Hartford Underwriters Insurance Company v. Scotsman Group, LLC
Hartford Underwriters Insurance Company v. Scotsman Group, LLC
Trial Court Opinion
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 11 SOUTHERN DIVISION 12 HARTFORD UNDERWRITERS ) CASE NO. 8:21-CV-00029-DOC-JDE 13 INSURANCE COMPANY, a foreign ) corporation individually and as ) PROTECTIVE ORDER 14 subrogee of its insured, Air Treatment ) 15 Corporation ) ) Plaintiffs, ) 16 ) v. ) 17 ) SCOTSMAN GROUP, LLC, a ) 18 Delaware limited liability company; ) INGERSOLL RAND, INC., a ) 19 Delaware corporation; REGAL ) BELOIT COPRORATION, a ) 20 Wisconsin corporation; KATOM ) RESTAURANT SUPPLY, INC. a ) 21 Tennessee corporation; and DOES 1 to ) 10, inclusive, ) 22 ) Defendants. ) 23 ) 24
25 26 Based on the parties’ Stipulation (Dkt. 33), and for good cause shown, the Court 27 hereby finds and orders as follows. 28 2 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, 3 proprietary or private information for which special protection from public disclosure 4 and from use for any purpose other than pursuing this litigation may be warranted. 5 Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the Court to enter the 6 following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this Order does 7 not confer blanket protections on all disclosures or responses to discovery and that 8 the protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited 9 information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable 10 legal principles. 11 2. GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT 12 This action involves proprietary information regarding the Ice Machine described in 13 Plaintiffs’ complaint (and its component parts), including trade secrets, customer and 14 pricing lists, sourcing information, suppliers, product specifications, proprietary product 15 and component drawings, product bills of material, and other valuable research, 16 development, commercial, technical, and other proprietary information for which special 17 protection from public disclosure and from use for any purpose other than prosecution of 18 this action is warranted. Certain of the components of the Ice Machine are manufactured 19 and assembled by defendants as Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM), such that those 20 items are made exclusively for a single customer and the underlying product specifications, 21 design information, and engineering drawings, all of which have significant economic 22 value, are not available to the public. Without protections against making that information 23 available in the pre-trial and discovery phase to the public, which would include 24 defendants’ respective industry competitors, defendants are likely to suffer economic harm. 25 Such confidential and proprietary materials and information also consists of, among other 26 things, confidential business information, information regarding confidential business 27 practices, or other confidential research, development, or commercial information, which 28 2 2 facilitate the prompt resolution of disputes over confidentiality of discovery materials, to 3 adequately protect information the parties are entitled to keep confidential, to ensure that 4 the parties are permitted reasonably necessary uses of such material in preparation for trial, 5 to address their handling at the end of the litigation, and serve the ends of justice, a 6 protective order for such information is justified in this matter. It is the intent of the parties 7 that information will not be designated as confidential for tactical reasons and that nothing 8 so designated without a good faith belief that it has been maintained in a confidential, non- 9 public manner, and there is good cause why it should not be part of the public record of 10 this case in the pre-trial phase. 11 3. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF UNDER SEAL FILING PROCEDURE 12 The parties further acknowledge, as set forth in Section 14.3, below, that this 13 Stipulated Protective Order does not entitle them to file confidential information 14 under seal; Local Civil Rule 79-5 sets forth the procedures that must be followed and 15 the standards that will be applied when a party seeks permission from the court to file 16 material under seal. There is a strong presumption that the public has a right of 17 access to judicial proceedings and records in civil cases. In connection with non- 18 dispositive motions, good cause must be shown to support a filing under seal. See 19 Kamakana v. City and County of Honolulu,
447 F.3d 1172, 1176(9th Cir. 2006), 20 Phillips v. Gen. Motors Corp.,
307 F.3d 1206, 1210-11 (9th Cir. 2002), Makar- 21 Welbon v. Sony Electrics, Inc.,
187 F.R.D. 576, 577(E.D. Wis. 1999) (even 22 stipulated protective orders require good cause showing), and a specific showing of 23 good cause or compelling reasons with proper evidentiary support and legal 24 justification, must be made with respect to Protected Material that a party seeks to 25 file under seal. The parties’ mere designation of Disclosure or Discovery Material as 26 CONFIDENTIAL does not— without the submission of competent evidence by 27 28 3 2 confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable—constitute good cause. 3 Further, if a party requests sealing related to a dispositive motion or trial, then 4 compelling reasons, not only good cause, for the sealing must be shown, and the 5 relief sought shall be narrowly tailored to serve the specific interest to be protected. 6 See Pintos v. Pacific Creditors Ass’n.,
