Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-caed-2_09-cv-02420/USCOURTS-caed-2_09-cv-02420-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Nationwide Credit, Inc.
Defendant
James Rucker
Plaintiff

Document Text:

______________________________________________________________________________ 

STIPULATION RE CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT AND PROTECTIVE ORDER 

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ERIC D. HOUSER (SBN 130079) 

CONSTANCE S. TRINH (SBN 252926) 

HOUSER & ALLISON 

A Professional Corporation 

3760 Kilroy Airport Way, Suite 260 

Long Beach, CA 90806 

Telephone: (949) 679-1111 

Facsimile: (949) 679-1112 

Email: ctrinh@houser-law.com 

Attorneys for Defendant, 

NATIONWIDE CREDIT, INC. 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA – SACRAMENTO DIVISION 

JAMES RUCKER, 

 Plaintiff, 

 vs. 

NATIONWIDE CREDIT, INC., 

 Defendant. 

Case No.: 2:09-cv-02420-GEB-EFB 

STIPULATION RE CONFIDENTIALITY 

AGREEMENT AND PROTECTIVE 

ORDER; ORDER 

WHEREAS, the parties to the above-captioned action are engaged in discovery pursuant 

to the rules of this Court; and 

WHEREAS, a great deal of the information sought by the parties or contained in 

documents sought by the parties may be claimed to be of a confidential and/or proprietary 

nature; and 

Case 2:09-cv-02420-GEB-EFB Document 11 Filed 02/25/10 Page 1 of 8
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STIPULATION RE CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT AND PROTECTIVE ORDER 

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WHEREAS, the purpose of this Stipulation of Confidentiality is to permit the parties to 

discover such information and documents pursuant to procedures that are designed to protect the 

confidentiality of that material; 

IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED, as follows: 

1. All documents or portions thereof produced, information disclosed, and testimony 

given, in whatever form transmitted (“Discovery Material”), in this action and all related 

proceedings or appeals (the “Proceedings”) shall be used by the party to whom it is produced 

solely for litigation purposes in connection with the Proceedings and for no other purpose. 

Discovery Materials include that portion of documents prepared by counsel or the parties which 

summarize or reflect the information contained in Discovery Materials, provided that 

a. Nothing in this Order is intended to constitute an agreement regarding the 

 scope of discovery; and 

b. The parties reserve the right to seek to remove certain Discovery Materials 

 from the restrictions of this order. 

2. Pursuant to discovery requests in this case and as may be required by applicable 

law, the parties shall produce documents, notwithstanding the fact that these documents may 

contain private information protected under federal, state or local privacy laws. Any party may 

designate as confidential any information, whether it be contained in a document, electronically 

memorialized, revealed during a deposition, contained in an interrogatory answer, or any other 

form of information, including, but not limited to, personal, personnel, commercial, financial or 

business information or data which the parties in good faith believe should be afforded 

confidential treatment. 

3. Documents in hard copy shall be designated as confidential by placement thereon 

of the word “Confidential.” Testimony that the producing party wishes to be treated as 

confidential shall be designated confidential by the marking of the transcript of the testimony by 

the attorney for the witness. In order to ensure the confidentiality of testimony, all deposition 

testimony described above including exhibits thereto, shall be deemed confidential during the 

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STIPULATION RE CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT AND PROTECTIVE ORDER 

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period from which said testimony is given until 30 days after the date on which the attorney for 

the witness has received the transcript of said testimony. Any testimony not designated 

confidential within 30 days of receipt of said transcript by the attorney for the witness shall not 

be considered confidential. Electronic data shall be designated as confidential by the producing 

party either by a designation in electronic form attached to the information or by a separate 

writing identifying the information that is to be treated as confidential. The inadvertent 

production of a document without a “Confidential” designation shall not be a waiver of such 

designation, provided that the producing party indicates in writing that the document should be 

treated as “Confidential” upon discovering its production without the appropriate designation 

and provides the receiving party with a copy marked “Confidential.” All documents otherwise 

protected under any federal, state or local law as confidential-or subject to any disclosure 

restrictions, irrespective of any confidentiality designation or lack thereof by the parties under 

this Agreement, shall be deemed as “Confidential” information under this Agreement as if such 

documents had been specifically designated “Confidential” as provided herein. 

