IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF ALABAMA 

NORTHERN DIVISION 

STEVE ADAMS, 

Plaintiff, 

v. 

MERCHANTS FOODSERVICE, et al., 

Defendants. 

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CIVIL ACTION NO.

2:06-cv-00707-ID-CSC

JOINT MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE ORDER

Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), plaintiff Steve Adams 

and defendant Merchants Foodservice seek the entry of a Protective Order in this 

case. The grounds for this motion are as follows: 

1. Plaintiff Steve Adams’ requests for production and interrogatories 

seek confidential business information and confidential employee personnel files 

and information. 

2. The parties have attached as Exhibit 1 a proposed Protective Order 

and request that the Court enter it to protect the confidential nature of the 

information described therein. 

Based on the foregoing, the parties respectfully request that the Court enter 

the Protective Order attached hereto as Exhibit 1. 

Case 2:06-cv-00707-ID-CSC Document 21 Filed 09/19/2007 Page 1 of 2
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Respectfully submitted, 

ATTORNEY FOR PLAINTIFF: 

/s/ Derrick Blythe 

ATTORNEY FOR DEFENDANT: 

/s/ J. Tobias Dykes 

Derrick Blythe, Esq. 

126 Marshall Street 

Alexander City, Alabama 35010 

J. Tobias Dykes 

CONSTANGY, BROOKS & SMITH, LLC 

Suite 900, One Federal Place 

1819 Fifth Avenue North 

Birmingham, AL 35203 

Case 2:06-cv-00707-ID-CSC Document 21 Filed 09/19/2007 Page 2 of 2
257295.1 

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF ALABAMA 

NORTHERN DIVISION 

STEVE ADAMS, 

Plaintiff, 

v. 

MERCHANTS FOODSERVICE, et al., 

Defendants. 

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CIVIL ACTION NO. 

2:06-cv-00707-ID-CSC 

PROTECTIVE ORDER

The parties having jointly moved, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil 

Procedure 26(c), for an order protecting the confidentiality of documents and other 

information produced or provided during the course of discovery in this action, and 

upon good cause shown: 

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED: 

1. For the purposes of this Protective Order, “protected documents” shall 

include all business materials produced and marked “Confidential” by Defendant 

Merchants Foodservice, Inc. (“Merchant Foodservices” or “defendant”) in 

response to plaintiff’s Interrogatories and Request For Production, except 

documents disclosed to third parties under circumstances such that disclosure was 

not confidential, which shall not constitute “protected documents.” 

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2. For the purposes of this Protective Order, “protected documents” shall 

include, but are not limited to, the confidential employment records or information 

pertaining to Merchants Foodservice. 

3. Unless the parties otherwise agree in writing and subject to further 

Order of this Court, all protected documents produced by Merchants Foodservice 

in response to the other party’s discovery requests shall be retained by counsel and 

the plaintiff in strict confidence as provided by the terms of this Protective Order. 

4. Except as otherwise permitted by the terms of this Protective Order, 

no person shall be permitted to examine or copy protected documents, and counsel 

(including agents, staff, and employees of counsel) shall not communicate (orally 

or in writing) protected information or the contents of protected documents and 

shall not distribute or otherwise disseminate protected information or any of the 

data contained in protected documents to any other person, firm, or corporation. 

5. Protected documents, copies thereof, or protected information may be 

disclosed to a deponent during the course of the taking of his or her deposition only 

if, during the deposition and prior to the disclosure of such protected document or 

information to the deponent, counsel provides the deponent with a copy of this 

Protective Order and advises the deponent that a Protective Order has been entered 

by the Court in this lawsuit for the purpose of protecting the confidentiality of 

Merchants Foodservice’s business information as described in this Order. 

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6. Counsel may use protected documents or information as evidence in 

any pretrial document or hearing in this case, but, if protected documents are 

introduced as evidence, such protected documents shall be filed and retained under 

seal and shall not be made a part of the public record in this action. 

7. Counsel may use protected documents at trial or information 

contained therein as evidence at trial without restriction. 

8. If counsel desires examination of protected documents by a consulting 

expert or an expert witness in preparation for the trial of this case, counsel shall 

obtain a statement executed by such person stating that he or she has read, 

understands, and agrees to be bound by the terms of this Protective Order. 

9. Counsel may also review the document with the plaintiff and/or 

representative of the defendant and prospective witnesses subject to the same 

stipulations regarding confidentiality as outlined in paragraph five. 

10. The confidentiality provisions of this Order shall survive any 

settlement, judgment, or other disposition or conclusion of this action and all 

appeals therefrom; and this Court shall retain continuing jurisdiction in order to 

enforce the terms of this Order. 

11. Counsel, at the conclusion of this action, shall return to counsel for the 

other party all protected documents and materials produced, together with all 

duplicates, copies, reproductions, and reprints thereof (except for those containing 

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any notes, comments, highlighting, or work product-type delineations made by 

counsel or counsel’s staff). 

12. The parties agree to negotiate in good faith any disagreements about 

the confidentiality of the information produced prior to submitting the 

disagreement to the Court. 

Dated this the ____ of ________________, 2007. 

 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT JUDGE 

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