a NonParty’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is subject to an agreement with the 

Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s confidential information, then the Party shall:

1. promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party that some or 

all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement with a Non-Party;

2. promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Protective Order in this 

litigation, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably specific description of the information 

requested; and

 

1

 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 or order issued.

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3. make the information requested available for inspection by the Non-Party.

(c) If the Non-Party fails to object or seek a protective order from this court within 

fourteen (14) days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may 

produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery request. If the NonParty timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall not produce any information in its 

possession or control that is subject to the confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a 

determination by the court.2 Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden 

and expense of seeking protection in this Court of its Protected Material.

11. FINAL DISPOSITION

Unless otherwise ordered or agreed in writing by the Producing Party, within sixty (60) days 

after the final disposition of this action, each Receiving Party must return all Protected Material to the 

Producing Party. Alternatively, the Receiving Party may destroy some or all of the Protected 

Material instead of returning it. 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. 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 60-day deadline that (1) identifies (by category, where appropriate) all the 

Protected Material that was returned or destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not 

retained any copies, abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format 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, 

deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert 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.

/ / /

 

2

The purpose of this provision is to alert the interested parties to the existence of confidentiality 

rights of a Non-Party and to afford the Non-Party an opportunity to protect its confidentiality interests 

in this Court.

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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 entering in to 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 

Protective 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 AND AGREED.

Dated: March 23, 2016 SELVIN WRAITH HALMAN LLP

By: /s/ Nancy J. Strout - signature attached

Gary R. Selvin

Nancy J. Strout

Attorneys for Plaintiff and Counter-Defendants

PRAETORIAN INSURANCE COMPANY

Dated: March 23, 2016 MCCORMICK, BARSTOW, SHEPPARD, WAYTE 

& CARRUTH LLP

By: /s/ James P. Wagoner - signature attached

James P. Wagoner

Attorneys for Defendant

WESTERN MILLING, LLC.

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Order

The Court has reviewed the above stipulation (ECF No. 27) and adopts it except that the terms 

related to judicial intervention outlined in paragraph 6.3 will not be automatic, rather, the Court will 

determine on a case-by-case basis whether judicial intervention is warranted. In order to file a motion 

under this paragraph, counsel must receive permission from the Court following an informal 

telephone conference. A party wishing to schedule such a conference should contact chambers at 

(559) 499-5962 to receive available dates. The Court will schedule the conference as soon as 

possible, taking into consideration the urgency of the issue. Before contacting the Court, the parties 

must meet and confer by speaking with each other in person, over the telephone, or as outlined in 

paragraph 6.2 in an attempt to resolve the dispute independently without Court involvement.

Prior to the conference, the Court will require the parties to submit letter briefs of no more 

than 3 pages in length to chambers for review. Telephonic conferences will not be on the record and 

the Court will not issue a formal ruling at that time. Nevertheless, the Court will attempt to provide 

guidance to the parties to narrow or dispose of the dispute. If no resolution is reached, the Court will 

consider whether the filing of a formal motion is appropriate.

Finally, paragraph 7.3 that outlines the procedures for filing confidential information under 

seal is amended to reflect that the parties shall follow the procedures outlined in this Court’s Local 

Rule 144 rather than Rule 2.551 of the California Rules of Court as currently identified in that 

paragraph.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: March 31, 2016 /s/

UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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