Opinion

Simon Property GRroup, L.P v. U.S. Bank National Association

Court
District Court, S.D. New York
Filed
Nov 17, 2021
Cited by
0 cases
Authority
More cited than 27.4%

The opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

SIMON PROPERTY GROUP, L.P

Plaintiff,

Case No.: 1:21-cv-07850 (PKC)

v.

U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION,

Defendant.

STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER

WHEREAS, Plaintiff SIMON PROPERTY GROUP, L.P. and Defendant U.S. BANK, N.A.,

hereafter referred to as “the Parties,” believe that certain information that is or will be encompassed

by discovery demands by the Parties involves the production or disclosure of trade secrets,

confidential business information, or other proprietary information;

WHEREAS, the Parties seek a protective order limiting disclosure thereof in accordance with

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c):

THEREFORE, it is hereby stipulated among the Parties and ORDERED that:

1. Each Party may designate as confidential for protection under this Order, in whole or in part,

any document, information or material that constitutes or includes, in whole or in part,

confidential or proprietary information or trade secrets of the Party or a Third Party to whom

the Party reasonably believes it owes an obligation of confidentiality with respect to such

document, information or material (“Protected Material”). Protected Material shall be

designated by the Party producing it by affixing a legend or stamp on such document,

information or material as follows: “CONFIDENTIAL.” The word “CONFIDENTIAL”

shall be placed clearly on each page of the Protected Material (except deposition and hearing

transcripts) for which such protection is sought. For deposition and hearing transcripts, the

word “CONFIDENTIAL” shall be placed on the cover page of the transcript (if not already

present on the cover page of the transcript when received from the court reporter) by each

attorney receiving a copy of the transcript after that attorney receives notice of the

designation of some or all of that transcript as “CONFIDENTIAL.”

2. With respect to documents, information or material designated “CONFIDENTIAL” or

“RESTRICTED - ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY” (“DESIGNATED MATERIAL”),1

subject to the provisions herein and unless otherwise stated, this Order governs, without

limitation: (a) all documents, electronically stored information, and/or things as defined by

the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure; (b) all pretrial, hearing or deposition testimony, or

documents marked as exhibits or for identification in depositions and hearings; (c) pretrial

pleadings, exhibits to pleadings and other court filings; (d) affidavits; and (e) stipulations.

1 The term DESIGNATED MATERIAL is used throughout this Protective Order to refer to the class

of materials designated as “CONFIDENTIAL” or “RESTRICTED - ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY,”

both individually and collectively.

All copies, reproductions, extracts, digests and complete or partial summaries prepared from

any DESIGNATED MATERIALS shall also be considered DESIGNATED MATERIAL

and treated as such under this Order.

3. A designation of Protected Material (i.e., “CONFIDENTIAL” or “RESTRICTED -

ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY”) may be made at any time. Inadvertent or unintentional

production of documents, information or material that has not been designated as

DESIGNATED MATERIAL shall not be deemed a waiver in whole or in part of a claim for

confidential treatment. Any party that inadvertently or unintentionally produces Protected

Material without designating it as DESIGNATED MATERIAL may request destruction of

that Protected Material by notifying the recipient(s), as soon as reasonably possible after the

producing Party becomes aware of the inadvertent or unintentional disclosure, and providing

replacement Protected Material that is properly designated. The recipient(s) shall then

destroy all copies of the inadvertently or unintentionally produced Protected Materials and

any documents, information or material derived from or based thereon.

4. “CONFIDENTIAL” documents, information and material may be disclosed only to the

following persons, except upon receipt of the prior written consent of the designating party,

upon order of the Court, or as set forth in paragraph 11 herein:

(a) outside counsel of record in this Action for the Parties;

(b) employees of such counsel assigned to and reasonably necessary to assist such

counsel in the litigation of this Action;

(c) in-house counsel for the Parties who either have responsibility for making decisions

dealing directly with the litigation of this Action, or who are assisting outside counsel

in the litigation of this Action, and the assistants or paralegals thereof;

(d) up to and including three (3) designated representatives of each of the Parties to the

extent reasonably necessary for the litigation of this Action, except that either party

may in good faith request the other party’s consent to designate one or more

additional representatives, the other party shall not unreasonably withhold such

consent, and the requesting party may seek leave of Court to designate such

additional representative(s) if the requesting party believes the other party has

unreasonably withheld such consent;

(e) outside consultants or experts (i.e., not existing employees or affiliates of a Party or

an affiliate of a Party) retained for the purpose of this litigation, provided that: (1)

such consultants or experts are not presently employed by the Parties hereto for

purposes other than this Action; (2) before access is given, the consultant or expert

has completed the Undertaking attached as Exhibit A hereto and the same is served

upon the producing Party with a current curriculum vitae of the consultant or expert

at least ten (10) days before access to the Protected Material is to be given to that

consultant or Undertaking to object to and notify the receiving Party in writing that

it objects to disclosure of Protected Material to the consultant or expert. The Parties

agree to promptly confer and use good faith to resolve any such objection. If the

Parties are unable to resolve any objection, the objecting Party may file a motion

with the Court within fifteen (15) days of the notice, or within such other time as the

Parties may agree, seeking a protective order with respect to the proposed disclosure.