605 F.3d 665, 677-79(9th Cir. 2010). For each 7 item or type of information, document, or thing sought to be filed or introduced 8 under seal, the party seeking protection must articulate compelling reasons, 9 supported by specific facts and legal justification, for the requested sealing order. 10 Again, competent evidence supporting the application to file documents under seal 11 must be provided by declaration. 12 Any document that is not confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable in 13 its entirety will not be filed under seal if the confidential portions can be redacted. If 14 documents can be redacted, then a redacted version for public viewing, omitting only 15 the confidential, privileged, or otherwise protectable portions of the document, shall 16 be filed. Any application that seeks to file documents under seal in their entirety 17 should include an explanation of why redaction is not feasible. 18 4. DEFINITIONS 19 4.1 Action: Hartford Underwriters Insurance Company v. Scotsman Group, 20 et al. United States District Court Case No. 8:21-cv-00029-DOC-JDE. 21 4.2 Challenging Party: a Party or Non-Party that challenges the designation 22 of information or items under this Order. 23 4.3 “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items: information (regardless of 24 how it is generated, stored or maintained) or tangible things that qualify for 25 protection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c), and as specified above in the 26 Good Cause Statement. 27 28 4 2 their support staff). 3 4.5 Designating Party: a Party or Non-Party that designates information or 4 items that it produces in disclosures or in responses to discovery as 5 “CONFIDENTIAL.” 6 4.6 Disclosure or Discovery Material: all items or information, regardless 7 of the medium or manner in which it is generated, stored, or maintained (including, 8 among other things, testimony, transcripts, and tangible things), that are produced or 9 generated in disclosures or responses to discovery. 10 4.7 Expert: a person with specialized knowledge or experience in a matter 11 pertinent to the litigation who has been retained by a Party or its counsel to serve as 12 an expert witness or as a consultant in this Action. 13 4.8 House Counsel: attorneys who are employees of a party to this Action. 14 House Counsel does not include Outside Counsel of Record or any other outside 15 counsel. 16 4.9 Non-Party: any natural person, partnership, corporation, association or 17 other legal entity not named as a Party to this action. 18 4.10 Outside Counsel of Record: attorneys who are not employees of a party 19 to this Action but are retained to represent a party to this Action and have appeared 20 in this Action on behalf of that party or are affiliated with a law firm that has 21 appeared on behalf of that party, and includes support staff. 22 4.11 Party: any party to this Action, including all of its officers, directors, 23 employees, consultants, retained experts, and Outside Counsel of Record (and their 24 support staffs). 25 4.12 Producing Party: a Party or Non-Party that produces Disclosure or 26 Discovery Material in this Action. 27 28 5 2 services (e.g., photocopying, videotaping, translating, preparing exhibits or 3 demonstrations, and organizing, storing, or retrieving data in any form or medium) 4 and their employees and subcontractors. 5 4.14 Protected Material: any Disclosure or Discovery Material that is 6 designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” 7 4.15 Receiving Party: a Party that receives Disclosure or Discovery Material 8 from a Producing Party. 9 5. SCOPE 10 The protections conferred by this Stipulation and Order cover not only 11 Protected Material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or 12 extracted from Protected Material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or 13 compilations of Protected Material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or 14 presentations by Parties or their Counsel that might reveal Protected Material. 15 Any use of Protected Material at trial shall be governed by the orders of the 16 trial judge and other applicable authorities. This Order does not govern the use of 17 Protected Material at trial. 18 6. DURATION 19 Once a case proceeds to trial, information that was designated as 20 CONFIDENTIAL or maintained pursuant to this protective order used or 21 introduced as an exhibit at trial becomes public and will be presumptively available 22 to all members of the public, including the press, unless compelling reasons 23 supported by specific factual findings to proceed otherwise are made to the trial judge 24 in advance of the trial. See Kamakana,
447 F.3d at 1180-81(distinguishing “good 25 cause” showing for sealing documents produced in discovery from “compelling 26 reasons” standard when merits-related documents are part of court record). 27 28 6 2 commencement of the trial. 3 7. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 4 7.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. 5 Each Party or Non-Party that designates information or items for protection under 6 this Order must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that 7 qualifies under the appropriate standards. The Designating Party must designate for 8 protection only those parts of material, documents, items or oral or written 9 communications that qualify so that other portions of the material, documents, items 10 or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably 11 within the ambit of this Order. 