Palacios Vazquez v. Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska

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8:24-cv-00480-BCB-RCC
Doc # 49 Filed: 11/25/25
Page 1 of 11 - Page ID #
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEBRASKA
HUGO PALACIOS VAZQUEZ,
Plaintiff,
8:24CV480
VS.
PROTECTIVE ORDER
BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA,
Defendant.
Upon consideration of the parties' joint request for entry of a Protective Order, (Filing No. 48), the Court enters the following Protective Order governing the disclosure of Confidential Discovery Material by a Producing Party to a Receiving Party in this Action.
1) Definitions. As used in this Protective Order:
a. "Action" refers to the above-captioned litigation.
b. "BRUN" refers to the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska.
c. "Discovery Material" includes all information exchanged between the parties, whether gathered through informal requests or communications between the parties or their counsel, or gathered through formal discovery conducted pursuant to Rules 30 through 36, and Rule 45. Discovery Material includes information within documents, depositions, deposition exhibits, and other written, recorded, computerized, electronic or graphic matter, copies, and excerpts or summaries of documents disclosed as required under Rule 26(a).
d. A "Producing Party" is a party to this Action, or a non-party either acting on a party's behalf or responding to discovery pursuant to a Rule 45 subpoena, that produces Discovery Material in this Action.
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AUTHENTICATED U.S. GOVERNMENT INFORMATION GPO

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e. A “Receiving Party” is a party to this Action that receives Discovery Material
from a Producing Party in this Action.
f. “UNMC” refers to the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
2) Confidential Discovery Material. This Protective Order applies to all
Confidential Discovery Material produced or obtained in this case. For the purposes of
this Protective Order, Confidential Discovery Material shall mean and include:
a. Commercial information relating to the business of any party, BRUN, or
UNMC, including, but not limited to, tax data, financial information,
financial or business plans or projections, proposed strategic transactions or
other business combinations, internal audit practices, procedures, and
outcomes, trade secrets or other commercially sensitive business or technical
information, proprietary business and marketing plans and strategies, studies
or analyses by internal or outside experts, competitive analyses, profit/loss
information, product or service pricing or billing agreements or guidelines,
and/or confidential project-related information;
b. Personnel records and data of the parties, BRUN, and UNMC, as well as
current and former employees of BRUN and/or UNMC, including but not
limited to: employment application information; the identity of and
information received from employment references; wage and income
information; employees’ personal or financial information; employee
contracts or agreements; benefits information; employment policies and
procedures; employee evaluations; medical evaluation and treatment
information and records; counseling or mental health records; educational
records; and employment counseling, discipline, or performance
improvement documentation;
c. Information concerning settlement discussions and mediation, including
demands or offers, arising from a dispute between a party and a non-party or
involving BRUN or UNMC;
d. Medical, counseling, or mental health information;
e. Records restricted or prohibited from disclosure by statute; and
f. Any information copied or extracted from the previously described materials,
including all excerpts, summaries, or compilations of this information or
testimony, and documentation of questioning, statements, conversations, or
presentations that might reveal the information contained within the
underlying Confidential Discovery Material.
3) Manner of Confidential Designation. A Producing Party shall affix a
“Confidential” designation to any Confidential Discovery Material produced in this
Action.
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a. As to documentary information (defined to include paper or electronic
documents, but not transcripts of depositions or other pretrial or trial
proceedings), the Producing Party must affix the legend “Confidential” to
each page that contains protected material.
b. If only a portion or portions of the information on a document page qualifies
for protection, the Producing Party must clearly identify the protected
portion(s) (e.g., by using highlighting, underlining, or appropriate markings
in the margins).
c. If it is not feasible to label Confidential Discovery Material as
“Confidential,” the Producing Party shall indicate via cover letter or
otherwise at the time of production that the material being produced is
“Confidential.”
4) Timing of Confidential Designation.
a. Except as otherwise stipulated or ordered, or where discovery is made
available for inspection before it is formally disclosed, Confidential
Discovery Material that qualifies for protection under this Protective Order
must be clearly so designated before the Confidential Discovery Material is
disclosed or produced.
b. If the Producing Party responds to discovery by making Discovery Material
available for inspection, the Producing Party need not affix confidential
designations until after the Receiving Party has selected the material it wants
to receive. During the inspection and before the designation, all material
made available for inspection is deemed “Confidential.” After the Receiving
Party has identified the Discovery Material it wants produced, the Producing
Party must determine which materials, or portions thereof, qualify for
protection under this Protective Order, and designate the materials as
“Confidential” as required under this Protective Order.
c. All depositions or portions of depositions taken in this Action that contain
Confidential Discovery Material may be designated as “Confidential” either
on the record during the deposition or by written notice to the other party
within thirty (30) days of receipt of the deposition transcript. Unless
otherwise agreed, depositions shall be treated as “Confidential” during the
thirty (30) day period following receipt of the deposition transcript.
