IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO

EASTERN DIVISION 

JOSEPH HEBERT, individually and on 

behalf of all others similarly situated,

Plaintiffs,

vs.

CHESAPEAKE OPERATING, INC. 

AND CHESAPEAKE 

OPERATING, LLC,

Defendants.

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NO. 2:17-CV-00852-GCS-KAJ

STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER

WHEREAS, the parties in the above-captioned matter agreed that the proceedings in the 

above-captioned matter may involve the discovery and use of confidential, non-public, sensitive, 

and/or proprietary business, employment, tax, financial, and personally identifiable information, 

documents and other materials;

WHEREAS, the parties agreed to produce such documents only on the agreement that 

such “Confidential Information” will be disclosed only as provided herein; 

WHEREAS, the parties agreed to stipulate to protect certain protected documents, data 

(including electronically stored information) and other information, including without limitation, 

metadata (collectively “Documents”), against claims of waiver and inadvertent production in the 

event they are produced during the course of this litigation whether pursuant to a Court Order, a 

parties’ discovery request or informal production;

WHEREAS, the parties wish to comply with discovery deadlines and complete 

discovery as expeditiously as possible, while preserving and without waiving any evidentiary 

protections or privileges applicable to the information contained in the Documents produced, 

including as against third parties and other Federal and State proceedings;
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WHEREAS, the parties agreed that disclosure and discovery activity in this litigation 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;

WHEREAS, 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 

information or items that are entitled under the applicable legal principles to treatment as 

confidential; 

THEREFORE, the parties seek the entry of an Order, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil 

Procedure 26(c), governing the disclosure of documents and information therein pertaining to 

“Confidential Information” on the terms set forth herein. 

IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED THAT:

1) This Protective Order will be entered pursuant to Rule 26(c) of the Federal Rules 

of Civil Procedure.

2) The parties assert and stipulate that documents regardless of the medium or 

manner generated, stored or maintained (including, among other things, testimony, transcripts, or 

tangible things) potentially relevant to this litigation contain or constitute proprietary information 

such as compensation plans, company policies, collective bargaining agreements, company 

procedures, personal information related to Plaintiff (including health information and/or 

medical records), and other sensitive data and information that is not generally available in the 

public domain (“Confidential Information”). “Confidential Information” shall include: any type 

or classification of information, whether originals, copies, or in redacted form, or whether in oral 

deposition testimony (transcript or videotape); interrogatory responses or responses to request for 

admission consisting of business or financial records; documents containing trade secrets or 

proprietary information; personnel records; information about current, past, or prospective 

employees that is of a confidential or private nature, records or information on financial 

information of the parties; and any other writing as defined by the Rules of Evidence, reflecting 
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confidential, commercial or personal information that counsel for any of the parties has in good 

faith designated as confidential. Subject to otherwise proper objections, the Parties agree to 

produce such documents in accordance with this Agreed Protective Order (“Order”).

3) The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only 

Confidential Information, 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, counsel, or others permitted to review and/or access the Confidential 

Information as described herein to or in Court or in other settings that might reveal Confidential 

Information.

4) Any party may mark a document produced as “CONFIDENTIAL” if it deems the 

document contains Confidential Information, and any such designation may later be objected to 

by any other party, following the procedure outlined below. A party shall designate as 

“CONFIDENTIAL” only documents that contain material which that party reasonably and in 

good faith believes is Confidential Information and entitled to protection.

5) No party is obligated to challenge the designation as “CONFIDENTIAL” at the 

time the designation is made, and a failure to do so shall not preclude a subsequent challenge. In 

the event that any party to this litigation disagrees at any stage of these proceedings with the 

designation of any information as Confidential Information, the parties shall first try to resolve 

such dispute in good faith, by exchanging written letters or e-mails on the matter. If the dispute 

cannot be resolved, the party seeking the CONFIDENTIAL designation shall move the Court for 

an order confirming the confidential status of such information. In any such motion, counsel 

must attach all written letters and emails that the Parties exchanged in an attempt to resolve the 

matter without Court intervention. The information shall be treated as Confidential Information 

until such time as the Court rules on the motion.

6) A party disclosing or producing information, documents, or things in this 

litigation, which it believes to be Confidential Information under the standard provided herein 

shall so designate by (1) applying the legend “CONFIDENTIAL” in a conspicuous place on each 
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page of any copies of the document(s) to be supplied to the other parties, or (2) identifying the 

document(s) or information with a reasonable degree of specificity in a letter to all other counsel 

and requesting that such documents or information be treated as Confidential Information within 

the meaning of this Order. Any such designation shall be made at the time of disclosure, or 

reasonably soon thereafter. Nothing in the Order prevents any party from retroactively 

designating documents produced prior to this order as Confidential Information in accordance 

with the terms of this agreement.

7) Confidential Information shall be disclosed only to: the parties; the parties’

counsel of record in this litigation (including attorneys of their firms, and secretarial, clerical, 

and paralegal employees of such counsel); and testifying or consulting expert witnesses 

expressly retained by the parties’ counsel for purposes of this lawsuit. The phrase “testifying or 

consulting expert witnesses” in the prior sentence does not include attorneys, unless such 

attorneys have agreed in writing to be jointly responsible for representation of the party, and the 

party has consented in writing to such an arrangement.

8) Any person to whom the Confidential Information is shown or to whom 

information contained in such materials is to be revealed, shall first be required to agree in 

writing to be bound by the terms of this Order, in the form attached as Exhibit “A” to this Order. 

As to each person to whom any portion of the Confidential Information is revealed or shown 

pursuant to this Order, such information may be used only for purposes of litigation in the abovecaptioned case, and may not be used for any other purpose or litigation, unless approved by an 

order from this Court or otherwise agreed to by the parties.

