The opinion
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
IULIIA POTAPOVA, )
)
Plaintiff, )
)
v. )
) Case No. 1:24-cv-06703-JMF
EXPERIAN INFORMATION
)
SOLUTIONS, INC., et al.,
)
)
Defendants.
)
)
STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER
IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED by and between Plaintiff Iuliia Potapova (“Plaintiff”) and
Defendants Experian Information Solutions, Inc. (“Experian”), Trans Union LLC (“Trans
Union”), and Equifax Information Services, LLC ("Equifax," and collectively with Experian and
Trans Union, “Defendants”), through their respective attorneys of record, as follows:
WHEREAS, documents, testimony and information have been and may be sought,
produced or exhibited by and among the parties relating to trade secrets, proprietary systems,
confidential applicant or employee information, confidential commercial information, confidential
research and development, or other proprietary information belonging to Defendants and/or credit
and other confidential information of Plaintiff and third parties whose information may be
disclosed during the discovery process.
THEREFORE, this Court orders as follows:
1. This Order shall govern the use, handling and disclosure of all documents,
testimony or information produced or given in this action that are designated to be subject to this
Order.
2. Any documents, testimony or information submitted, either voluntarily or pursuant
to any subsequent order, which is asserted in good faith by the producing party or by any other
party to contain or constitute information protected by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c) or
other provision of law, shall be so designated in writing, or orally at a deposition, hearing, or trial,
and shall be segregated from other information being submitted. Materials so designated shall be
clearly marked on their face with the legend: “Confidential.” Such documents, transcripts, or
other materials are referred herein as “Confidential Materials.”
3. A party wishing to designate portions of a deposition transcript Confidential
pursuant to this Order must, within 2 business days from the conclusion of the deposition, order
the original or a copy of the transcript of the deposition from the court reporter for regular
turnaround. The designating party may designate those portions of the transcript Confidential, in
accordance with paragraph 2 of this Order. The designating party shall designate such Confidential
Material either on the record or by serving upon all counsel of record, via facsimile or other
electronic transmission, a Notice setting forth the page, line numbers, and designation. The
designating party must serve such Notice within 14 calendar days after its counsel receives a copy
of the deposition transcript. All transcripts will be treated as confidential until the expiration of
the 14-day period described in this paragraph. Any portions of a transcript designated as
confidential shall thereafter be treated as confidential in accordance with this Order. The parties
shall negotiate in good faith to alter the time frames set forth in this paragraph in situations where
a more expedited filing of a designated portion of the deposition transcript is required.
4. All Confidential Materials, and all information derived therefrom (including, but
not limited to, all testimony, deposition or otherwise, that refers, reflects, or otherwise discusses
any such materials), shall not be used, directly or indirectly, by any person for any business,
commercial or competitive purposes or for any purpose whatsoever other than solely for the
preparation and trial of this action in accordance with this Order.
5. The Parties agree that Confidential Materials produced in discovery in this case
shall not be used, be required to be produced or admissible, in whole or in part, in any other legal
or administrative proceedings.
6. Subject to paragraph 9, in the absence of prior written permission from the
designating party or an order by the Court, Confidential Materials shall not be disclosed to any
person other than: (i) the parties and their attorneys and support staff employees who perform work
tasks related to this case; (ii) qualified persons taking testimony involving such material and
necessary stenographic and clerical personnel; (iii) disclosed experts and their staff employed for
this litigation; except that a party may disclose its own Confidential Materials to an expert who
may not be identified as a testifying expert; (iv) present or former employees of the producing
party in connection with their depositions in this action, including witness produced pursuant to
Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(b)(6); (v) witnesses who are deposed in this action or who are called to testify
as witnesses at any hearing in this action, but only in preparation for the deposition or hearing and
only as to such material in which the witness is identified as an originator, author, addressee, or
recipient of the original or a copy; and (vi) the Court, Court personnel, and members of any jury
impaneled to hear this case.
