IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO 

Civil Action No. 11-cv-1163-REB-CBS 

ANTHONY BARNES, 

Plaintiff, 

v. 

LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS, LLC., 

 Defendant. 

STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 

 Upon a showing of good cause in support of the entry of a protective order to 

protect the discovery and dissemination of confidential information or information which 

will improperly annoy, embarrass, or oppress any party, witness, or person providing 

discovery in this case, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED: 

 1. This Protective Order shall apply to all documents, materials, and 

information, including without limitation, documents produced, answers to 

interrogatories, responses to requests for admission, deposition testimony, and other 

information disclosed pursuant to the disclosure or discovery duties created by the 

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. 

 2. As used in this Protective Order, the term “document” shall include, 

without limitation, any electronic or hard copy emails, writings, drawings, graphs, charts, 

photographs, phone records, and other data compilations from which information can be 

obtained. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 34(a). A draft or non-identical copy is a separate 

document within the meaning of this term. 

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 3. Information designated “CONFIDENTIAL” shall be: information that is 

confidential and implicates common law or statutory privacy interests of current or 

former employees, representatives, or agents of Defendant, Level 3 Communications, 

LLC ("Defendant") or any of the subsidiaries or affiliates of Defendant, including but not 

limited to: personnel information concerning Plaintiff and employees of Defendant; 

information concerning private personal matters not generally known to the public, such 

as, but not limited to, tax returns, medical information and information from previous and 

subsequent employers of Plaintiff; non-party employee names, addresses, social 

security numbers; non-parties' employment and compensation histories; non-party 

employee performance evaluations and termination files; staffing composition and 

plans; information containing industry trade secrets; Defendant's proprietary or nonpublic business information; information relating to Defendant's investment, business 

and operational strategies, plans and corporate structure, economic and market 

analyses, marketing strategies, client/project lists, financial projections and cost 

information treated or considered by Defendant, by policy or practice, to be confidential 

or proprietary; and Defendant's trade secret information. CONFIDENTIAL information 

shall not be disclosed or used for any purpose except in the preparation and trial of this 

case (including any appeal) in accordance with this Protective Order. 

 4. Information shall be designated as CONFIDENTIAL by counsel for the 

designating party only after review of the information, who will certify that the 

designation is based on a good faith belief that the information is confidential or 

otherwise entitled to protection. 

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 5. CONFIDENTIAL documents, materials, and/or information (collectively 

“CONFIDENTIAL information”) shall not, without the consent of the party producing it 

and the consent of the party claiming confidentiality (if that party is different from the 

producing party) or further Order of the Court, be given, shown, disclosed or made 

available in any way to any person other than: 

 (a) attorneys actively working on this case; 

 (b) persons regularly employed or associated with the attorneys 

actively working on the case whose assistance is required by said attorneys in the 

preparation for trial, at trial, or at other proceedings in this case; 

 (c) the parties, including designated representatives for Defendant; 

 (d) expert witnesses and consultants retained in connection with this 

proceeding, to the extent such disclosure is necessary for depositions, preparation, trial 

or other proceedings in this case; 

 (e) the Court and its employees (“Court Personnel”); 

 (f) stenographic reporters who are engaged in proceedings 

necessarily incident to the conduct of this action; 

 (g) witnesses in the course of deposition or trial testimony where 

counsel has a reasonable and good faith belief that examination with respect to the 

document is necessary in legitimate discovery or trial purposes in this case, and any 

person who is being prepared to testify where counsel has a reasonable and good faith 

belief that such person will be a witness in this action and that his examination with 

respect to the document is necessary in connection with such testimony; and 

 (h) other persons by written agreement of all the parties. 

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 6. Prior to disclosing any CONFIDENTIAL information to any person listed 

above (other than the individuals listed in paragraphs 4(a) through 4(f)), counsel shall 

provide such person with a copy of this Protective Order and obtain from such person a 

written acknowledgment (in the form attached hereto as Exhibit A) stating that he or she 

has read this Protective Order and agrees to be bound by its provisions. All such 

acknowledgments shall be retained by counsel and shall be subject to in camera review 

by the Court if good cause for review is demonstrated by opposing counsel. 

 7. Documents are designated as CONFIDENTIAL by placing or affixing on 

them (in a manner that will not interfere with their legibility) the following or other 

appropriate notice: “CONFIDENTIAL.” 

 8. Whenever a deposition involves the disclosure of CONFIDENTIAL 

information, the deposition or portions thereof shall be designated as CONFIDENTIAL 

and shall be subject to the provisions of this Protective Order. Such designation shall 

be made on the record during the deposition whenever possible, but a party may 

designate portions of depositions as CONFIDENTIAL after transcription, provided 

written notice of the designation is promptly given to all counsel of record within thirty 

(30) days after notice by the court reporter of the completion of the transcript. 

