# Almhana v. Trestle Creek LLC > District Court, E.D. Washington · April 30, 2021 URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/10697311 ## Case - **Court:** District Court, E.D. Washington - **Decided:** April 30, 2021 - **Opinion:** 100trialcourt - **Cited by:** 0 later opinions in the Frix Law Library ## Citator (automated) - No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases. - Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/10697311 ## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction) - recognizing a long-held First Amendment right of access to court 3 proceedings and documents ## Opinion text 1 FILED IN THE U.S. DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 2 Apr 30, 2021 3 SEAN F. MCAVOY, CLERK 4 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 6 7 HAITHAM ALMHANA, and A.H. and the marital community comprised NO: 2:20-CV-399-RMP 8 thereof, STIPULATED PROTECTIVE 9 Plaintiffs, ORDER 10 v. 11 TRESTLE CREEK, LLC; GREYSTAR MANAGEMENT 12 SERVICES, LP; and REBEKAH GIFFORD, 13 Defendants. 14 15 BEFORE THE COURT is a Stipulated Protective Order, ECF No. 25, by 16 Plaintiffs A.H. and Haitham Almhana and Defendants Trestle Creek LLC, et al. A 17 district court may issue protective orders regarding discovery upon a showing of 18 good cause. Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c). Before issuing a stipulated protective order, a 19 district court judge should ensure that the protective order’s restrictions do not 20 infringe on the public’s general right to inspect and copy judicial records and 21 documents. See Kamakana v. City and Cty. of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1178 (9th 1 Cir. 2006); see also Courthouse News Serv. v. Planet, 947 F.3d 581, 589 (9th Cir. 2 2020) (recognizing a long-held First Amendment right of access to court 3 proceedings and documents). 4 Having reviewed the protective order and the remaining record, the Court 5 finds good cause to grant the stipulated motion and enter the agreed-upon protective 6 order and exhibit. Accordingly, the parties’ stipulated protective order, ECF No. 25, 7 is ACCEPTED in the form set forth below. 8 PROTECTIVE ORDER 9 1. PURPOSES AND LIMITATIONS 10 Discovery in this action is likely to involve production of confidential, 11 proprietary, or private information for which special protection may be warranted. 12 Accordingly, the parties hereby stipulate to and petition the court to enter the 13 following Stipulated Protective Order. The parties acknowledge that this agreement 14 does not confer blanket protection on all disclosures or responses to discovery, the 15 protection it affords from public disclosure and use extends only to the limited 16 information or items that are entitled to confidential treatment under the applicable 17 legal principles, and it does not presumptively entitle parties to file confidential 18 information under seal. 19 20 21 1 2. “CONFIDENTIAL” MATERIAL 2 “Confidential” material shall include documents marked “confidential” by 3 one of the parties and shall also include the following documents and tangible things 4 produced or otherwise exchanged, regardless of whether or not the documents are 5 marked “confidential”: The medical records of A.H., one of the plaintiffs in this case, 6 and the name of A.H. A.H. must only be identified by the initials A.H. 7 3. SCOPE 8 The protections conferred by this agreement cover not only confidential 9 material (as defined above), but also (1) any information copied or extracted from 10 confidential material; (2) all copies, excerpts, summaries, or compilations of 11 confidential material; and (3) any testimony, conversations, or presentations by 12 parties or their counsel that might reveal confidential material. 13 However, the protections conferred by this agreement do not cover 14 information that is in the public domain or becomes part of the public domain 15 through trial or otherwise. 16 4. ACCESS TO AND USE OF CONFIDENTIAL MATERIAL 17 4.1 Basic Principles. A receiving party may use confidential material that 18 is disclosed or produced by another party or by a non-party in connection with this 19 case only for prosecuting, defending, or attempting to settle this litigation. 20 Confidential material may be disclosed only to the categories of persons and under 21 the conditions described in this agreement. Confidential material must be stored and 1 maintained by a receiving party at a location and in a secure manner that ensures that 2 access is limited to the persons authorized under this agreement. 3 4.2 Disclosure of “CONFIDENTIAL” Information or Items. Unless 4 otherwise ordered by the court or permitted in writing by the designating party, a 5 receiving party may disclose any confidential material only to: 6 (a) the receiving party’s counsel of record in this action, as well as 7 employees of counsel to whom it is reasonably necessary to disclose the information 8 for this litigation; 9 (b) the officers, directors, and employees (including in house 10 counsel) of the receiving party to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for this 11 litigation, unless the parties agree that a particular document or material produced is 12 for Attorney’s Eyes Only and is so designated; 13 (c) experts and consultants to whom disclosure is reasonably 14 necessary for this litigation and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and 15 Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A); 16 (d) the court, court personnel, and court reporters and their staff; 17 (e) copy or imaging services retained by counsel to assist in the 18 duplication of confidential material, provided that counsel for the party retaining the 19 copy or imaging service instructs the service not to disclose any confidential material 20 to third parties and to immediately return all originals and copies of any confidential 21 material; 1 (f) during their depositions, witnesses in the action to whom 2 disclosure is reasonably necessary and who have signed the “Acknowledgment and 3 Agreement to Be Bound” (Exhibit A), unless otherwise agreed by the designating 4 party or ordered by the court. Pages of transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits 5 to depositions that reveal confidential material must be separately bound by the court 6 reporter and may not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted under this 7 agreement; 8 (g) the author or recipient of a document containing the information 9 or a custodian or other person who otherwise possessed or knew the information. 10 4.3 Filing Confidential Material. Before filing confidential material or 11 discussing or referencing such material in court filings, the filing party shall confer 12 with the designating party to determine whether the designating party will remove 13 the confidential designation, whether the document can be redacted, or whether a 14 motion to seal or stipulation and proposed order is warranted. During the meet and 15 confer process, the designating party must identify the basis for sealing the specific 16 confidential information at issue, and the filing party shall include this basis in its 17 motion to seal, along with any objection to sealing the information at issue. Failure 18 to satisfy this requirement will result in the motion to seal being denied, in 19 accordance with the strong presumption of public access to the Court’s files. 20 21 1 5. DESIGNATING PROTECTED MATERIAL 2 5.1 Exercise of Restraint and Care in Designating Material for Protection. 3 Each party or non-party that designates information or items for protection under 4 this agreement must take care to limit any such designation to specific material that 5 qualifies under the appropriate standards. The designating party must designate for 6 protection only those parts of material, documents, items, or oral or written 7 communications that qualify, so that other portions of the material, documents, 8 items, or communications for which protection is not warranted are not swept 9 unjustifiably within the ambit of this agreement. 10 Mass, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited. Designations 11 that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that have been made for an improper 12 purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily encumber or delay the case development process or 13 to impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) expose the 14 designating party to sanctions. 15 If it comes to a designating party’s attention that information or items that it 16 designated for protection do not qualify for protection, the designating party must 17 promptly notify all other parties that it is withdrawing the mistaken designation. 18 5.2 Manner and Timing of Designations. Except as otherwise provided in 19 this agreement (see, e.g., second paragraph of section 5.2(a) below), or as otherwise 20 21 1 stipulated or ordered, disclosure or discovery material that qualifies for protection 2 under this agreement must be clearly so designated before or when the material is 3 disclosed or produced. 4 (a) Information in documentary form: (e.g., paper or electronic 5 documents and deposition exhibits, but excluding transcripts of depositions or other 6 pretrial or trial proceedings), the designating party must affix the word 7 “CONFIDENTIAL” to each page that contains confidential material. If only a 8 portion or portions of the material on a page qualifies for protection, the producing 9 party also must clearly identify the protected portion(s) (e.g., by making appropriate 10 markings in the margins). Notwithstanding the foregoing, any medical records 11 related to A.H., a plaintiff in this case, and the name of A.H. shall be deemed 12 confidential regardless of whether it is marked “confidential.” A.H. must only be 13 identified by the initials A.H. 14 (b) Testimony given in deposition or in other pretrial proceedings: 15 the parties and any participating non-parties must identify on the record, during the 16 deposition or other pretrial proceeding, all protected testimony, without prejudice to 17 their right to so designate other testimony after reviewing the transcript. Any party 18 or non-party may, within fifteen days after receiving the transcript of the deposition 19 or other pretrial proceeding, designate portions of the transcript, or exhibits thereto, 20 as confidential. If a party or non-party desires to protect confidential information at 21 trial, the issue should be addressed during the pre-trial conference. 1 (c) Other tangible items: the producing party must affix in a 2 prominent place on the exterior of the container or containers in which the 3 information or item is stored the word “CONFIDENTIAL.” If only a portion or 4 portions of the information or item warrant protection, the producing party, to the 5 extent practicable, shall identify the protected portion(s). 