7. Subject to paragraph 9, Confidential Materials shall not be disclosed to any person
designated in paragraph 6(iii) unless he or she has executed a written, dated declaration in the form
attached as Exhibit A, acknowledging that he or she has first read this Order, agreed to be bound
by the terms thereof, agreed not to reveal such Confidential Materials to anyone, and agreed to
utilize such Confidential Materials solely for the purposes of this litigation. All persons to whom
Confidential Materials are disclosed are hereby enjoined from disclosing same to any other person
except as provided in this Order, and are also enjoined from using same, except in the preparation
for and trial of this case between the named parties thereto. No person receiving or reviewing
Confidential Materials shall disseminate or disclose them to any person other than those described
above in Paragraph 6 and for the purposes specified, and in no event shall such person make any
other use of such Confidential Materials.
8. No person receiving or reviewing Confidential Materials shall disseminate or
disclose them to any person other than those described above in paragraphs 6 and 7.
9. In the event that any party disagrees with any designation made under this Order,
that party shall bring it to the attention of the designating party within a reasonable time after
discovering their disagreement. The parties shall first attempt in good faith to resolve the
disagreement informally. If the dispute cannot be resolved and the receiving party concludes in
good faith that the materials have been improperly classified, the receiving party shall notify the
designating party in writing by facsimile or by electronic transmission of its objection, but shall
continue to maintain the documents or other information as confidential for fifteen (15) days after
such notice. The designating party shall have the right to move the Court to retain the designated
status of such materials. If the designating party files such a motion within the fifteen (15) day
period, the receiving party shall continue to retain the materials as Confidential consistent with the
designating party’s designation, until the Court has ruled on the designating party’s motion.
10. Subject to paragraph 9, any party seeking to file Confidential Materials with the
Court must contact the designating party (5) days prior to such filing to: (i) provide the designating
party with notice that it seeks to file Confidential Materials with the Court; and (ii) meet and confer
in good faith to determine whether a redacted version of the Confidential Materials can be filed
with the Court. In the event no agreement is reached for the filing of a redacted version, the party
seeking to file such Confidential Materials shall file such material in accordance with the Local
Rules and Judge Furman’s Individual Rules and Practices in Civil Cases. The parties shall work
together in good faith to coordinate the filing of all motions and material covered by this paragraph
to permit compliance with the Local and Individual Rules.
11. Subject to paragraph 9, within sixty (60) days after the conclusion of this case, upon
request by the designating party, the receiving party shall assemble and return to the designating
party all materials containing information designated in accordance with paragraph 2 above. The
designating party may elect to have its designated materials destroyed rather than returned, in
which case the other party shall provide written verification that the materials, including any
summaries, extracts, compilations, notes, or other attorney work product, have been destroyed.
12. The inadvertent or unintentional disclosure of Confidential Materials by a
producing party of information subject to a claim of attorney-client privilege or work product
immunity shall not be deemed a waiver in whole or in part of the party’s claim of privilege or work
product immunity, either as to the specific information disclosed or as to any other information
relating thereto or on the same subject matter. If a party has inadvertently produced information
subject to a claim of privilege or immunity, the receiving party, upon request, or, on its own
initiative at such time as the receiving party reasonably and in good faith believes itself to be in
possession of inadvertently produced materials subject to a claim of privilege or immunity,
whichever occurs first, shall promptly return the inadvertently produced materials, and all copies
of those materials that may have been made and any notes regarding those materials shall be
destroyed. The party returning such information may move the Court for an order compelling
production.
13. Nothing in this Protective Order shall be construed to prevent a party or a nonparty
from seeking such further provisions regarding confidentiality as may be appropriate or from
seeking an amendment or modification of the existing terms of this Protective Order upon proper
notice, motion, and showing.
14. Nothing in this Protective Order shall be deemed a waiver by a party of any
objections that might be raised as to the relevance or admissibility at trial of evidentiary materials.
15. Except as to documents filed with the Court, this Order shall remain binding after
the conclusion of this case unless otherwise ordered by the Court, and the Court shall retain
jurisdiction over all parties bound hereby for the purposes of enforcing this Order. Each individual
signing the acknowledgment attached as Exhibit A agrees to be subject to the jurisdiction of this
Court for purposes of this Order.
16. This Order does not prevent any party from seeking to seal trial transcripts and/or
trial exhibits, including documents previously filed under seal, or from seeking any other similar
relief pursuant to the local rules.
17. Neither the entry of this Order, nor the designation of any material as Confidential,
nor the failure to make such designation, shall constitute evidence on any issue in this case. The
designation of any materials as Confidential does not waive that party’s objection to any discovery
on the ground that it seeks information protected by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c) or other
provision of law.
