Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-caed-2_15-cv-01280/USCOURTS-caed-2_15-cv-01280-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
AGK Sierra de Montserrat, L.P.
Plaintiff
Comerica Bank
Defendant

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992784.1/22418.05004 1 2:15-cv-01280-KJM-DAD

PROTECTIVE ORDER

Timothy J. Gorry, Esq. (State Bar No. 143797) 

Jackie M. Joseph, Esq. (State Bar No. 151102) THEODORA ORINGHER PC 

1840 Century Park East, Suite 500 

Los Angeles, California 90067-2120 

Telephone: (310) 557-2009 

Facsimile: (310) 551-0283 

Attorneys for Plaintiff 

AGK Sierra de Montserrat, L.P. 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA - SACRAMENTO DIVISION 

AGK SIERRA de MONTSERRAT, 

L.P., a Delaware limited partnership, 

Plaintiff, 

vs. 

COMERICA BANK, a Texas 

corporation; and DOES 1 through 10, 

inclusive, 

Defendants. 

Case No. 2:15-cv-01280-KJM-AC

Honorable Kimberly J. Mueller 

ORDER TO PROTECT 

CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION 

Complaint Filed: April 29, 2015 

Trial Date: July 17, 2017 

Case 2:15-cv-01280-DAD-DB Document 14 Filed 11/24/15 Page 1 of 7
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992784.1/22418.05004 2 2:15-cv-01280-KJM-DAD

PROTECTIVE ORDER

Pursuant to the Stipulation filed by Plaintiff AGK Sierra de Montserrat, LP 

(“AGK”), on the one hand, and Defendant Comerica Bank (“Comerica”), on the other, 

the parties agree to a discovery protective order limiting the use and dissemination of 

certain information and materials designated by the parties as “Confidential 

Information” (as defined below). Accordingly, this Protective Order (“Order”) shall 

govern the handling of documents (as defined below), responses to interrogatories, 

depositions, exhibits and all other information exchanged by the parties in this action 

through initial disclosures or discovery, or provided by or obtained from non-parties in 

this action. 

The Court finds that good cause exists to enter this Order because the parties may 

obtain through initial disclosures or discovery certain documents and information (e.g., 

financial records, etc.), which, if disclosed to the public, would unnecessarily invade 

the protectable interests of the parties and nonparties who will potentially produce 

documents or provide testimony in this action, including, without limitation, such 

parties’ protectable interests in maintaining the confidentiality of trades secrets, internal 

policies and procedures, and other proprietary business and financial information. 

Moreover, there is no valid reason any of the parties to this action should be allowed to, 

or need to, release such information to the public. Thus, this information requires 

special protection from disclosure. 

As set forth below in Section 11, this Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle 

the parties to file confidential information under seal; Local Rules 141 and 141.1 set 

forth the procedures that must be followed and the standards that will be applied when a 

party seeks permission from the court to file material under seal. 

 1. Applicability of This Protective Order. All testimony, information, 

documents and things filed with the Court or produced by any party or nonparty in 

discovery in this action shall be governed by this Order. This Order is entered solely 

for the purpose of facilitating the exchange of material without unnecessarily involving 

the Court in the process. 

Case 2:15-cv-01280-DAD-DB Document 14 Filed 11/24/15 Page 2 of 7
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992784.1/22418.05004 3 2:15-cv-01280-KJM-DAD

PROTECTIVE ORDER

 2. Pretrial Order Only. This Order is strictly a pretrial order and does not 

govern the use or disclosure of information and materials at the trial in this action. 

 3. Confidential Information. “Confidential Information” shall mean 

information and materials related to the businesses of the parties or third parties that are 

unique to the Designating Party (as defined below), that is, not already well known or 

reasonably discoverable upon research by a person outside of the such Designating 

Party, including, without limitation, trade secrets as defined by California Civil Code 

Section 3426, et seq., and such Designating Party’s sales and financial information, 

compensation information, personnel files, marketing plans, business plans and 

strategies, research information, internal policies and procedures, systems, and 

methods, contracts and other forms, and all information and materials generally 

regarded as confidential in the industry or business in which the Designating Party is 

engaged. 