4. Any Discovery Materials or portion thereof produced in these Proceedings which 

are protected under any federal or state privacy law, or which is either designated as 

“Confidential” pursuant to the foregoing paragraph of this Protective Order or by further order of 

the Court (collectively “Confidential Discovery Material”), shall not be further disclosed, except 

as provided in Paragraphs 5, 6 and 8 below, without the express written consent of the attorneys 

for the Producing Party. 

5. Confidential Discovery Material may be disclosed only to the following: 

a. the attorneys for any party to this action; 

b. partners or employees of such attorneys who are actually involved in the 

 litigation of these Proceedings; 

c. independent experts engaged to assist a party in the litigation of these 

 Proceedings; 

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STIPULATION RE CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT AND PROTECTIVE ORDER 

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d. the judge and personnel of the Court, including any referees appointed by 

 the Court, involved in these proceedings (the “Court”); 

e. a party or an officer or employee thereof actually engaged to assist a party 

 in the litigation of these proceedings; 

f. independent court reporters in the course of a deposition conducted in 

 these Proceedings; 

g. any witness who may be called to testify as a witness at any deposition, 

 hearing or trial in these Proceedings. In addition, Confidential Discovery 

 Material may be disclosed to any authors or recipients of those documents 

 in the ordinary course of business. 

6. Any person described in paragraph 5 (c), (e), or (g) above, prior to being given 

access to any Confidential Discovery Material shall be provided with a copy of this Protective 

Order and shall be requested to execute an affidavit in the form attached hereto as Exhibit A (for 

persons) or B (for entities). All such affidavits shall be kept by the party retaining the 

Independent Expert and shall be made available for inspection by any other party by Order of the 

Court. Confidential Discovery Material shall not be disclosed to any person described in 

paragraph 5 (c), (e), or (g) above who refuses to execute the annexed affidavit. Counsel shall 

promptly notify the parties of any breach of this order, whether intentional or otherwise, and 

shall take such steps as are reasonably necessary to remedy or minimize the damage resulting 

from such breach. 

7. Nothing herein shall be deemed to limit any party's right to challenge a 

designation of Discovery Materials as “Confidential.” If Discovery Material designated as 

“Confidential” becomes the subject of a dispute concerning confidentiality, the party challenging 

such designation (the “Challenging Party”) may submit such Discovery Material to the Court for 

an in camera inspection. The party asserting the confidential nature of the material (the 

“Asserting Party”) shall have the burden to show good cause why the Court should allow 

continuation of the designation to prevent unreasonable annoyance, expense, embarrassment, 

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disadvantage or other prejudice. The Challenging Party shall have an opportunity to make a 

contrary submission. If the Asserting Party shall fail to persuade the Court that such good cause 

exists to continue the confidential designation, the material shall no longer be deemed 

“Confidential” and need not be treated as such by any person. In addition, the parties may agree 

to a modification of any of the provisions hereof and any party in any of the Proceedings may 

apply to the Court at any time for relief from or modification of any of the provisions of this 

Protective Order. 

8. Any person in possession of Confidential Discovery Material shall maintain it in a 

secure manner so as to avoid disclosure of its contents and either (i) shall return it to the 

attorneys for the party which produced it within thirty (30) days following the termination of 

these proceedings or any related proceedings and appeals or (ii) destroy it within thirty (30) days 

of a written request by any party, in which case the party destroying the documents shall so 

certify to the party which produced it. 

9. This Protective Order shall not: (a) prejudice in any way the right of a party to 

object to the production of Discovery Material it considers not subject to discovery; (b) prejudice 

in any way the right of a party to seek determination by the Court as to whether particular 

Discovery Material should be produced; or (c) restrict the producing party's use of its own 

Discovery Materials or Discovery Materials in its possession independent of discovery in these 

Proceedings. 

10. The fact that Discovery Material is designated as “Confidential” shall not govern, 

or prejudice any party, in any way, from introducing, or objecting to the introduction of such 

Discovery Material at any hearing, trial or appeal in these Proceedings. Any party wishing to 

submit confidential information in support of a motion must seek to file papers containing such 

confidential information under seal in accordance with the procedures set forth in Eastern 

District of California Local Rules 140 and 141. 

