Coleman v. Equifax Information Services, LLC ( 2024 )

1 SEYFARTH SHAW LLP Jennifer R. Brooks (State Bar 2 No. 14480) jrbrooks@seyfarth.com 3 700 Milam Street, Suite 1400 Houston, Texas 77002-2812 4 Telephone: (713) 225-2300 Facsimile: (713) 225-2340 5 CLARK HILL, PLLC 6 Gia N. Marina gmarina@clarkhill.com 7 1700 S. Pavilion Center Drive Suite 500 8 Las Vegas, NV 89135 Telephone: (702) 697-7541 9 Counsel for Defendant 10 Equifax Information Services LLC 11 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 12 FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEVADA 13 MELISSA JEAN COLEMAN, Case No.: 2:24-cv-00398-ART-DJA 14 Plaintiff, STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER 15 v. Complaint Filed: February 27, 2024 16 EQUIFAX INFORMATION SERVICES, Assigned to: District Judge Anne R. Traum 17 LLC, Referred to: Magistrate Judge Daniel J. 18 Defendant. Albregts 19 20 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED by and between Pro Se Plaintiff Melissa Jean Coleman 21 (“Coleman” or “Plaintiff”), and Defendant Equifax Information Services LLC (“Equifax” or 22 “Defendant”), by and through its counsel of record, as follows: 23 WHEREAS, documents and information have been and may be sought, produced or 24 exhibited by and among the parties to this action relating to trade secrets, confidential research, 25 development, technology or other proprietary information belonging to the defendants and/or 26 personal income, credit and other confidential information of Plaintiff. 27 THEREFORE, an Order of this Court protecting such confidential information shall be and 28 hereby is made by this Court on the following terms: 1 1. This Order shall govern the use, handling and disclosure of all documents, 2 testimony or information produced or given in this action which are designated to be subject to 3 this Order in accordance with the terms hereof. 4 2. Any party or non-party producing or filing documents or other materials in this 5 action may designate such materials and the information contained therein subject to this Order by 6 typing or stamping on the front of the document, or on the portion(s) of the document for which 7 confidential treatment is designated, “Confidential.” That designation may be challenged in 8 accordance with Paragraph 14 of this Order. 9 3. Any documents that are to be filed with the Court that contain any information 10 related to or derived from confidential materials shall be filed under seal subject to determination 11 of the Court regarding whether the confidentiality designation will be upheld. Any party filing any 12 document under seal must comply with the filing requirements of local rules regarding any such 13 documents, including but not limited to the filing of a separate motion to seal. See, e.g.,LR 10-5A. 14 Any such motion to seal shall also explain how the confidential material comports with the 15 applicable standard from Kamakana v. City of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172 (9th Cir. 2006) and its 16 progeny. 17 4. To the extent any motions, briefs, pleadings, deposition transcripts, or other papers 18 to be filed with the Court incorporate documents or information subject to this Order, the party 19 filing such papers shall designate such materials, or portions thereof, as “Confidential,” and shall 20 file them with the clerk under seal. However, once a document has any confidential information 21 deleted therefrom, it may be made part of the public record. 22 5. All documents, transcripts, or other materials subject to this Order, and all 23 information derived therefrom (including, but not limited to, all testimony, deposition, or otherwise, 24 that refers, reflects or otherwise discusses any information designated Confidential hereunder), 25 shall not be used, directly or indirectly, by any person, including Plaintiff, and Equifax for 26 commercial or competitive purposes or for any purpose whatsoever other than solely for the 27 preparation and trial of this action in accordance with the provisions of this Order. 28 6. All depositions or portions of depositions taken in this action that contain 1 confidential information may be designated as “Confidential” and thereby obtain the protections 2 accorded other confidential information. The parties shall have twenty-one (21) days from the date 3 a deposition is taken, or fourteen (14) days from the date a deposition transcript is received, 4 whichever date is greater, to serve a notice to all parties designating portions as “Confidential.” 5 Until such time, all deposition testimony shall be treated as confidential information. If no such 6 notice is filed, then the deposition or transcript will become part of the public record. To the extent 7 any designations are made on the record during the deposition, the designating party need not serve 8 a notice re-designating those portions of the transcript as confidential information. Any party may 9 challenge any such designation in accordance with Paragraph 14 of this Order. 10 7. Except with the prior written consent of the individual or entity designating a 11 document or portions of a document as “Confidential,” or pursuant to prior Order after notice, any 12 document, transcript or pleading given “Confidential” treatment under this Order, and any 13 information contained in, or derived from any such materials (including but not limited to, all 14 deposition testimony that refers, reflects or otherwise discusses any information designated 15 confidential hereunder) may not be disclosed other than in accordance with this Order and may not 16 be disclosed to any person other than: (a) the Court and its officers; (b) parties to this litigation; (c) 17 counsel for the parties, whether retained counsel or in-house counsel and employees of counsel 18 assigned to assist such counsel in the preparation of this litigation; (d) fact witnesses subject to a 19 proffer to the Court or a stipulation of the parties that such witnesses need to know such 20 information; (e) present or former employees of the producing party in connection with their 21 depositions in this action (provided that no former employees shall be shown documents prepared 22 after the date of his or her departure); and (f) experts specifically retained as consultants or expert 23 witnesses in connection with this litigation, or employees of said expert witness that are assigned 24 to assist the expert witness. 