6 5.3 Inadvertent Failures to Designate. If timely corrected, an inadvertent 7 failure to designate qualified information or items does not, standing alone, waive 8 the designating party’s right to secure protection under this agreement for such 9 material. Upon timely correction of a designation, the receiving party must make 10 reasonable efforts to ensure that the material is treated in accordance with the 11 provisions of this agreement. 12 6. CHALLENGING CONFIDENTIALITY DESIGNATIONS 13 6.1 Timing of Challenges. Any party or non-party may challenge a 14 designation of confidentiality at any time. Unless a prompt challenge to a 15 designating party’s confidentiality designation is necessary to avoid foreseeable, 16 substantial unfairness, unnecessary economic burdens, or a significant disruption or 17 delay of the litigation, a party does not waive its right to challenge a confidentiality 18 designation by electing not to mount a challenge promptly after the original 19 designation is disclosed. 20 6.2 Meet and Confer. The parties must make every attempt to resolve any 21 dispute regarding confidential designations without court involvement. Any motion 1 regarding confidential designations or for a protective order must include a 2 certification, in the motion or in a declaration or affidavit, that the movant has 3 engaged in a good faith meet and confer conference with other affected parties in an 4 effort to resolve the dispute without court action. The certification must list the date, 5 manner, and participants to the conference. A good faith effort to confer requires a 6 face-to-face meeting or a telephone conference. 7 6.3 Judicial Intervention. If the parties cannot resolve a challenge without 8 court intervention, the designating party may file and serve a motion to retain 9 confidentiality. The burden of persuasion in any such motion shall be on the 10 designating party. Frivolous challenges, and those made for an improper purpose 11 (e.g., to harass or impose unnecessary expenses and burdens on other parties) may 12 expose the challenging party to sanctions. All parties shall continue to maintain the 13 material in question as confidential until the court rules on the challenge. 14 7. PROTECTED MATERIAL SUBPOENAED OR ORDERED PRODUCED 15 IN OTHER LITIGATION 16 If a party is served with a subpoena or a court order issued in other litigation 17 that compels disclosure of any information or items designated in this action as 18 “CONFIDENTIAL,” that party must: 19 (a) promptly notify the designating party in writing and include a 20 copy of the subpoena or court order; 21 (b) promptly notify in writing the party who caused the subpoena or 1 order to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the material covered by the 2 subpoena or order is subject to this agreement. Such notification shall include a copy 3 of this agreement; and 4 (c) cooperate with respect to all reasonable procedures sought to be 5 pursued by the designating party whose confidential material may be affected. 6 8. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED MATERIAL 7 If a receiving party learns that, by inadvertence or otherwise, it has disclosed 8 confidential material to any person or in any circumstance not authorized under this 9 agreement, the receiving party must immediately (a) notify in writing the designating 10 party of the unauthorized disclosures, (b) use its best efforts to retrieve all 11 unauthorized copies of the protected material, (c) inform the person or persons to 12 whom unauthorized disclosures were made of all the terms of this agreement, and 13 (d) request that such person or persons execute the “Acknowledgment and 14 Agreement to Be Bound” that is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 15 9. INADVERTENT PRODUCTION OF PRIVILEGED OR OTHERWISE 16 PROTECTED MATERIAL 17 When a producing party gives notice to receiving parties that certain 18 inadvertently produced material is subject to a claim of privilege or other protection, 19 the obligations of the receiving parties are those set forth in Federal Rule of Civil 20 Procedure 26(b)(5)(B). This provision is not intended to modify whatever procedure 21 may be established in an e-discovery order or agreement that provides for production 1 without prior privilege review. The parties agree to the entry of a non-waiver order 2 under Fed. R. Evid. 502(d) as set forth herein. 3 10. NON-TERMINATION AND RETURN OF DOCUMENTS 4 Within 60 days after the termination of this action, including all appeals, each 5 receiving party must return all confidential material to the producing party, including 6 all copies, extracts and summaries thereof. Alternatively, the parties may agree upon 7 appropriate methods of destruction. 8 Notwithstanding this provision, counsel are entitled to retain one archival 9 copy of all documents filed with the court, trial, deposition, and hearing transcripts, 10 correspondence, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, attorney work product, 11 and consultant and expert work product, even if such materials contain confidential 12 material. 13 The confidentiality obligations imposed by this agreement shall remain in 14 effect until a designating party agrees otherwise in writing or a court orders 15 otherwise. 16 IT IS SO ORDERED. The District Court Clerk is directed to enter this 17 Order and Exhibit and provide copies to counsel. 18 DATED April 30, 2021. 19 s/ Rosanna Malouf Peterson 20 ROSANNA MALOUF PETERSON United States District Judge 21 --- Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/10697311. Public record. Not legal advice.