Delashaw v. Seattle Times Company

1 The Honorable James L. Robart 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON g AT SEATTLE || JOHNNY B. DELASHAW, JR., Case No. 2:18-cv-00537-JLR 10 Plaintiff, STIPULATED MOTION AND ORDER RE: LIMITED 11 v. INTERVENTION BY DR. ROD OSKOUIAN || SEATTLE TIMES COMPANY, and CHARLES 13 COBBS, NOTE ON MOTION CALENDAR: Defendants. July 27, 2020 15 Dr. Rod Oskouian (“Dr. Oskouian”) respectfully requests that this Court allow him to || intervene in this action under Fed R. Civ. P. 24 as in interested party solely for the limited || purpose of addressing the potential use of materials Dr. Oskouian designated as confidential || under the stipulated protective order in this case. Dkt. 45-1; 46. Dr. Cobbs has filed two || motions to seal that include materials Dr. Oskouian designated as confidential: (1) Motion to || Seal in conjunction with Dr. Cobbs’s Second Motion for Summary Judgment (Dkt. 205); and (2) |} Motion to Seal in Conjunction with Dr. Cobbs’s Motions in Limine (Dkt. 214). Dr. Oskouian || seeks to intervene at this time only to address those motions. Counsel for all parties have || conferred and stipulated to Dr. Oskouian’s request for limited intervention. In so stipulating, || counsel for the parties here stipulate only to Dr. Oskouian’s request for limited intervention to be || heard on Dr. Cobbs’ motion to seal, not to any arguments made about keeping any documents || out of the open court file. Dr. Delashaw, Dr. Cobbs, and the Seattle Times expressly state, and STIPULATED MOTION AND ORDER - RE: LIMITED INTERVENTION BY DR. ROD OSKOUIAN - 1 POLSINELLI (Case No. 2:18-cv-00537-JLR) 1000 SECOND AVENUE, SUITE 3500 SEATTLE, WA 98104 * (206) 393-5400 || Dr. Oskouian acknowledges, that nothing in this stipulated motion is intended to impact any || arguments the parties might have with respect to Dr. Cobbs’s motion to seal.

3 ARGUMENT 1. The Fed. R. Civ. P. 24(a) Standard for Intervention.

5 Under Fed. R. Civ. P. 24(a), the Court “must permit anyone to intervene who claims an || interest relating to the property or transaction that is the subject of the action, and is so situated || that disposing of the action may as a practical matter impair or impede the movant’s ability to || protect its interest, unless existing parties adequately represent that interest.” Fed. R. Civ. P. || 24(a)(2). A motion must be granted if: (1) the application is timely; (2) the applicant has a || “significantly protectable” interest relating to the property or transaction that is the subject of the |} action; (3) the applicant is so situated that the disposition of the action may, as a practical matter, || impair or impede the applicant’s ability to protect that interest; and (4) the applicant’s interest is || not adequately represented by the existing parties in the lawsuit. Southwest Center for || Biological Diversity v. Berg, 268 F.3d 810, 817 (9th Cir. 2001). The Court’s evaluation is || “guided primarily by practical considerations,” not technical distinctions. Jd. Dr. Oskouian || asserts that his motion meets each of the four requirements.

17 |} 2. Dr. Oskouian is entitled to limited intervention to protect his confidentiality interest.

18 a. Timeliness 19 The Seattle Times subpoenaed Dr. Oskouian to provide deposition testimony. Dr. |} Oskouian was deposed pursuant to that subpoena on June 12, 2020. At the conclusion of that || deposition, Dr. Oskouian’s counsel designated the transcript as confidential, as provided under || the stipulated protective order. On July 9, 2020, after discussion with defendants’ counsel, Dr. || Oskouian confirmed by page and line a more specific list of portions of the transcript to be || designated as confidential.

