IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA

PANAMA CITY DIVISION

LORINE F. WAITS,

 

Plaintiff,

v.

MICHAEL B. DONLEY, 

SECRETARY,

DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR 

FORCE,

Defendant.

Case No. 5:10CV144/RS/EMT

PRIVACY ACT PROTECTIVE ORDER

Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552a(b)(11) and Rule 26(c) of the Federal Rules of 

Civil Procedure, Defendant’s Consent Motion for Entry of Privacy Act Protective 

Order (Doc. 17) is GRANTED. 

IT IS ORDERED that the terms and conditions of this Protective Order are 

as follows:

1. As used in this Protective Order, the term “confidential information” 

includes any item, collection, or grouping of information about an individual that 

is maintained by an agency, including, but not limited to, her or his education, 

financial transactions, medical history, and criminal or employment history and 
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that contains her or his name, or the identifying number, symbol, or other 

identifying particular assigned to the individual, such as a finger or voice print or a 

photograph which is contained in a group of any records under the control of any 

agency from which information is retrieved by the name of the individual or by 

some identifying number, symbol, or other identifying particular assigned to the 

individual. Such items, collections, or groupings of information may include, but 

are not limited to, documents contained in disciplinary files, official personnel 

folders, evaluation files, grievance files, training files, workers compensation files, 

medical files, promotion files and formal EEO complaint files, to the extent that 

such is relevant to the issues in the instant case.

2. Any and all counsel representing the Attorney General of the United 

States or any counsel from a United States Attorney’s office may designate 

additional information or documents as being subject to this Order by letter to 

counsel for the Plaintiff.

3. Confidential information subject to this order may be used by 

Plaintiff’s counsel, Defendant, and its counsel, solely for the purpose of litigating 

this case including introduction into evidence or use in discovery by the parties. 

Such use shall be consistent with the terms of this order. Except as identified in 

Rule 5.2(a), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the confidential information shall 
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not be published to the general public in any form and may not be used for any 

business or commercial purpose.

4. Confidential information produced by Defendant pursuant to this 

protective order shall be produced in unredacted form to Plaintiff’s counsel. 

Plaintiff’s counsel may share copies of documents subject to the Privacy Act and 

this protective order with Plaintiff or with a third party witness only as necessary 

to further the litigation of this case. If Plaintiff’s counsel determines that any of 

the documents subject to this order must be shared with Plaintiff or a third party 

witness to further the litigation of this case, Plaintiff’s counsel shall be responsible 

for redacting the documents consistent with the requirements of the Privacy Act 

and this order prior to sharing them. Information that shall be redacted includes

all information identified in Rule 5.2(a), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, in 

addition to home addresses and personal telephone numbers.

5. Plaintiff’s counsel’s right of access to the unredacted confidential 

information subject to this Order shall be limited to counsel, and paralegal, 

secretarial and clerical personnel in their employ. The confidential information 

may be shown to the Plaintiff or third party witnesses for deposition and trial 

preparation only in redacted form and only to the extent necessary to further the 

litigation of this case.
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6. Plaintiff’s counsel shall return to Defendant all documents subject to 

this Order within 30 days of a final judgment or dismissal of this action. In the 

alternative, Plaintiff’s counsel may certify in writing that the documents have been 

destroyed. Further, Plaintiff’s counsel must certify in writing that any documents 

shared with the Plaintiff or a third party witness have been returned to Plaintiff’s 

counsel and that the Plaintiff and each witness has certified they have retained no 

copies of, or notes derived from, the documents.

7. If a copy of any document subject to this order is to be introduced at 

trial or made an exhibit to any deposition in this matter, the copy shall be in 

redacted form consistent with Rule 5.2(a), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and 

the party introducing the document shall be responsible for making the redactions, 

unless otherwise directed or approved by the Court.

8. Confidential information shall not be disclosed in any manner or to 

any person inconsistent with the terms of this order.

9. Nothing in this Order precludes disclosure of documents subject to 

this Order to any Judge, Magistrate, or employee of the Court for purposes of this 

action.

10. This Order is without prejudice to the rights of any party to make 

any objection to discovery permitted by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, or 

any statute or other authority. Further, objections based on the Privacy Act, and 
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the right to contest those objections, are preserved for the production or release of 

documents in those instances where the Defendant contends the production or 

release would be an unwarranted invasion of privacy. If necessary to resolve such 

a dispute, the Court will review the documents in camera, and determine their 

status by separate order after briefing by the parties regarding the disputed 

documents.

ORDERED on February 11, 2011

 /S/ Richard Smoak

 RICHARD SMOAK

 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE