Brown

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

ALTAUNE BROWN,

25-CV-9207 (JMF)

Plaintiff,

- against - CONFIDENTIALITY STIPULATION AND

[PROPOSED] PROTECTIVE ORDER

NY COMMUNITY FINANCIAL, LLC.

Defendant(s).

WHEREAS, the parties having agreed to the following terms of confidentiality, and the

Court having found that good cause exists for the issuance of an appropriately tailored

confidentiality order pursuant to Rule 26(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, it is hereby

ORDERED that the following restrictions and procedures shall apply to the information

and documents exchanged by the parties in connection with the pre-trial phase of this action:

1. Counsel for any party may designate any document or information, in whole or in

part, as confidential if counsel determines, in good faith, that such designation is necessary to

protect the interests of the client in information that is proprietary, a trade secret, or otherwise

sensitive non-public information (“Confidential Information”). Information and documents

designated by a party as confidential will be stamped “CONFIDENTIAL.”

2. The Confidential Information disclosed will be held and used by the person

receiving such information solely for use in connection with the action.

3. In the event a party challenges another party’s designation of confidentiality,

counsel shall make a good faith effort to resolve the dispute, and in the absence of a resolution,

the challenging party may seek resolution by the Court. Nothing in this Protective Order

constitutes an admission by any party that Confidential Information disclosed in this case is

relevant or admissible. Each party reserves the right to object to the use or admissibility of the

Confidential Information.

4. Documents designated as “CONFIDENTIAL” shall not be disclosed to any

person, except:

a. The requesting party and counsel, including in-house counsel;

b. Employees of such counsel assigned to and necessary to assist in the

litigation;

c. Consultants or experts assisting in the prosecution or defense of the

matter, to the extent deemed necessary by counsel; and

d. The Court (including the mediator, or other person having access to any

Confidential Information by virtue of his or her position with the Court).

The parties should meet and confer if any production requires a designation of “For Attorneys’

or Experts’ Eyes Only.”

5. Prior to disclosing or displaying the Confidential Information to any person,

counsel must:

a. Inform the person of the confidential nature of the information or

documents;

b. Inform the person that this Court has enjoined the use of the information

or documents by him/her for any purpose other than this litigation and has

enjoined the disclosure of the information or documents to any other

person; and

c. Require each such person to sign an agreement to be bound by this Order

in the form attached as Exhibit A.

6. The disclosure of a document or information without designating it as

“CONFIDENTIAL” shall not constitute a waiver of the right to designate such document or

information as Confidential Information. If so designated, the document or information shall

thereafter be treated as Confidential Information subject to all the terms of this Stipulation and

Order.

7. Any Personally Identifying Information (“PII”) (e.g., social security numbers,

financial account numbers, passwords, and information that may be used for identity theft)

exchanged in discovery shall be maintained by the receiving party in a manner that is secure.

8. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502, the production of privileged or work

product protected documents or communications, electronically stored information (“ESI”) or

information, whether inadvertent or otherwise, shall not constitute a waiver of the privilege or

protection from discovery in this case or in any other federal or state proceeding. This Order

shall be interpreted to provide the maximum protection allowed by Federal Rule of Evidence

502(d). Nothing contained herein is intended to or shall serve to limit a party’s right to conduct a

review of documents, ESI or information (including metadata) for relevance, responsiveness

and/or segregation of privileged and/or protected information before production.

9. Notwithstanding the designation of information as “CONFIDENTIAL” in

discovery, there is no presumption that such information shall be filed with the Court under seal.

The parties shall follow the Court’s procedures for requests for filing under seal.

10. At the conclusion of litigation, Confidential Information and any copies thereof

shall be promptly (and in no event later than 30 days after entry of final judgment no longer

subject to further appeal) returned to the producing party or certified as destroyed, except that the

parties’ counsel shall be permitted to retain their working files on the condition that those files

will remain protected.

11. — Nothing herein shall preclude the parties from disclosing material designated to

be Confidential Information if otherwise required by law or pursuant to a valid subpoena.

SO STIPULATED AND AGREED.

Dated: May 29, 2026

New York, New York

Bind arks, Esq. Laura L. Gongaware,

Counsel for Plaintiff(s) Counsel for Defendant(s)

SO ORDERED.

United States District Judge

June 3, 2026

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

Agreement

I have been informed by counsel that certain documents or information to be disclosed to

me in connection with the matter entitled __________________ have been designated as

confidential. I have been informed that any such documents or information labeled

“CONFIDENTIAL” are confidential by Order of the Court. I hereby agree that I will not disclose

any information contained in such documents to any other person. I further agree not to use any

such information for any purpose other than this litigation.

Dated: _________________, 20__

_____________________________ _____________________________

Name (printed) Signature

Signed in the presence of:

________________________________

(Attorney)