25 The protective order and this Court’s rules require a party filing confidential material to || confer with the designating party to determine whether the designating party will withdraw the STIPULATED MOTION AND ORDER - RE: LIMITED INTERVENTION BY DR. ROD OSKOUIAN — 2 POLSINELLI (Case No. 2:18-ev-00537JLR) SEATTLE, WA 98 104 (306) 398-5400 || confidential designations before filing. Dr. Cobbs’s counsel and Dr. Oskouian’s counsel had || several conversations regarding confidentiality designations, but were unable to resolve their || differences.

4 Dr. Cobbs then filed on July 13, 2020, his motion to seal in conjunction with his Second || Motion for Summary Judgment. (Dkt. 205). Dr. Oskouian now timely seeks to intervene to || protect his confidentiality interest just two weeks after the motion to seal was filed.

7 b. Significant Protectable Interest.

8 An applicant for intervention has a “significant protectable interest” in an action if (1) it || asserts an interest that is protected under some law, and (2) there is a “relationship” between its || legally protected interest and the plaintiff's claims. Donnelly v. Glickman, 159 F.3d 405, 409 |} (th Cir. 1998) (citing Northwest forest Resource Council v. Glickman, 82 F.3d 825, 837 (9th |} Cir. 1996)). “An applicant generally satisfies the ‘relationship’ requirement only if the || resolution of the plaintiff's claims actually will affect the applicant.” Donnelly, 159 F.3d at 410 |} (citing Montana vy. United States Envtl. Protection Agency, 137 F.3d 1135, 1141-42 (9th Cir. || 1998)).

16 Dr. Oskouian contends that he “asserts an interest that is protected under some law” || because he argues that the materials he designated as confidential implicate his constitutionally- || protected rights and his due process rights under the stipulated protective order entered under || Fed. R. Civ. P. 26.

20 Likewise, Dr. Oskouian contends there is a “relationship” between Dr. Oskouian’s legally || protectable confidentiality interest and the claims and defenses in the suit because Dr. Cobbs has || relied on material Dr. Oskouian designated as confidential in support of his Second Motion for |} Summary Judgment. This Court’s LCR 5(g) actually provides that it is incumbent upon the party || designating materials as confidential under a stipulated protective order to satisfy this Court’s || local rules to confirm that the material should be sealed from the public record. See LCR || 5(g)(3)(B) Cwhere parties have entered a. . . stipulated protective order . . . the party who STIPULATED MOTION AND ORDER - RE: LIMITED INTERVENTION BY DR. ROD OSKOUIAN - 3 POLSINELLI (Case No. 2:18-ev-00537JLR) SEATTLE, WA 98 104 (306) 398-5400 || designated the document confidential must satisfy subpart 3(B) in its response to the motion to || seal or in a stipulated motion.”). Dr. Oskouian therefore respectfully submits that LCR 5(g) || firmly establishes that there is a relationship between Dr. Oskouian’s confidentiality interest and || the claims and defenses at issue here, specifically including Dr. Cobbs’s Second Motion for || Summary Judgment.

6 c. Effect of Disposition on Dr. Oskouian’s Ability to Protect His Interest.

7 Although Dr. Oskouian is not a party here and has no interest in the ultimate outcome of || this lawsuit on its merits, Dr. Cobbs has filed a motion for summary judgment relying, in part, on || materials Dr. Oskouian has designated as confidential. Because those confidential materials are || now implicated in potentially public filings, unless Dr. Oskouian intervenes, Dr. Oskouian || asserts that the disposition of this case will directly impact his privacy and other interests.

12 || Where the Court agrees that a non-party has a “significant protectable interest,” it should have || “little difficulty concluding that the disposition of the case may, as a practical matter, affect it.”

14 || California ex rel. Lockyer v. U.S., 450 F.3d 436, 442 (2006) (the court found the movant had a || “significant protectable interest” and therefore “we have little difficulty concluding that the || disposition of this case may, as a practical matter, affect it.”). Given Dr. Oskouian’s asserted || significant protectable interest vis-a-vis his privacy and reputational interests, this Court should |} have no difficulty concluding that the disposition of this case, and particularly the motions to || seal, without Dr. Oskouian’s intervention will impact Dr. Oskouian.