18. Nothing herein shall affect or restrict the rights of any party with respect to its own
documents or to the information obtained or developed independently of materials afforded
confidential treatment pursuant to this Order.
19. The Court may impose appropriate sanctions for the disclosure of Confidential
Information in violation of this Protective Order or for the improper designation of documents or
testimony pursuant to this Protective Order.
Dated: March 19, 2025 Respectfully submitted,
/s/ Emily A. Carey
Emily A. Carey
JONES DAY
250 Vesey St.
New York, NY 10281
Tel: (212) 326-3727
Fax: (212) 755-7306
ecarey@jonesday.com
Counsel for Defendant
Experian Information Solutions, Inc.
Dated: March 19, 2025 /s/ Craig C. Marchiando
Craig C. Marchiando
CONSUMER LITIGATION ASSOCIATES
763 J. Clyde Morris Blvd., Suite 1-A
Newport News, VA 23601
Tel: (757) 930-3660
Email: craig@clalegal.com
Abel Luc Pierre
LAW OFFICE OF ABEL L. PIERRE, PC
140 Broadway, 46th Floor
New York, NY 10005
Tel: 212.766.33.23
abel@apierrelaw.com
Counsel for Plaintiff Iuliia Potapova
Dated: March 19, 2025 /s/ Adam Theodore Hill
Adam Theodore Hill
SEYFARTH SHAW LLP
233 S. Wacker Drive
Suite 8000
Chicago, IL 60606
Tel: (312) 460-5954
Fax: (312) 460-7961
ahill@seyfarth.com
Counsel for Defendant Equifax
Information Services, LLC
Dated: March 19, 2025 /s/ Andrew G. Hope
Andrew George Hope
Krista A. Rose (admitted pro hac vice)
BUCHANAN INGERSOLL & ROONEY, P.C.
Two Liberty Place
50S. 16th Street
19102, Suite 3200
Philadelphia, PA 19102
Tel: (215) 665-5322
andrew. hope@bipc.com
Counsel for Defendant
Trans Union LLC
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: _March 20_, 2025 QuG—_
Hon. Jesge M. Furnran
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
This stipulation binds the parties to treat as confidential the documents so classified. This Court,
however, has not reviewed the documents referenced herein; therefore, by so ordering this
stipulation, the Court makes no finding as to whether the documents are confidential. That finding
will be made, if ever, upon a document-by-document review pursuant to the procedures set forth in
the Court’s Individual Rules and Practices and subject to the presumption in favor of public access to
“Judicial documents.” See generally Lugosch v. Pyramid Co. of Onondaga, 435 F.3d 110, 119-20
(2d Cir. 2006). To that end, the Court does not “so order” any provision to the extent that it purports
to authorize the parties to file documents under seal without a prior court order. See New York ex rel.
Khurana v. Spherion Corp., No. 15-CV-6605 (JMF), 2019 WL 3294170 (S.D.N.Y. July 19, 2019).
EXHIBIT A
DECLARATION OF _________________ UNDER
STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER
I, ___________________, being duly sworn, declare as follows:
1. My address is __________________________________________________.
2. My present employer is __________________________________________.
3. My present occupation or job description is ___________________________
I hereby acknowledge that: (i) I have been given a copy of the Stipulated Protective
Order (“Protective Order”) in the above-referenced case; (ii) I have carefully read the Protective
Order; and (iii) I understand and am familiar with the terms of the Protective Order.
I will comply with all of the provisions of the Protective Order. I will hold all
Confidential Materials disclosed to me, including the substance and any copy, summary abstract,
excerpt, index or description, in confidence, and will not disclose such material to anyone not
qualified under the Protective Order. I will not use any Confidential Material disclosed to me for
any purposes other than this case.
I will return all Confidential Material that comes into my possession and all documents
and things that I have prepared relating thereto, to counsel for the Party by who I am retained or
employed, or from whom I received such material.
I hereby submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the Southern
District of New York for the purpose of enforcement of the Protective Order in this case.
I declare under the penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.
Executed this ____ day of _____________, 20__, at __________________.
_____________________________
QUALIFIED PERSON