Helmick v. BNSF Railway Company

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF NORTH DAKOTA
Sidney W. Helmick,
Plaintiff,
vs.
BNSF Railway Company, a Delaware
corporation,
Defendants.
Civil Action No. 1:23-cv-00040-DLH-CRH
PROTECTIVE ORDER
The parties having jointly moved the Court to enter a Protective Order, and the
Court having reviewed the file, and good cause appearing, it is hereby ORDERED as
follows:
1. 	The training materials to be produced by Defendant BNSF in response to
Plaintiff’s Request for Production of Documents No. 27 (the “Confidential Materials”)
shall be marked “Confidential” and shall be treated as confidential by the parties.
2. 	The Confidential Materials shall not be shared or distributed in any way to any
person except as specified below:
3. 	The Confidential Materials may be disclosed with the prior written consent of
BNSF or its counsel.
4. 	The Confidential Materials may be disclosed by further order of this Court.
5. 	The Confidential Materials may be provided to the Court in connection with its
consideration of any motion.
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6. 	The Confidential Materials may be shared with the employees of the Hunegs,
LeNeave & Kvas, P.A. law firm. 	Counsel shall ensure employees are familiar with and
abide by the terms of the Protective Order.
7. 	The 	Confidential 	Materials 	may 	be 	shared 	with 	the 	parties’ 	experts 	and
consultants in this litigation if those experts and consultants agree to be bound by the
Protective Order.
8. 	A deponent may, during the deposition, be shown and examined about the
Confidential Materials if the deponent is the party who initially produced the material or
disclosed 	the 	information; 	if 	the 	deponent 	is 	a 	current 	employee, 	corporate
representative, or expert witness for such party; or if the deponent agrees to be bound
by the provisions of the Protective Order in writing.
9. 	Counsel for the parties are responsible for employing reasonable measures to
control duplication of, access to, and distribution of copies of the Confidential Materials.
10. Within 60 days after termination of this action (including any appeals), Plaintiff
shall return or destroy all Confidential Materials and notify BNSF that it has returned or
destroyed all Confidential Materials. 	Notwithstanding the foregoing, each attorney may
retain a copy of any Confidential Materials submitted to the Court.
11. Plaintiff’s compliance with this Protective Order shall not constitute an admission
that information designated by BNSF as Confidential is, in fact, proprietary information.
Plaintiff may challenge BNSF’s designation of the training materials as Confidential by
submitting written objections to BNSF. Upon receipt of any objection to the designation
of the training materials as Confidential, the parties shall confer in good faith to resolve
the objection. 	If such objections cannot be resolved, Plaintiff may raise the issue by
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Dated: __________________ 	_________________________________
Clare R. Hochhalter, Magistrate Judge
United States District Court
4860-0823-3620, v. 1
motion or other notice with the Court, in which event BNSF will have the burden of
demonstrating good cause that the Confidential Materials in dispute are entitled to
protection.
12. Nothing herein shall affect Plaintiff’s right to contest or appeal any designation or
finding that the said material subject to this Protective Order is proprietary and/or
confidential. 	If the Court holds that such materials were not properly designated as
Confidential, then such material will no longer be subject to this Protective Order.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 	___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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