20 d. Dr. Oskouian’s interests are not adequately protected by the existing parties.

21 “In determining adequacy of representation, we consider whether the interest of a || present party is such that it will undoubtedly make all the intervenor’s arguments; whether the || present party is capable and willing to make such arguments; and whether the intervenor would || offer any necessary elements to the proceedings that other parties would neglect.” People of || State of California v. Tahoe Reg’! Planning Agency, 792 F.2d 775, 778 (9th Cir. 1986) (internal STIPULATED MOTION AND ORDER - RE: LIMITED INTERVENTION BY DR. ROD OSKOUIAN - 4 POLSINELLI (Case No. 2:18-ev-00537JLR) SEATTLE, WA 98 104 (306) 398-5400 || citations omitted). “The applicant is required only to make a minimal showing that || representation of its interests may be inadequate.” Id. 3 None of the actual parties to the lawsuit are situated such that they can adequately || protect Dr. Oskouian’s individual privacy interests. Dr. Oskouian is a non-party, and has no || connection to the litigants here. Dr. Oskouian exercised his individual right under the stipulated || protective order to designate portions of his deposition testimony as confidential. Only Dr. || Oskouian, therefore, is capable of adequately advancing arguments to sufficiently protect his || asserted privacy interest.

9 CONCLUSION 10 For the foregoing reasons, Dr. Oskouian respectfully submits that his motion meets the || Fed R. Civ. P. 24(a) standard for intervention, particularly for the limited purposes sought here.

12 || Dr. Oskouian therefore respectfully requests that this Court grant its stipulated motion to || intervene for the limited purposes of addressing his interest in maintaining the confidentiality of || certain documents.

15 Stipulated and agreed to this 27th day of July, 2020.

U7 POLSINELLI PC 18 By: /s/Jim J. Fredman Jim J. Fredman, WSBA# 30110 19 1000 Second Ave., Suite 3500 Seattle, WA 98104 20 Tel: (206) 393-5400 1 Email: jim.fredman @ polsinelli.com 22 By: 4s/Brian McEvoy Brian McEvoy (Pro Hac Vice Pending) 23 1201 W. Peachtree Street NW Suite 1100 24 Atlanta, GA 30309 25 Tel: (404) 253-6021 Email: bmcevoy @ polsinelli.com Attorneys for Nonparty Dr. Oskouian STIPULATED MOTION AND ORDER - RE: LIMITED INTERVENTION BY DR. ROD OSKOUIAN — 5 POLSINELLI (Case No. 2:18-cv-00537-JLR) 1000 SECOND AVENUE, SUITE 3500 SEATTLE, WA 98104 * (206) 393-5400 1 HARRIGAN LEYH FARMER & THOMSEN LLP 2 /s/ Tyler L. Farmer Arthur W. Harrigan, Jr., WSBA No. 1751 3 Tyler L. Farmer, WSBA No. 39912 A Kristin E. Ballinger, WSBA No. 28253 Caitlin B. Pratt, WSBA No. 48422 5 999 Third Avenue, Ste. 4400 Seattle, WA 98104 6 Phone: (206) 625-8600 7 Attorneys for Plaintiff Johnny B. Delashaw, Jr. LAW OFFICES OF IRWIN H. SCHWARTZ /s/ Irwin H. Schwartz 11 Irwin H. Schwartz, WSBA No. 4769 Third Avenue, Suite 4400 12 Seattle, WA 98104 B Telephone: (206) 676-7000 Fax: (206) 676-7001 14 irwin @ ihschwartz.com 15 Attorneys for Plaintiff Johnny B. Delashaw, Jr. 17 SUMMIT LAW GROUP PLLC 18 /s/Jessica L. Goldman 19 Jessica L. Goldman, WSBA No. 21856 Christopher T. Wion, WSBA No. 33207 20 Tanya Nesbitt, WSBA No. pending 4 315 Fifth Avenue South, Suite 1000 Seattle, WA 98104 22 Telephone: (206) 676-7000 Fax: (206) 676-7001 23 jessicag @ summitlaw.com chrisw@ summitlaw.com 24 [email protected] Attorneys for Defendant Seattle Times 26 Company STIPULATED MOTION AND ORDER - RE: LIMITED INTERVENTION BY DR. ROD OSKOUIAN - 6 POLSINELLI (Case No. 2:18-cv-00537-JLR) 1000 SECOND AVENUE, SUITE 3500 SEATTLE, WA 98104 (206) 393-5400 2 McNAUL EBEL NAWROT & HELGREN PLLC 3 /s/ Malaika M. Eaton 4 Malaika M. Eaton, WSBA No. 32837 Jehiel I. Baer, WSBA No. 46951 5 600 University Street, Suite 2700 Seattle, WA 98101 6 Telephone: (206) 467-1816 7 meaton @ mcnaul.com [email protected] 8 Attorneys for Defendant Charles Cobb SOMERVILLE, LLC /s/John_Q. Somerville 12 John Q. Somerville (admitted pro hac vice) 13 300 North Richard Arrington Blvd., Suite 710 Birmingham, AL 35203 14 Telephone: (205) 871-2183 jqgs@ somerville.com 6 Attorneys for Defendant Charles Cobb 18 ORDER 19 Pursuant to the parties’ stipulated motion, IT IS SO ORDERED.