 4. Confidential Information Designation. A party or nonparty may 

designate as “confidential” any document, discovery response, material, item, 

deposition testimony, or information that is otherwise produced through initial 

disclosures or in discovery in this action and which contains trade secret or commercial 

information, including proprietary business or financial information, nonpublic 

contracts, or sales information (“Confidential Material”). For purposes of this Order, 

the party or nonparty designating testimony, information, things or documents as 

Confidential Material is defined as the “Designating Party.” The designation of 

Confidential Material shall be made only when counsel of record believes in good faith 

that the designated material actually qualifies for such protection and shall not be made: 

(a) to impose burden or delay on an opposing party; or (b) for any tactical or other 

advantage in litigation. 

 5. Procedure for Designating and Marking Confidential Material. 

Confidential Material shall be designated and marked as follows: 

///// 

Case 2:15-cv-01280-DAD-DB Document 14 Filed 11/24/15 Page 3 of 7
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992784.1/22418.05004 4 2:15-cv-01280-KJM-DAD

PROTECTIVE ORDER

 a. A document is to be designated as Confidential Material by stamping or 

writing on it the following legend, or an equivalent thereof: “CONFIDENTIAL – 

SUBJECT TO PROTECTIVE ORDER.” The legend shall be placed on the first page 

of the document and on each page that the Designating Party claims to contain 

Confidential Material. 

 b. Information or material produced in an electronic medium (e.g., CD, DVD 

or tape) is to be designated as Confidential Material by marking or labeling the medium 

container with the legend specified in subsection 5(a) above. If any person or entity 

who receives such a designated electronic medium prints or otherwise transfers to 

another medium any of the information contained on the electronic medium, any 

resulting document or other medium shall be marked by that person or entity as 

Confidential Material in accordance with subsection 5(a), above, or this subsection 

5(b). 

 c. A physical item or exhibit is to be designated as Confidential Material by 

affixing to it a label with the legend specified in section 5(a), above. 

 d. A discovery response is to be designated as Confidential Material by 

placing, on the first page of the set of responses and on each page that contains 

information that the Designating Party claims to be Confidential Material, the legend 

specified in subsection 5(a), above, and specifically denoting in the document which 

response or responses the party deems to be “Confidential Material” subject to this 

Order. 

 e. Whenever a deposition involves a disclosure of materials or information 

that any party asserts should be designated as Confidential Material, the deposition 

shall be designated in accordance with this Protective Order. Such designation shall be 

made at the deposition and/or within ten (10) days after the Designating Party has 

received the written copy of the deposition transcript from the court reporter. All 

Confidential Material produced at a deposition will be separately bound from the nonconfidential portions of that deposition. 

Case 2:15-cv-01280-DAD-DB Document 14 Filed 11/24/15 Page 4 of 7
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992784.1/22418.05004 5 2:15-cv-01280-KJM-DAD

PROTECTIVE ORDER

 6. Inadvertent Failure to Designate By Producing Party. A Designating 

Party that inadvertently fails to mark or designate an item as Confidential Material shall 

have five (5) court days after learning of the inadvertent failure or mistake to correct its 

failure or mistake. The correction shall be made in writing and shall be accompanied 

by substitute copies of each item, appropriately marked as Confidential Material. 

Within two (2) court days of receipt of the substitute copies, the receiving party shall 

return or destroy the previously unmarked or incorrectly marked items and all copies 

thereof. 

 7. Challenging Designation of Materials as Confidential. If any party 

believes that items have been improperly designated as Confidential Material, the party 

may challenge the other party’s designation by serving a written objection upon the 

Designating Party. Within five (5) court days after receiving any written objection, the 

Designating Party shall notify the challenging party in writing of the bases for the 

asserted designation. The parties must then meet and confer in an effort to resolve their 

dispute without Court intervention. Nothing in this Order shall prevent any party, after 

taking the aforementioned steps, from raising the issue of an improper designation with 

the Court by way of an appropriate motion. In the event that an issue concerning the 

designation of Confidential Material is brought to the Court, the disputed material shall 

be treated as Confidential Material until such time as the Court renders a decision on 

such dispute. 