9) Deposition testimony may be designated as Confidential Information by so 

advising the court reporter at the time of the deposition. Any party may subsequently designate 

all or certain portions of a transcript as Confidential Information within 20 calendar days after 

the final transcript is prepared and circulated by the court reporter.

10) Within sixty (60) calendar days of conclusion of this litigation, whether by 

judgment, settlement, or otherwise, counsel of record and each party, person, and entity that 
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obtained Confidential Information shall assemble it and return it to the party that produced it or 

certify in writing that it has been destroyed. However, materials constituting work product of 

counsel of record may be retained by counsel. No originals, copies, summaries or other 

embodiment of Confidential Information shall be retained by any person or entity to whom

disclosure was made.

11) Before any document marked as CONFIDENTIAL is filed under seal with the 

Clerk, the filing party shall first consult with the party that originally designated the document as 

CONFIDENTIAL to determine whether, with the consent of that party, the document or a 

redacted version of the document may be filed with the Court not under seal. If the nondesignating party anticipates disclosing Confidential Information, or a document marked 

CONFIDENTIAL, in any pleading, motion, or other paper filed with the Court, such party must 

move for leave from the Court to file such CONFIDENTIAL document(s) under seal before 

disclosing it. The Court will authorize the filing of materials under seal only upon express leave 

of Court, only upon a showing of good cause, and only to the extent necessary to preserve 

legitimate confidentiality concerns. This provision does not relieve the filing party of serving the 

document on other parties in accordance with ordinary procedures established by the Civil and 

Local Rules or Court order. In the alternative, if the party that wishes to file the document is the 

same party that first deemed the document CONFIDENTIAL, then the party may de-designate 

the document by filing it with the Court. Unless the Court orders otherwise for compelling 

reasons shown, the official transcript of proceedings in open court will not be sealed.

12) Nothing in the Order shall waive or modify any past, present, or future duty 

regarding confidentiality, if any, which may arise independently, whether by contract or 

otherwise.

13) The parties may, by stipulation, provide for exceptions to this Order and any party 

may seek an order of this Court modifying this Protective Order.

14) Once executed by all parties, the Stipulation shall be treated by the parties as an 

Order of Court until it is formally approved by the Court. 
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STIPULATED TO THIS 22ND DAY OF FEBRUARY 2018.

Dated: February 22, 2018

/s/Michael A. Josephson

Michael A. Josephson

Josephson Dunlap Law Firm

11 Greenway Plaza

Suite 3050

Houston, Texas 77046

mjosephson@mybackwages.com

Texas State Bar No. 24014780

Richard M. Schreiber

Josephson Dunlap Law Firm

11 Greenway Plaza

Suite 3050

Houston, Texas 77046

rschreiber@mybackwages.com

Texas State Bar No. 24056278 

Robert E. DeRose, II

Barkan Meizlish Handelman Goodin DeRose 

Wentz, LLP

250 E. Broad St., 10th Floor

Columbus, Ohio 43215

bderose@barkanmeizlish.com

Bar No. 0055214

ATTORNEYS FOR PLAINTIFFS JOSEPH 

HEBERT, INDIVIDUALLY AND ON 

BEHALF OF ALL OTHERS SIMILARLY 

SITUATED

Respectfully submitted,

/s/ David B. Jordan

David B. Jordan (Attorney-in-Charge)

State Bar No. 24032603

S.D. Tex. No. 40416

djordan@littler.com

Allison C. Williams

State Bar No. 24075108

S.D. Tex. No. 1138493

acwilliams@littler.com

State Bar No. 24087255

S.D. Tex. No. 2330468

pcantrell@littler.com

LITTLER MENDELSON, P.C.

1301 McKinney Street, Suite 1900

Houston, Texas 77010

Alex R. Frondorf

afrondorf@littler.com

LITTLER MENDELSON, P.C.

1100 Superior Avenue, 20th Floor

Cleveland, Ohio 44114

216.696.7600 (Telephone)

216.696.2038 (Facsimile)

ATTORNEYS FOR DEFENDANTS 

CHESAPEAKE OPERATING, INC. 

AND CHESAPEAKE OPERATING, LLC

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Date: February 23, 2018 /s/ Kimberly A. Jolson

KIMBERLY A. JOLSON

UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
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EXHIBIT A

PROTECTIVE ORDER ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND NON-DISCLOSURE 

AGREEMENT

The undersigned hereby acknowledges and agrees to the following: 

I have had the opportunity to review the Protective Order (“Protective Order”) in Joseph 

Hebert, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, v. Chesapeake Operating, Inc. 

and Chesapeake Operating, LLC, Case No. 2:17-CV-00852-GCS-KAJ (“Civil Action”). I 

certify that I am an appropriate person for receipt of Confidential Information under the 

Protective Order. I understand and agree to be bound by the terms of the Protective Order and 

will not disclose any of the Confidential Information provided to me to any third person, except 

as allowed in the Protective Order. I understand and agree that my use of any Confidential 

Information shall only be for purposes relating to the above-titled litigation including the 

prosecution, defense, including but not limited to appeals and writs relating thereto, discovery, 

and/or mediation or settlement of this action, in accordance with the provisions of the Protective 

Order. 

I also agree that upon being informed of the termination or settlement of this action, I will 

destroy or surrender all Confidential Information provided to me to the counsel that provided it 

to me so that it may be returned to the party that it belongs to in accordance with the terms of the 

Protective Order. By signing this Non-Disclosure Agreement, I stipulate to the jurisdiction of 

the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio to enforce the terms of this 

Agreement.

Dated: ________________ _________________________________

[Signature] 

_________________________________

[Print Name]