The objecting Party shall have the burden of proving the need for a protective order.

No disclosure shall occur until all such objections are resolved by agreement or Court

order;

(f) independent litigation support services, including persons working for or as court

reporters, graphics or design services, jury or trial consulting services, and

photocopy, document imaging, and database services retained by counsel and

reasonably necessary to assist counsel with the litigation of this Action; and

(g) the Court and its personnel.

5. A Party shall designate documents, information or material as “CONFIDENTIAL” only

upon a good faith belief that the documents, information or material contains confidential or

proprietary information or trade secrets of the Party or a Third Party to whom the Party

reasonably believes it owes an obligation of confidentiality with respect to such documents,

information or material.

6. Documents, information or material produced pursuant to any discovery request in this

Action, including but not limited to Protected Material designated as DESIGNATED

MATERIAL, shall be used by the Parties only in the litigation of this Action and shall not

be used for any other purpose. Any person or entity who obtains access to DESIGNATED

MATERIAL or the contents thereof pursuant to this Order shall not make any copies,

duplicates, extracts, summaries or descriptions of such DESIGNATED MATERIAL or any

portion thereof except as may be reasonably necessary in the litigation of this Action. Any

such copies, duplicates, extracts, summaries or descriptions shall be classified

DESIGNATED MATERIALS and subject to all of the terms and conditions of this Order.

7. To the extent a producing Party believes that certain Protected Material qualifying to be

designated CONFIDENTIAL is so sensitive that its dissemination deserves even further

limitation, the producing Party may designate such Protected Material “RESTRICTED --

ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY.”

8. For Protected Material designated RESTRICTED -- ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY, access

to, and disclosure of, such Protected Material shall be limited to individuals listed in

paragraphs 4(a-c) and (e-g); provided, however, that access by in-house counsel pursuant to

paragraph 4(c) be limited to in-house counsel who exercise no competitive decision-making

authority on behalf of the client.

9. Nothing in this Order shall require production of documents, information or other material

that a Party contends is protected from disclosure by the attorney-client privilege, the work

product doctrine, or other privilege, doctrine, or immunity. If documents, information or

other material subject to a claim of attorney-client privilege, work product doctrine, or other

privilege, doctrine, or immunity is inadvertently or unintentionally produced, such

production shall in no way prejudice or otherwise constitute a waiver of, or estoppel as to,

any such privilege, doctrine, or immunity. Any Party that inadvertently or unintentionally

produces documents, information or other material it reasonably believes are protected under

the attorney-client privilege, work product doctrine, or other privilege, doctrine, or immunity

may obtain the return of such documents, information or other material by promptly

notifying the recipient(s) and providing a privilege log for the inadvertently or

unintentionally produced documents, information or other material. The recipient(s) shall

gather and return all copies of such documents, information or other material to the

producing Party, except for any pages containing privileged or otherwise protected markings

by the recipient(s), which pages shall instead be destroyed and certified as such to the

producing Party.

10. There shall be no disclosure of any DESIGNATED MATERIAL by any person authorized

to have access thereto to any person who is not authorized for such access under this Order.

The Parties are hereby ORDERED to safeguard all such documents, information and

material to protect against disclosure to any unauthorized persons or entities.

11. Nothing contained herein shall be construed to prejudice any Party’s right to use any

DESIGNATED MATERIAL in taking testimony at any deposition or hearing provided that

the DESIGNATED MATERIAL is only disclosed to a person(s) who is: (i) eligible to have

access to the DESIGNATED MATERIAL by virtue of his or her employment with the

designating party, (ii) identified in the DESIGNATED MATERIAL as an author, addressee,

or copy recipient of such information, (iii) although not identified as an author, addressee,

or copy recipient of such DESIGNATED MATERIAL, has, in the ordinary course of

business, seen such DESIGNATED MATERIAL, (iv) a current or former officer, director

or employee of the producing Party or a current or former officer, director or employee of a

company affiliated with the producing Party; (v) counsel for a Party, including outside

counsel and in-house counsel; (vi) an independent contractor, consultant, and/or expert

retained for the purpose of this litigation; (vii) court reporters and videographers; (viii) the

Court; or (ix) other persons entitled hereunder to access to DESIGNATED MATERIAL.