25 8. Documents produced pursuant to this Order shall not be made available to any 26 person designated in Subparagraph 7 (d), (e), or (f) unless he or she shall have first read this Order, 27 agreed to be bound by its terms, and signed the attached Declaration of Compliance. 28 9. Third parties who are the subject of discovery requests, subpoenas or depositions in 1 this case may take advantage of the provisions of this Protective Order by providing the parties 2 with written notice that they intend to comply with and be bound by the terms of this Protective 3 Order. 4 10. All persons receiving any or all documents produced pursuant to this Order shall be 5 advised of their confidential nature. All persons to whom confidential information and/or 6 documents are disclosed are hereby enjoined from disclosing same to any person except as provided 7 herein and are further enjoined from using same except in the preparation for and trial of the above- 8 captioned action between the named parties thereto. No person receiving or reviewing such 9 confidential documents, information or transcript shall disseminate or disclose them to any person 10 other than those described above in Paragraph 6 and for the purposes specified, and in no event, 11 shall such person make any other use of such document or transcript. 12 11. Nothing in this Order shall prevent a party from using at trial any information or 13 materials designated “Confidential.” 14 12. This Order has been agreed to by the parties to facilitate discovery and the 15 production of relevant evidence in this action. Neither the entry of this Order, nor the designation 16 of any information, document, or the like as “Confidential,” nor the failure to make such 17 designation, shall constitute evidence with respect to any issue in this action. 18 13. Inadvertent failure to designate any document, transcript, or other materials 19 “Confidential” will not constitute a waiver of an otherwise valid claim of confidentiality pursuant 20 to this Order, so long as a claim of confidentiality is promptly asserted after discovery of the 21 inadvertent failure. If a party designates a document as “Confidential” after it was initially 22 produced, the receiving party, on notification of the designation, must make a reasonable effort to 23 assure that the document is treated in accordance with the provisions of this Order, and upon request 24 from the producing party certify that the designated documents have been maintained as 25 confidential information. 26 14. If any party objects to any designation of any materials as “Confidential,” the parties 27 shall attempt in good faith to resolve such objection by agreement. If the parties cannot resolve 28 their objections by agreement, the party objecting to the designation may seek the assistance of the 1 Court. A party shall have thirty (30) days from the time a “Confidential” designation is made to 2 challenge the propriety of the designation. Until an objection has been resolved by agreement of 3 counsel or by order of the Court, the materials shall be treated as Confidential and subject to this 4 Order. The designating party shall have the burden of proving that any document designated as 5 CONFIDENTIAL is entitled to such protection. 6 15. Within sixty (60) days after the final termination of this litigation, all documents, 7 transcripts, or other materials afforded confidential treatment pursuant to this Order, including any 8 extracts, summaries or compilations taken therefrom, but excluding any materials which in the good 9 faith judgment of counsel are work product materials, shall be returned to the Producing Party. In 10 lieu of return, the parties may agree to destroy the documents, to the extent practicable. Nothing 11 herein shall affect or restrict the rights of any party with respect to its own documents or to the 12 information obtained or developed independently of documents, transcripts and materials afforded 13 confidential treatment pursuant to this Order. 14 16. The Court retains the right to allow disclosure of any subject covered by this 15 stipulation or to modify this stipulation at any time in the interest of justice. 16 IT IS SO STIPULATED. 17 DATED: August 14, 2024 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 PRO SE PLAINTIFF SEYFARTH SHAW LLP 2 3 By: _/s/Melissa Jean Coleman By: _/s/ Jennifer R. Brooks Melissa Jean Coleman, Pro Se Jennifer R. Brooks, Bar No. 14480 4 241 Rusty Plank Avenue SEYFARTH SHAW LLP Las Vegas, NV 89148 2323 Ross Avenue 5 Suite 1660 Telephone: (480) 524-7433 Dallas, Texas 75201 6 Telephone: (469) 608-6730 Pro Se Plaintiff Email: jrbrooks @ seyfarth.com Gia N. Marina 8 CLARK HILL, PLLC 1700 S. Pavilion Center Drive 9 Suite 500 Las Vegas, NV 89135 10 Telephone: (702) 697-7541 Email: gmarina@clarkhill.com Counsel for Defendant 12 Equifax Information Services LLC 13 14 || The parties have filed this stipulation twice. (ECF Nos. 11, 12). The Court thus GRANTS the 15 instant stipulation (ECF No. 12) and DENIES the previously-filed one as MOOT (ECF No. 11). 1¢ || IL IS SO ORDERED. O . arEp: 8/15/2024 >