 9. Production of any document or materials without a designation of 

confidentiality or an incorrect designation will not be deemed to waive a later claim as to 

its proper designation nor will it prevent the producing party from designating said 

documents or material "CONFIDENTIAL" at a later date. 

 10. In the event that a non-party or another party produces documents that a 

party wishes in good faith to designate as CONFIDENTIAL, the party wishing to make 

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that designation must do so within fifteen (15) business days of receipt, and identify the 

CONFIDENTIAL document(s) or CONFIDENTIAL information by bates label or, where 

not bates labeled by document title and page number(s). The non-designating parties 

shall thereafter mark the document or information in the manner requested by the 

designating party and thereafter treat the document or information in accordance with 

such marking. However, any use by the non-designating parties made before a postproduction designation will not be a violation of this Protective Order, and the postproduction designation will apply prospectively only and will not apply to any disclosure 

made prior to the designation, so long at the non-designating party notifies the 

designating party of the prior disclosure and otherwise comes into conformance with the 

new designation. 

 11. A party may object to the designation of particular CONFIDENTIAL 

information by giving written notice to the party designating the disputed information. 

The written notice shall identify the information to which the objection is made. If the 

parties cannot resolve the objection within ten (10) business days after the time the 

notice is received, it shall be the obligation of the party designating the information as 

CONFIDENTIAL to file an appropriate motion within five (5) business days after the 

conclusion of that 10-business day window requesting that the Court determine whether 

the disputed information should be subject to the terms of this Protective Order. Once 

such a motion is filed, the disputed information shall be treated as CONFIDENTIAL 

under the terms of this Protective Order until the Court rules on the motion. If the 

designating party fails to file such a motion within the prescribed time, the disputed 

information shall lose its designation as CONFIDENTIAL and shall not thereafter be 

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treated as CONFIDENTIAL in accordance with this Protective Order. In connection with 

a motion filed under this provision, the party designating the information as 

CONFIDENTIAL shall bear the burden of establishing that good cause exists for the 

disputed information to be treated as CONFIDENTIAL. 

 12. At the conclusion of this case, and any appeal, unless other arrangements 

are agreed upon, each document and all copies thereof which have been designated as 

CONFIDENTIAL shall be returned to the party that designated it CONFIDENTIAL, or the 

parties may elect to destroy CONFIDENTIAL documents. Where the parties agree to 

return CONFIDENTIAL documents, the returning party shall provide all parties a written 

certification of counsel confirming that all CONFIDENTIAL documents have been 

returned. Where the parties agree to destroy CONFIDENTIAL documents, the 

destroying party shall provide all parties with a written certification of counsel confirming 

the destruction of all CONFIDENTIAL documents. This provision shall not preclude the 

parties from maintaining for their records a secured electronic copy of any document 

that is designated as CONFIDENTIAL in this case. 

 13. This Protective Order may be modified by the Court at any time for good 

cause shown following notice to all parties and an opportunity for them to be heard. 

 ORDERED this 28th day of November, 2011. 

 BY THE COURT: 

 s/Craig B. Shaffer 

 United States Magistrate Judge 

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STIPULATED TO AND APPROVED AS TO FORM this 18th day of November, 2011. 

s/ John R. Olsen 

John R. Olsen 

The Olsen Firm 

8362 Greenwood Drive 

Niwot, Colorado 80503 

Telephone: 303-652-1133 

E-mail: olsenbrown@comcast.net 

ATTORNEYS FOR PLAINTIFF 

s/ Sarah M. Stettner 

Lisa Hogan, Esq. 

Sarah M. Stettner, Esq. 

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP 

410 17th Street, Suite 2200 

Denver, CO 80202 

Telephone: (303) 223-1100 

E-mail: lhogan@bhfs.com; 

sstettner@bhfs.com 

ATTORNEYS FOR DEFENDANT

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EXHIBIT A 

AGREEMENT CONCERNING CONFIDENTIAL MATERIAL SUBJECT TO THE 

STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 

 I, the undersigned, hereby acknowledge I have read the Stipulated Protective 

Order (the "Order") in Barnes v. Level 3 Communications, LLC, Civil Action 11-cv-1163-

REB-CBS, United States District Court for the District of Colorado. In consideration of 

being permitted to review confidential information, as described in the Order, I agree to 

comply, and be bound by, the terms set out therein. 

 I hereby submit myself to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for 

the District of Colorado for the purpose of enforcement of the Order. 

 

_________________________________________ 

Full Name, Title 

_______________________ _________ 

Signature Date 

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