5) Qualified Recipients. For purposes of this Protective Order, the persons
authorized to receive Confidential Discovery Material designated as “Confidential”
(hereinafter “Qualified Recipients”) are:
a. The parties, including any members, council members, officers, board
members, directors, regents, and employees of BRUN or UNMC (including
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current and former employees of BRUN or UNMC who have a need to know
or review such Confidential Discovery Material in order to represent
Defendants’ interests in this Action or to sufficiently testify during a
deposition at any trial of this Action), or other legal representatives of the
parties;
b. Legal counsel representing the parties, and members of the paralegal,
secretarial, or clerical staff who are employed by, retained by, or assisting
such counsel, including vendors who are retained to copy documents or
electronic files, provide technical, litigation support, or mock trial services,
or provide messenger or other administrative support services;
c. Any non-expert witness during any deposition or other proceeding in this
Action, and counsel for that witness;
d. Potential witnesses and their counsel, but only to the extent reasonably
related to the anticipated subject matter of the potential witness’s deposition,
trial, or hearing testimony for this Action, so long as such persons agree to
maintain the Confidential Discovery Material in confidence per the terms of
this Protective Order, and provided that such persons may only be shown
copies of Confidential Discovery Material and may not retain any such
material in any medium whatsoever (including physical/paper or electronic
copies);
e. Consulting or testifying expert witnesses who will be providing professional
opinions or assistance for this Action based upon a review of the Confidential
Discovery Material, and the staff and assistants employed by the consulting
or testifying experts;
f. Any mediator or arbitrator retained by the parties to assist with resolving
and/or settling the claims of this Action, and the staff and assistants employed
by the mediator or arbitrator;
g. The parties’ insurers for this Action, and their staff and assistants, members,
officers, board members, directors or other legal representatives;
h. Court reporters for depositions taken in this Action, including persons
operating video recording equipment and persons preparing transcripts of
testimony;
i. The Court and its staff, any court reporter or typist recording or transcribing
hearings and testimony, and jurors; and
j. Any auditor or regulator of a party entitled to review the Confidential
Discovery Material due to contractual rights or obligations, federal or state
laws, or court orders, but solely for such contractual or legal purposes.
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6) Dissemination by the Receiving Party. Counsel for the Receiving Party shall:
a. Require non-expert witnesses, potential witnesses and their counsel, and
consulting or testifying expert witnesses who are Qualified Recipients (as
defined in Section 5(c), 5(d), and 5(e)) who receive Confidential Discovery
Material designated as “Confidential” to review and agree to the terms of this
Protective Order and execute a copy of the Agreement attached hereto as
Exhibit A (“Exhibit A Agreement”) before receiving Confidential Discovery
Material.
b. Instruct witnesses, consultants, and outside counsel who assist with case
preparation or represent a witness that disclosure of Discovery Material
designated as “Confidential” is prohibited as set forth herein.
c. Maintain a record of any Confidential Discovery Material disclosed and to
whom, along with the executed copies of the Exhibit A Agreement.
The prohibition on disclosing Discovery Material designated as “Confidential”
exists and is enforceable by the Court even if the person receiving the information fails or
refuses to sign the Exhibit A Agreement.
7) Duty as to Designations. Each Producing Party that designates Discovery
Material as “Confidential” must exercise reasonable care to limit any such designation to
specific material that qualifies under the appropriate standards, and designate only those
parts of the material, documents, items, or oral or written communications that qualify, so
that other portions of the material, documents, items, or communications for which
protection is not warranted are not swept unjustifiably within the ambit of this Order.
Broadly described, indiscriminate, or routinized designations are prohibited.
8) Limitations on Use. Confidential Discovery Material designated as
“Confidential” shall be used by the Receiving Party only to prepare for and conduct
proceedings herein for purposes of this Action, and not for any business or other purpose
whatsoever, except for purposes of reporting violations of law.
9) Maintaining Confidentiality. Confidential Discovery Material designated as
“Confidential” shall be held in confidence by each Qualified Recipient to whom it is
disclosed, shall be used only for purposes of this Action, and shall not be disclosed to any
person who is not a Qualified Recipient. Each party, each Qualified Recipient, and all
counsel representing any party shall use their best efforts to maintain all Confidential
Discovery Material designated as “Confidential” in such a manner as to prevent access,
even at a hearing or trial, by individuals who are not Qualified Recipients. Nothing herein
prevents disclosure beyond the terms of this Protective Order if the party claiming
confidentiality of Discovery Material consents in writing to such disclosure.