21 DATED this 3rd day of August, 2020.

23 ( \ Pe YON 24 HONORABLE JAMES L. ROBART UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

STIPULATED MOTION AND ORDER - RE: LIMITED INTERVENTION BY DR. ROD OSKOUIAN — 7 POLSINELLI (Case No. 2:18-cv-00537-JLR) 1000 SECOND AVENUE, SUITE 3500 SEATTLE, WA 98104 (206) 393-5400 || Presented by: || POLSINELLI PC By: /s/Jim J. Fredman || Jum J. Fredman, WSBA# 30110 1000 Second Ave., Suite 3500 || Seattle, WA 98104 Tel: (206) 393-5400 |) Email: jim.fredman @ polsinelli.com By: /s/Brian McEvoy g || Brian McEvoy (Pro Hac Vice Pending) 1201 W. Peachtree Street NW, Suite 1100 || Atlanta, GA 30309 Tel: (404) 253-6021 || Email: bmcevoy @ polsinelli.com Attorneys for Nonparty Dr. Oskouian |} HARRIGAN LEYH FARMER & THOMSEN LLP || /s/ Tyler L. Farmer Arthur W. Harrigan, Jr., WSBA No. 1751 || Tyler L. Farmer, WSBA No. 39912 16 Kristin E. Ballinger, WSBA No. 28253 Caitlin B. Pratt, WSBA No. 48422 || 999 Third Avenue, Ste. 4400 Seattle, WA 98104 || Phone: (206) 625-8600 Attorneys for Plaintiff Johnny B. Delashaw, Jr. 21 LAW OFFICES OF IRWIN H. SCHWARTZ /s/ Irwin H. Schwartz || Irwin H. Schwartz, WSBA No. 4769 Third Avenue, Suite 4400 || Seattle, WA 98104 95 Telephone: (206) 676-7000 irwin @ihschwartz.com Attorneys for Plaintiff Johnny B. Delashaw, Jr. STIPULATED MOTION AND ORDER - RE: LIMITED INTERVENTION BY DR. ROD OSKOUIAN - 8 POLSINELLI (Case No. 2:18-cv-00537-JLR) 1000 SECOND AVENUE, SUITE 3500 SEATTLE, WA 98104 (206) 393-5400 || SUMMIT LAW GROUP PLLC |! A/Jessica L. Goldman Jessica L. Goldman, WSBA No. 21856 Christopher T. Wion, WSBA No. 33207 || Tanya Nesbitt, WSBA No. pending 315 Fifth Avenue South, Suite 1000 Seattle, WA 98104 Telephone: (206) 676-7000 || [email protected] chrisw@ summitlaw.com || [email protected] Attorneys for Defendant Seattle Times Company McNAUL EBEL NAWROT & HELGREN PLLC /s/ Malaika M. Eaton || Malaika M. Eaton, WSBA No. 32837 Jehiel I. Baer, WSBA No. 46951 | 600 University Street, Suite 2700 15 Seattle, WA 98101 Telephone: (206) 467-1816 || [email protected] [email protected] Attorneys for Defendant Charles Cobb 19 SOMERVILLE, LLC /s/John O. Somerville John Q. Somerville (admitted pro hac vice) |} 300 North Richard Arrington Blvd., Suite 