12 Mass, indiscriminate or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations 13 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper 14 purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber the case development process or to impose 15 unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may expose the Designating 16 Party to sanctions. 17 If it comes to a Designating Party’s attention that information or items that it 18 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, that Designating Party must 19 promptly notify all other Parties that it is withdrawing the inapplicable designation. 20 7.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in 21 this Order, or as otherwise stipulated or ordered, Disclosure of Discovery Material 22 that qualifies for protection under this Order must be clearly so designated before the 23 material is disclosed or produced. 24 Designation in conformity with this Order requires: 25 (a) for information in documentary form (e.g., paper or electronic 26 documents, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial 27 proceedings), that the Producing Party affix at a minimum, the legend 28 7 2 contains protected material. If only a portion of the material on a page qualifies for 3 protection, the Producing Party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) 4 (e.g., by making appropriate markings in the margins). 5 A Party or Non-Party that makes original documents available for inspection 6 need not designate them for protection until after the inspecting Party has indicated 7 which documents it would like copied and produced. During the inspection and 8 before the designation, all of the material made available for inspection shall be 9 deemed “CONFIDENTIAL.” After the inspecting Party has identified the 10 documents it wants copied and produced, the Producing Party must determine 11 which documents, or portions thereof, qualify for protection under this Order. Then, 12 before producing the specified documents, the Producing Party must affix the 13 “CONFIDENTIAL legend” to each page that contains Protected Material. If only a 14 portion of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the Producing Party also 15 must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate markings 16 in the margins). 17 (b) for testimony given in depositions that the Designating Party 18 identifies the Disclosure or Discovery Material on the record, before the close of the 19 deposition all protected testimony. 20 (c) for information produced in some form other than documentary 21 and for any other tangible items, that the Producing Party affix in a prominent place 22 on the exterior of the container or containers in which the information is stored the 23 legend “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or portions of the information warrants 24 protection, the Producing Party, to the extent practicable, shall identify the protected 25 portion(s). 26 7.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an 27 inadvertent failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing 28 8 2 such material. Upon timely correction of a designation, the Receiving Party must 3 make reasonable efforts to assure that the material is treated in accordance with the 4 provisions of this Order. 5 8. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 6 8.1. Timing of Challenges. Any Party or Non-Party may challenge a 7 designation of confidentiality at any time that is consistent with the Court’s 8 Scheduling Order. 9 8.2 Meet and Confer. The Challenging Party shall initiate the dispute 10 resolution process under Local Rule 37-1 et seq. 11 8.3 Joint Stipulation. Any challenge submitted to the Court shall be via a 12 joint stipulation pursuant to Local Rule 37-2. 13 8.4 The burden of persuasion in any such challenge proceeding shall be on 14 the Designating Party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper 15 purpose (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other 16 parties) may expose the Challenging Party to sanctions. Unless the Designating Party 17 has waived or withdrawn the confidentiality designation, all parties shall continue to 18 afford the material in question the level of protection to which it is entitled under the 19 Producing Party’s designation until the Court rules on the challenge. 20 9. ACCESS TO AND USE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 21 9.1 Basic Principles. A Receiving Party may use Protected Material that is 22 disclosed or produced by another Party or by a Non-Party in connection with this 23 Action only for prosecuting, defending or attempting to settle this Action. Such 24 Protected Material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under the 25 conditions described in this Order. When the Action has been terminated, a 26 Receiving Party must comply with the provisions of Section 15 below (FINAL 27 DISPOSITION). 28 9 2 location and in a secure manner that ensures that access is limited to the persons 3 authorized under this Order. 4 9.