10) Open-Source Artificial Intelligence Platforms. Qualified Recipients shall
not, without express written consent from the Producing Party, upload, share, submit, or
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otherwise provide Confidential Discovery Material, or any information extracted
therefrom, to any open-source artificial intelligence platform or service, including, but not
limited to, platforms or services that use or assemble uploaded information to train or
improve machine-learning models. This prohibition applies regardless of whether the
artificial intelligence platform or service represents it will maintain the confidentiality of
information submitted by the user. Nothing herein prevents a Qualified Recipient from
uploading, submitting, or otherwise providing Confidential Discovery Material, or
information extracted therefrom, to a closed-source artificial intelligence platform or
service, including Westlaw, LexisNexis, Servient’s AI Canvas, or any other closed-source
artificial intelligence platform or service.
11) Copies. Confidential Discovery Material designated as “Confidential” shall not
be copied or otherwise reproduced by the Receiving Party, except for transmission to
Qualified Recipients, without the written permission of the Producing Party or, in the
alternative, by order of the Court. However, nothing herein shall restrict a Qualified
Recipient from loading Confidential Discovery Material designated as
“CONFIDENTIAL” into document review platforms or programs for the purposes of case
or trial preparation or making working copies, abstracts, digests, and analyses of
Confidential Discovery Material designated as “CONFIDENTIAL” under the terms of
this Protective Order.
12) Docket Filings. All documents of any nature including, but not limited to,
briefs, motions, memoranda, transcripts, discovery responses, evidence, and the like that
are filed with the Court for any purpose and that contain Confidential Discovery Material
designated as “Confidential” shall be filed under restricted access pursuant to Local Rule
NECivR 5.3(c). If the pleading or document is already subject to this Protective Order or
contains Confidential Discovery Material designated as “Confidential” pursuant to this
Protective Order, no additional formal motion for leave to file restricted access documents
shall be required. A party seeking to file Confidential Discovery Material designated as
“Confidential” under restricted access must comply with the Court’s rules and electronic
docketing procedures for filings.
13) Compliance with Protective Order. All parties will comply with this
Protective Order even if the Court has not yet entered the Protective Order.
14) Depositions. The following procedures shall be followed at all depositions to
protect the integrity of all Confidential Discovery Material designated as “Confidential”:
a. Only Qualified Recipients may be present at a deposition in which such
information is disclosed or discussed.
b. All deposition testimony which discloses or discusses Confidential
Discovery Material designated as “Confidential” is likewise deemed
designated as “Confidential”.
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c. Confidential Discovery Material designated as “Confidential” may be used
at a nonparty deposition only if necessary to the testimony of the witness.
15) Challenges to Confidentiality Designations. A Receiving Party that questions
the Producing Party’s confidentiality designation must first contact the Producing Party
and confer in good faith to resolve the dispute. If the parties are unable to resolve the
dispute without court intervention, they shall schedule a conference call with the
magistrate judge assigned to this Action before engaging in written motion practice. If a
written motion and briefing are necessary, and if the information in dispute must be
reviewed by the Court to resolve that motion, the Discovery Material designated as
“Confidential” shall be filed under restricted access pursuant to the Court’s electronic
docketing procedures. The party that produced the Confidential Discovery Material
designated as “Confidential” bears the burden of proving it was properly designated. The
party challenging a “Confidential” designation must obtain a court order before
disseminating the information to anyone other than Qualified Recipients.
16) Use at Court Hearings and Trial. Subject to the Federal Rules of Evidence,
Confidential Discovery Material designated as “Confidential” may be offered and
received into evidence at trial or at any hearing or oral argument. A party agreeing to the
entry of this Protective Order does not thereby waive the right to object to the admissibility
of the material in any proceeding, including trial. Any party may move the Court for an
order that Discovery Material designated as “Confidential” be reviewed in camera or
under other conditions to prevent unnecessary disclosure.
17) Return or Destruction of Documents. Upon final termination of this Action,
including all appeals, each party shall make reasonable efforts to thoroughly destroy all
Confidential Discovery Material designated as “Confidential.” The destroying party shall
notify the Producing Party in writing when destruction under this provision is complete.