DESIGNATED MATERIAL shall not be disclosed to any other persons unless prior

authorization is obtained from counsel representing the producing Party or from the Court.

12. Parties may, at the deposition or hearing or within thirty (30) days after receipt of a

deposition or hearing transcript, designate the deposition or hearing transcript or any portion

thereof as “CONFIDENTIAL” or “RESTRICTED - ATTORNEY’ EYES ONLY” pursuant

to this Order. Access to the deposition or hearing transcript so designated shall be limited in

accordance with the terms of this Order. Until expiration of the 30-day period, the entire

deposition or hearing transcript shall be treated as confidential.

13. In the event a party seeks to file with the Court any DESIGNATED MATERIAL subject to

protection under this Order, that party shall take appropriate steps to ensure that the

document receives proper protection from public disclosure, including: (a) filing a redacted

document with the consent of the party who designated the document as confidential; (b)

where appropriate (e.g., in relation to discovery and evidentiary motions), submitting the

document solely for in camera review; or (c) seeking permission to file the document under

seal by filing a motion for leave to file under seal.

14. Notwithstanding any other provision, no document may be filed with the Clerk under seal

without a further Order of this Court addressing the specific documents or portions of

documents to be sealed. Any application to seal shall be accompanied by an affidavit or

affidavits and a memorandum of law, demonstrating that the standards for sealing have been

met and specifically addressing the applicability of Lugosch v. Pyramid Co. of Onondaga,

435 F.3d 110, 119-120 (2d Cir. 2006) and any other controlling authority. Unless otherwise

ordered, a party seeking to file an opposing party’s confidential information shall so advise

the opposing party fourteen (14) days in advance specifying the precise portion of the

information the party seeks to use, the general purpose thereof and any redactions to which

the party does not object. Within seven (7) days thereafter, the party whose confidential

information is sought to be used may make an application to seal in accordance with this

Order, indicating the portion or portions of the information it seeks to have sealed. Nothing

herein is intended to alter or modify the applicability of Rule 5.2, Fed. R. Civ. P., to this

case. The redactions expressly authorized by Rule 5.2 may be made without further

application to the Court.

15. The Order applies to pretrial discovery. Nothing in this Order shall be deemed to prevent the

Parties from introducing any DESIGNATED MATERIAL into evidence at the trial of this

Action, or from using any information contained in DESIGNATED MATERIAL at the trial

of this Action, subject to any pretrial order issued by this Court.

16. A Party may request in writing to the other Party that the designation given to any

DESIGNATED MATERIAL be modified or withdrawn. If the designating Party does not

agree to redesignation within ten (10) days of receipt of the written request, the requesting

Party may apply to the Court for relief. Upon any such application to the Court, the burden

shall be on the designating Party to show why its classification is proper. Such application

shall be treated procedurally as a motion to compel pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil

Procedure 37, subject to the Rule’s provisions relating to sanctions. In making such

application, the requirements of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Local Rules of

the Court shall be met. Pending the Court’s determination of the application, the designation

of the designating Party shall be maintained.

17. Each outside consultant or expert to whom DESIGNATED MATERIAL is disclosed in

accordance with the terms of this Order shall be advised by counsel of the terms of this

Order, shall be informed that he or she is subject to the terms and conditions of this Order,

and shall sign an acknowledgment that he or she has received a copy of, has read, and has

agreed to be bound by this Order. A copy of the acknowledgment form is attached as

Appendix A.

18. To the extent that any discovery is taken of persons who are not Parties to this Action (“Third

Parties”) and in the event that such Third Parties contended the discovery sought involves

trade secrets, confidential business information, or other proprietary information, then such

Third Parties may agree to be bound by this Order.

19. To the extent that discovery or testimony is taken of Third Parties, the Third Parties may

designate as “CONFIDENTIAL” or “RESTRICTED -- ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY” any

documents, information or other material, in whole or in part, produced or given by such

Third Parties. The Third Parties shall have ten (10) days after production of such documents,

information or other materials to make such a designation. Until that time period lapses or

until such a designation has been made, whichever occurs sooner, all documents,

information or other material so produced or given shall be treated as “CONFIDENTIAL”

in accordance with this Order.

20. Within thirty (30) days of final termination of this Action, including any appeals, all

DESIGNATED MATERIAL, including all copies, duplicates, abstracts, indexes,

summaries, descriptions, and excerpts or extracts thereof (excluding excerpts or extracts

incorporated into any privileged memoranda of the Parties and materials which have been

admitted into evidence in this Action), shall at the producing Party’s election either be

returned to the producing Party or be destroyed. The receiving Party shall verify the return

or destruction by affidavit furnished to the producing Party, upon the producing Party’s

request.