710 Birmingham, AL 35203 || Telephone: (205) 871-2183 [email protected] A Attorneys for Defendant Charles Cobb STIPULATED MOTION AND ORDER - RE: LIMITED INTERVENTION BY DR. ROD OSKOUIAN - 9 POLSINELLI (Case No. 2:18-cv-00537-JLR) 1000 SECOND AVENUE, SUITE 3500 SEATTLE, WA 98104 (206) 393-5400 1 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 3 I hereby certify that on July 27, 2020, I caused the foregoing document to be served on the counsel listed below via the CM/ECF system: Attorneys for Plaintiff Arthur W. Harrigan, Jr. arthurh @ harriganleyh.com Tyler L. Farmer [email protected] Kristin E. Ballinger kristinb @ harriganleyh.com John C. Burzynski caitlinp @ harriganleyh.com HARRIGAN LEYH FARMER & THOMSEN LLP kelliem @harriganleyh.com 999 Third Ave., Ste. 4400 florinef@ harriganleyh.com Seattle, WA 98104 i Attorneys for Plaintiff Irwin H. Schwartz irwin @ihschwartz.com LAW OFFICES OF IRWIN H. SCHWARTZ 13 999 Third Ave., Ste. 4400 Seattle, WA 98104 15 Attorneys for Defendant Charles Cobbs 16 Malaika M. Eaton [email protected] Jehiel I. Baer [email protected] 17 MCNAUL EBEL NAWROT & HELGREN PLLC sredfield @mcnaul.com University St., Ste. 2700 [email protected] || Seattle, WA 98101 19 Attorneys for Defendant Charles Cobbs John Q. Somerville JOS @Somervillellc.com 21 SOMERVILLE, LLC barbara @ somervillellc.com Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd. N., Ste. 710 22 Birmingham, AL 35203 23 Attorneys for Defendant Seattle Times Company Jessica L. Goldman jessicag @summitlaw.com 25 Christopher T. Wion chrisw @ summitlaw.com Tanya Nesbit [email protected] 26 SUMMIT LAW GROUP, PLLC STIPULATED MOTION AND ORDER - RE: LIMITED INTERVENTION BY DR. ROD OSKOUIAN — 10 POLSINELLI (Case No. 2:18-cv-00537-JLR) 1000 SECOND AVENUE, SUITE 3500 SEATTLE, WA 98104 (206) 393-5400 1 315 Fifth Avenue South, Suite 1000 Seattle, WA 98104-2682 I certify under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of Washington that the ° foregoing is true and correct. ‘ DATED this 27" day of July, 2020, at Seattle. ° /s/Jeni Bonanno 6 Jeni Bonanno, Legal Assistant STIPULATED MOTION AND ORDER - RE: LIMITED INTERVENTION BY DR. ROD OSKOUIAN - 11 POLSINELLI (Case No. 2:18-ev-00537JLR) SEATTLE, WA 98104 (206) 398-5400