If a party is unable to destroy all Confidential Discovery Material designated as
“Confidential,” that material shall be returned to the Producing Party or the Producing
Party’s counsel. Notwithstanding the other provisions of this Section, legal counsel for
each party may retain up to two (2) complete sets of the pleadings, trial transcripts,
exhibits admitted in any deposition, documents filed with the Court, deposition transcripts
(including deposition exhibits), and discovery responses and shall remain bound to
preserve the confidentiality of such documents and items in accordance with the
provisions of this Protective Order. Furthermore, nothing herein shall require legal
counsel for any party to return or destroy correspondence, including electronic email
correspondence, which has “Confidential” materials attached thereto. This Protective
Order shall survive the final termination of this action, and it shall be binding on the
parties and their legal counsel in the future.
18) Modification. This Protective Order is entered without prejudice to the right of
any party to ask the Court to order additional protective provisions, or to modify, relax,
or rescind any restrictions imposed by this Protective Order when convenience or
necessity requires. Disclosure other than as provided for herein shall require the prior
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written consent of the Producing Party, or a supplemental Protective Order of the Court.
19) Additional Parties to Litigation. In the event additional parties are joined in
this action, they shall not have access to Discovery Material designated as “Confidential”
until the newly joined party, by its counsel, has executed and, at the request of any party,
filed with the court, its agreement to be fully bound by this Protective Order.
20) Sanctions.
a. Any party subject to the obligations of this Protective Order who is
determined by the Court to have violated its terms may be subject to
sanctions imposed by the Court under Rule 37 of the Federal Rules of Civil
Procedure and the Court’s inherent power.
b. Confidentiality designations that are shown to be clearly unjustified or that
have been made for an improper purpose (e.g., to unnecessarily prolong or
encumber the case development process or to impose unnecessary expenses
and burdens on other parties) may expose the designating party to sanctions
pursuant to Rule 37 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Court’s
inherent power. Upon discovering that certain Confidential Discovery
Material was erroneously designated as Confidential, the Producing Party
shall promptly notify all other parties of the improper designation and
reproduce the Discovery Material at issue without the erroneous
“Confidential” designation.
21) Inadvertent Disclosure of Protected Confidential Discovery Material.
a. A Producing Party that inadvertently fails to properly designate Confidential
Discovery Material as “Confidential” shall have 30 days from discovering
the oversight to correct that failure. Such failure shall be corrected by
providing written notice of the error to every Receiving Party.
b. Any Receiving Party notified that Confidential Discovery Material was
received without the appropriate “Confidential” designation as authorized
under this Protective Order shall make reasonable efforts to retrieve any
such Discovery Material distributed to persons who are not Qualified
Recipients under this Protective Order, and as to Qualified Recipients, shall
exchange the undesignated or improperly designated Confidential
Discovery Material with those that include the correct “Confidential”
designation.
22) Disclosure of Privileged or Work Product Discovery Material.
a. The production of attorney-client privileged, or work-product protected
electronically stored information (“ESI”) or paper documents, whether
disclosed inadvertently or otherwise, shall not be a waiver of the privilege or
protection from discovery in this Action or in any other federal or state
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proceeding. This Protective 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.
b. Any party who discloses documents that are privileged or otherwise immune
from discovery, upon discovery of such disclosure, shall advise the
Receiving Party and request that the documents be returned. The Receiving
Party shall return such produced documents or certify their destruction,
including all copies, within 14 days of receiving such a written request. The
Receiving Party shall also endeavor, in good faith, to return or destroy all
copies of such documents in electronic format, and it shall provide the
Producing Party with written notice that all copies of the documents have
been returned or destroyed. The Receiving Party returning such produced
documents may thereafter seek re-production of any such documents
pursuant to applicable law.
Dated this 25th day of November, 2025.
BY THE COURT:
s/ Ryan C. Carson
United States Magistrate Judge
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8:24-cv-00480-BCB-RCC
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EXHIBIT A
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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEBRASKA
HUGO PALACIOS VAZQUEZ,
Plaintiff,
vs.
BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA,
Defendant.
Case No. 8:24-cv-00480
AGREEMENT
I, the undersigned individual, hereby acknowledge that I am about to receive
discovery material, documents, or information designated as “Confidential” (“Confidential
Discovery Material”) supplied in connection with the above-captioned case. I understand
that such Confidential Discovery Material is being provided to me pursuant to the terms
and restrictions of the Protective Order entered in this case. I have been given a copy of the
Protective Order, have read the Protective Order, and agree to be bound by and comply
with its terms. I understand that Confidential Discovery Material as defined in the
Protective Order, or any notes or other records that may be made regarding any such
materials, shall not be disclosed to any persons except as permitted by the Protective Order.
I further agree that the Protective Order applies to me and that I will submit to the
jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska for the purposes
of any proceedings relating to the Protective Order.
________________________________ ________________________________
Signature Date
_________________________________________
Printed Name
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