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless 5 otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the Designating Party, a 6 Receiving Party may disclose any information or item designated 7 “CONFIDENTIAL” only to: 8 (a) the Receiving Party’s Outside Counsel of Record in this Action, as 9 well as employees of said Outside Counsel of Record to whom it is reasonably 10 necessary to disclose the information for this Action; 11 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including House Counsel) of 12 the Receiving Party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action; 13 (c) Experts (as defined in this Order) of the Receiving Party to whom 14 disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have signed the 15 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A) 16 (d) the court and its personnel; 17 (e) court reporters and their staff; 18 (f) professional jury or trial consultants, mock jurors, and Professional 19 Vendors to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this Action and who have 20 signed the “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A) 21 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information or a 22 custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information; 23 (h) during their depositions, witnesses, and attorneys for witnesses, in the 24 Action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary provided: (1) the deposing party 25 requests that the witness sign the form attached as Exhibit A hereto; and (2) they will 26 not be permitted to keep any confidential information unless they sign the 27 “Acknowledgment and Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise 28 10 2 deposition testimony or exhibits to depositions that reveal Protected Material may be 3 separately bound by the court reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as 4 permitted under this Stipulated Protective Order; and 5 (i) any mediators or settlement officers and their supporting personnel, 6 mutually agreed upon by any of the parties engaged in settlement discussions. 7 10. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED 8 PRODUCED IN OTHER LITIGATION 9 If a Party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation 10 that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this Action as 11 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that Party must: 12 (a) promptly notify in writing the Designating Party. Such notification 13 shall include a copy of the subpoena or court order; 14 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or 15 order to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the 16 subpoena or order is subject to this Protective Order. Such notification shall include 17 a copy of this Stipulated Protective Order; and 18 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be 19 pursued by the Designating Party whose Protected Material may be affected. If the 20 Designating Party timely seeks a protective order, the Party served with the subpoena 21 or court order shall not produce any information designated in this action as 22 “CONFIDENTIAL” before a determination by the court from which the subpoena 23 or order issued, unless the Party has obtained the Designating Party’s permission. 24 The Designating Party shall bear the burden and expense of seeking protection in 25 that court of its confidential material and nothing in these provisions should be 26 construed as authorizing or encouraging a Receiving Party in this Action to disobey 27 a lawful directive from another court. 28 11 2 PRODUCED IN THIS LITIGATION 3 (a) The terms of this Order are applicable to information produced by a 4 Non-Party in this Action and designated as “CONFIDENTIAL.” Such information 5 produced by Non-Parties in connection with this litigation is protected by the 6 remedies and relief provided by this Order. Nothing in these provisions should be 7 construed as prohibiting a Non-Party from seeking additional protections. 8 (b) In the event that a Party is required, by a valid discovery request, to 9 produce a Non-Party’s confidential information in its possession, and the Party is 10 subject to an agreement with the Non-Party not to produce the Non-Party’s 11 confidential information, then the Party shall: 12 (1) promptly notify in writing the Requesting Party and the Non-Party 13 that some or all of the information requested is subject to a confidentiality agreement 14 with a Non-Party; 15 (2) promptly provide the Non-Party with a copy of the Stipulated 16 Protective Order in this Action, the relevant discovery request(s), and a reasonably 17 specific description of the information requested; and 18 (3) make the information requested available for inspection by the 19 Non-Party, if requested. 20 (c) If the Non-Party fails to seek a protective order from this court within 14 21 days of receiving the notice and accompanying information, the Receiving Party may 22 produce the Non-Party’s confidential information responsive to the discovery 23 request. If the Non-Party timely seeks a protective order, the Receiving Party shall 24 not produce any information in its possession or control that is subject to the 25 confidentiality agreement with the Non-Party before a determination by the court. 26 Absent a court order to the contrary, the Non-Party shall bear the burden and 27 expense of seeking protection in this court of its Protected Material. 28 12 2 If a Receiving Party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed 3 Protected Material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this 4 Stipulated Protective Order, the Receiving Party must immediately (a) notify in 5 writing the Designating Party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts 6 to retrieve all unauthorized copies of the Protected Material, (c) inform the person or 7 persons to whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this Order, 8 and (d) request such person or persons to execute the “Acknowledgment an 9 Agreement to Be Bound” attached hereto as Exhibit A. 10 13. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE 11 PROTECTED MATERIAL 12 When a Producing Party gives notice to Receiving Parties that certain 13 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, 14 the obligations of the Receiving Parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil\ 15 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure 16 may be established in an e-discovery order that provides for production without prior 17 privilege review. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) and (e), insofar as the 18 parties reach an agreement on the effect of disclosure of a communication or 19 information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product protection, the 20 parties may incorporate their agreement in the stipulated protective order submitted 21 to the court. 22 14. MISCELLANEOUS 23 14.1 Right to Further Relief. Nothing in this Order abridges the right of any 24 person to seek its modification by the Court in the future. 25 14.2 Right to Assert Other Objections. By stipulating to the entry of this 26 Protective Order, no Party waives any right it otherwise would have to object to 27 disclosing or producing any information or item on any ground not addressed in this 28 13 2 ground to use in evidence of any of the material covered by this Protective Order. 3 14.3 Filing Protected Material. A Party that seeks to file under seal any 4 Protected Material must comply with Local Civil Rule 79-5. Protected Material may 5 only be filed under seal pursuant to a court order authorizing the sealing of the 6 specific Protected Material. If a Party’s request to file Protected Material under seal 7 is denied by the court, then the Receiving Party may file the information in the 8 public record unless otherwise instructed by the court. 9 15. FINAL DISPOSITION 10 After the final disposition of this Action, as defined in paragraph 6, within 60 11 days of a written request by the Designating Party, each Receiving Party must return 12 all Protected Material to the Producing Party or destroy such material. As used in 13 this subdivision, “all Protected Material” includes all copies, abstracts, compilations, 14 summaries, and any other format reproducing or capturing any of the Protected 15 Material. Whether the Protected Material is returned or destroyed, the Receiving 16 Party must submit a written certification to the Producing Party (and, if not the same 17 person or entity, to the Designating Party) by the 60-day deadline that (1) identifies 18 (by category, where appropriate) all the Protected Material that was returned or 19 destroyed and (2) affirms that the Receiving Party has not retained any copies, 20 abstracts, compilations, summaries or any other format reproducing or capturing any 21 of the Protected Material. Notwithstanding this provision, Counsel are entitled to 22 retain an archival copy of all pleadings, motion papers, trial, deposition, and hearing 23 transcripts, legal memoranda, correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert 24 reports, attorney work product, and consultant and expert work product, even if such 25 materials contain Protected Material. Any such archival copies that contain or 26 constitute Protected Material remain subject to this Protective Order as set forth in 27 Section 6 (DURATION). 28 14 VIOLATION 2 Any violation of this Order may be punished by appropriate measures 3 || including, without limitation, contempt proceedings and/or monetary sanctions. 4 5 ||FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN IT IS ORDERED. 6 7||DATED: August 30, 2021 if de 8 Lie AG 9 J D. EARLY nited States Magistrate Judge 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 's STIPULATED PROTECTIVEORDER-— si iss—<‘i—‘—sSOSCS™ Case No. 8:21-CV-00029-DOC-JDE
2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND 3 I, _____________________________ [print or type full name], of 4 _________________ [print or type full address], declare under penalty of perjury that I 5 have read in its entirety and understand the Stipulated Protective Order that was issued by 6 the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on _________ [date] 7 in the case of Hartford Underwriters Insurance Company v. Scotsman Group, LLC, et al., 8 No. 8:21-cv-00029-DOC-JDE (C.D. Cal.). I agree to comply with and to be bound by all 9 the terms of this Stipulated Protective Order and I understand and acknowledge that failure 10 to so comply could expose me to sanctions and punishment in the nature of contempt. I 11 solemnly promise that I will not disclose in any manner any information or item that is 12 subject to this Stipulated Protective Order to any person or entity except in strict 13 compliance with the provisions of this Order. 14 I further agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the 15 Northern District of California for the purpose of enforcing the terms of this Stipulated 16 Protective Order, even if such enforcement proceedings occur after termination of this 17 action. 18 I hereby appoint __________________________ [print or type full name] of 19 _______________________________________ [print or type full address and telephone 20 number] as my California agent for service of process in connection with this action or any 21 proceedings related to enforcement of this Stipulated Protective Order. 22 23 Date: _________________________________ 24 City and State where sworn and signed: _________________________________ 25 Printed name: ______________________________ 26 27 Signature: _________________________________ 28 16
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