11. In the event a document which is claimed to be privileged is inadvertently 

produced, the producing party may demand in writing the return of such document from the 

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receiving party. The receiving party shall thereupon return the document to the producing party 

within five (5) business days and take reasonable steps to destroy all copies made thereof. The 

inadvertent production or inspection of a document for which a timely demand for its return is 

made pursuant to this paragraph shall not be deemed a waiver of any privilege. The return of any 

document pursuant to this paragraph shall not constitute a waiver of the right of the receiving 

party to make an application to the Court to compel production of such document. This 

paragraph shall not otherwise affect the right of any party to claim a privilege or the waiver of a 

privilege or an inadvertent disclosure of privileged materials. 

12. The parties hereto anticipate seeking information from nonparties, which may 

include Confidential Discovery Materials. In that event, such nonparties may produce 

Confidential Discovery Materials in accordance with the provisions hereof by executing and 

delivering to the requesting party a copy of the appropriate exhibit affidavit(s) attached this 

Stipulation and Order. 

IT IS HEREBY AGREED: 

Dated: February 23, 2010 HOUSER & ALLISON, APC

By: /s/Constance Trinh 

Constance Trinh 

Attorney for Defendant, 

Nationwide Credit, Inc. 

Dated: February 23, 2010 KROHN & MOSS, LTD

By: /s/Nicholas Bontrager____ 

Nicholas Bontrager 

Attorney for Plaintiff James Rucker 

SO ORDERED.

Dated: February 25, 2010

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______________________________________________________________________________ 

PROOF OF SERVICE 

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EXHIBIT A 

AFFIDAVIT OF _________________________ 

STATE OF ___________________ ) 

) :ss. 

COUNTY OF __________________ 

I, __________________________ , being duly sworn depose and say that: 

1. My address is _____________________________________________________. 

2. My current employer is _____________________________________________, 

whose address is_____________________________________________________. 

3. My current occupation or job description is _____________________________ 

__________________________________________________________________. 

4. I have received a copy of the Confidentiality Stipulation and Protective Order regarding 

discovery in this case on ______________________________. 

5. I have carefully read and I understand the provisions of the Stipulation and I will comply 

with all of its provisions. 

6. I will use the Discovery Materials and the Confidential Discovery Materials (the 

“Materials”) only in connection with this Action and will hold in confidence, and not disclose to 

anyone not qualified under the Stipulation, all Confidential Discovery Materials. 

7. I will return all Materials which came into my possession to the attorneys for the party or 

parties by whom I am employed. 

8. I understand that if I violate the provisions of the Stipulation I will be subject to sanctions 

by this Court and that the parties may assert other remedies against me. I hereby submit to the 

jurisdiction of this Court for those purposes. 

Dated: _____________________ Signed: _____________________________ 

Sworn to and subscribed before me this _____ day of _____________, 200__ 

_______________________________ 

Notary Public 

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______________________________________________________________________________ 

PROOF OF SERVICE 

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EXHIBIT B 

AFFIDAVIT OF _________________________ 

STATE OF ___________________ ) 

) :ss. 

COUNTY OF __________________ ) 

I, __________________________ , being duly sworn depose and say that: 

1. I am the _____________________________ (title) of ____________________________ 

________________________________ (company). 

 

2. The current address of ____________________________ (company) is 

_____________________________________________________. 

3. A copy of the Confidentiality Stipulation and Protective Order regarding discovery in this 

case was received on ______________________________. 

4. I have carefully read and I understand the provisions of the Stipulation and I will comply, 

and undertake to ensure that all in the employ of _____________________ (company) will 

comply with all of its provisions. All in the employ of _______________________ (company) 

who will be shown Confidential Discovery Materials will read and sing a Affidavit in the form 

annexed as Exhibit A to the Stipulation. 

5. We will use the Discovery Materials and the Confidential Discovery Materials (the 

“Materials”) only in connection with this Action and will hold in confidence, and not disclose to 

anyone not qualified under the Stipulation, all Confidential Discovery Materials. 

6. All Materials which came into our possession will be returned to the attorneys for the 

party or parties from whom the Materials were received. 

7. We understand that if we violate the provisions of the Stipulation, we will be subject to 

sanctions by this Court and that the parties may assert other remedies against us. We hereby 

submit to the jurisdiction of this Court for those purposes. 

Dated: _________________________ Signed: _____________________________ 

Sworn to and subscribed before me this _____ day of _____________, 200__ 

_______________________________ 

Notary Public 

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