 8. Inadvertent Disclosure of Confidential Materials. In the event of any 

accidental or inadvertent disclosure of privileged documents or information, other than 

in a manner authorized by this Order, counsel for the Receiving Party shall comply with 

the obligations set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). Compliance 

with the foregoing shall not prevent the Designating Party from seeking further relief 

from this Court or any other appropriate court. Any person violating this Order may be 

subject to appropriate sanctions imposed by the Court. 

///// 

Case 2:15-cv-01280-DAD-DB Document 14 Filed 11/24/15 Page 5 of 7
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992784.1/22418.05004 6 2:15-cv-01280-KJM-DAD

PROTECTIVE ORDER

 9. Protecting Confidential Materials. Each person who receives any 

Confidential Material shall exercise due and proper care, in connection with the storage, 

custody, use, and dissemination of such material, to avoid any intentional or inadvertent 

disclosure to persons to whom disclosure is not permitted under this Order. 

 10. Use of Information Produced Pursuant to This Order. Confidential 

Material shall be used by the party or parties to whom the information is produced 

solely for the purpose of litigating the present lawsuit between the parties, including 

appeals, unless otherwise agreed in writing by the Designating Party or so ordered by a 

court. Confidential Material shall not be made available to any person or entity except 

as authorized under this Order. However, nothing in this Order limits a Designating 

Party from showing its own Confidential Material to whomever the Designating Party 

may deem appropriate or using its own Confidential Material for any purpose. 

Furthermore, nothing in this Order limits a party’s ability to show items designated by 

another party as Confidential Material to the Designating Party, including any present 

officer, director, employee, or representative thereof. 

 Confidential Material may be disseminated only to the following persons, all of 

whom shall be bound by this Protective Order: 

 a. Counsel of record and in-house counsel working on this action on behalf 

of any party and counsel’s partners and associates; 

 b. Named parties to the action, and those employees, agents and consultants 

of those parties necessary for the prosecution or defense of this action; 

 c. Expert witnesses and consultants retained by counsel of record who are 

directly participating in this action; and 

 d. Paralegals and secretarial and clerical employees of counsel of record who 

are directly participating in the action, including necessary secretarial, clerical, and 

litigation support or copy service personnel assisting such counsel. 

 Prior to providing any protected information to any person, including any use in 

the course of discovery (depositions, requests for admissions of authenticity of 

Case 2:15-cv-01280-DAD-DB Document 14 Filed 11/24/15 Page 6 of 7
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992784.1/22418.05004 7 2:15-cv-01280-KJM-DAD

PROTECTIVE ORDER

documents, etc.) counsel of record shall provide such person with a copy of this Order 

and such person shall have to agree to be bound hereunder prior to such disclosure or 

use. 

 11. Submitting Confidential Materials to the Court. If any Confidential 

Material is to be filed with the Court, the party seeking to file such material shall 

comply with Local Rules 141 and 141.1 of this Court prior to filing such material with 

the Court. The parties agree that they shall avoid, as much as possible, the inclusion of 

Confidential Material in briefs and other documents filed with the Court so as to 

minimize the need to seal records or otherwise burden the Court. 

 12. Return of Confidential Material. Upon termination of this action and the 

expiration of any rights of appeal, counsel for the parties shall, within thirty (30) days, 

assemble and return to the producing parties all Confidential Material and all copies of 

the same, or shall certify the destruction thereof to the supplying parties; provided, 

however, that outside counsel may retain one copy of each document solely for the 

purpose of reference in the event of any dispute concerning the use or disclosure of 

information so designated and may retain copies of such materials to the extent that 

they contain, include, or affect attorney work product of the receiving attorney. 

 13. Modification of Protective Order. This Order is without prejudice to the 

right of AGK and Comerica to seek modification thereof. 

 IT IS SO ORDERED. 

DATED: November 23, 2015. 

Case 2:15-cv-01280-DAD-DB Document 14 Filed 11/24/15 Page 7 of 7