21. The failure to designate documents, information or material in accordance with this Order

and the failure to object to a designation at a given time shall not preclude the filing of a

motion at a later date seeking to impose such designation or challenging the propriety

thereof. The entry of this Order and/or the production of documents, information and

material hereunder shall in no way constitute a waiver of any objection to the furnishing

thereof, all such objections being hereby preserved.

22. Any Party knowing or believing that any other party is in violation of or intends to violate

this Order and has raised the question of violation or potential violation with the opposing

party and has been unable to resolve the matter by agreement may move the Court for such

relief as may be appropriate in the circumstances. Pending disposition of the motion by the

Court, the Party alleged to be in violation of or intending to violate this Order shall

discontinue the performance of and/or shall not undertake the further performance of any

action alleged to constitute a violation of this Order.

23. Production of DESIGNATED MATERIAL by each of the Parties shall not be deemed a

publication of the documents, information and material (or the contents thereof) produced

so as to void or make voidable whatever claim the Parties may have as to the proprietary and

confidential nature of the documents, information or other material or its contents.

24. Nothing in this Order shall be construed to effect an abrogation, waiver or limitation of any

kind on the rights of each of the Parties to assert any applicable discovery or trial privilege.

25. Each of the Parties shall also retain the right to file a motion with the Court (a) to modify

this Order to allow disclosure of DESIGNATED MATERIAL to additional persons or

entities if reasonably necessary to prepare and present this Action and (b) to apply for

additional protection of DESIGNATED MATERIAL.

So ORDERED and SIGNED this _17_ day of Nov, 2021.

P. KEVIN CASTEL

UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

AGREED TO:

/s/ Elizabeth M. Manno /s/ J. Thomas Vitt

Elizabeth M. Manno J. Thomas Vitt (MN Bar #0183817)*

VENABLE LLP Sanjiv P. Laud (MN Bar #0395115)*

600 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Joshua M. Taylor (MN Bar #0401929)*

Washington, D.C. 20001 JONES DAY

T: (202) 344-4000 90 South Seventh Street

F: (202) 344-8300 Suite 4950

emmanno@venable.com Minneapolis, MN 55402

Telephone: +1.612.217.8800

Timothy Carroll Facsimile: +1.844.345.3178

VENABLE LLP tvitt@jonesday.com

227 W. Monroe Street, Suite 3950 slaud@jonesday.com

Chicago IL 60606 joshuataylor@jonesday.com

T: (312) 820-3400

F: (312) 820-3401 Marlee R. Hartenstein (PA Bar #326079)*

tyjcarroll@venable.com JONES DAY

500 Grant Street

Thomas John Welling Suite 4500

VENABLE LLP Pittsburgh, PA 15219

1270 Avenue of Americas Telephone: +1.412.301.3939

New York, NY 10020 Facsimile: +1.412.394.7959

212-503-0558 mhartenstein@jonesday.com

Email: tywelling@venable.com

Stuart W. Yothers (SY2001)

Counsel for Plaintiff Simon Property Group, | JONES DAY

LP. 250 Vesey Street

New York, New York 10281

Telephone: +1.212.326.3893

Fascimile: = +1.212.755.7306

syothers@jonesday.com

* admitted pro hac vice

Attorneys for Defendant U.S. Bank National

Association

1]

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

SIMON PROPERTY GROUP, L.P

Plaintiff,

Case No.: 1:21-cv-07850 (PKC)

v.

U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION,

Defendant.

APPENDIX A

UNDERTAKING OF EXPERTS OR CONSULTANTS REGARDING

PROTECTIVE ORDER

I, , declare that:

1. My address is

My current employer is .

My current occupation is .

2. I have received a copy of the Protective Order in this action. I have carefully read and

understand the provisions of the Protective Order.

3. I will comply with all of the provisions of the Protective Order. I will hold in confidence,

will not disclose to anyone not qualified under the Protective Order, and will use only for

purposes of this action any information designated as “CONFIDENTIAL” or

“RESTRICTED -- ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY” that is disclosed to me.

4. Promptly upon termination of these actions, I will return all documents and things

designated as “CONFIDENTIAL” or “RESTRICTED -- ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY”

that came into my possession, and all documents and things that I have prepared relating

thereto, to the outside counsel for the party by whom I am employed.

5. I hereby submit to the jurisdiction of this Court for the purpose of enforcement of the

Protective Order in this action.

I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.

Signature Date:

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