Opinion ID: 548
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Limits on Enforceability of Protective Orders

Text: The government makes two arguments for exempting the U.S. Attorney/DOJ from the strictures of the protective orders. It argues, first, that because the U.S. Attorney/DOJ was not a party to the protective orders, it could not be bound or limited by them and was therefore not prevented from turning over information to the IRS. While in general a nonparty is not bound by a protective order, see Gonzales v. City of Castle Rock, 366 F.3d 1093, 1119 (10th Cir.2004) (en banc) (Kelly, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part), reversed on other grounds, 545 U.S. 748, 125 S.Ct. 2796, 162 L.Ed.2d 658 (2005), that rule is inapplicable under the particular facts of this case. To facilitate cooperation between federal government agencies, the protective orders permitted the nonparty U.S. Attorney/DOJ to receive Confidential Information without the need to intervene and seek disclosure through a motion under Fed.R.Civ.P. 24. But the protective orders also contemplated that the U.S. Attorney/DOJ would only receive such documents pursuant to its terms, which prohibited their further dissemination. The U.S. Attorney/DOJ was specifically named in the protective orders and it is clear that its receipt of documents from the SEC, which was unquestionably a party to the protective order and bound by its terms, was permitted only because the U.S. Attorney/DOJ was permitted to act in concert with the SEC in sharing information. Cf. In re Zyprexa Injunction, 474 F.Supp.2d 385, 419 (E.D.N.Y.2007) (stating that under Fed.R.Civ.P. 65(d), persons named in an injunction who act in concert with other parties are considered parties for purpose of its binding effect). Moreover, the government does not argue that the U.S. Attorney/DOJ lacked actual knowledge of the protective orders. The U.S. Attorney/DOJ's receipt of the Confidential Information was therefore conditioned upon its obedience to the plain language of the protective orders forbidding further disclosure, and it was not free to violate them by sharing the Confidential Information with the IRS. The government's other argument relies on its contention that the protective orders did not require that the United States Attorney's Office be given notice of the limited use to which Confidential Information could be put. Aplee Br. at 4. It claims that the intent of the disclosure provision was to exempt the Department of Justice from any restrictions on the use of the Confidential Information. Id. at 16 (emphasis added). The district court clarified in its modification order that the use restrictions in the ... Protective Orders did not ... apply to the U.S. Attorney's Office or the DOJ. Aplt.App. at 367. But this interpretation runs contrary to the plain language of the orders, as we have noted above. We therefore cannot accept the government's argument that would permit it unlimited use of the Confidential Information simply by passing it through the U.S. Attorney/DOJ.