Free Motion for Protective Order - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:05-cv-00612-CCM

Document 25

Filed 12/05/2006

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS SUSAN CARSON, Plaintiff, v. THE UNITED STATES, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

05-612 (Judge Block)

JOINT MOTION FOR A PROTECTIVE ORDER The parties request that the Court enter a protective order that would allow defendant to produce documents that contain information that is protected by the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a. Plaintiff also seeks to keep confidential medical or financial records and/or other documents which contain sensitive and/or private information. We attach a proposed protective order. Plaintiff has requested that the Government produce documents regarding other Technology Licensing Specialists within the Office of Technology Transfer, such as their evaluations, awards, bonuses, training, resumes, SF-50s, and other documents regarding their employment. See attached Plaintiff's First. Request for Documents, Nos. 3-8, 19, 26. The Government has objected to producing these documents to the extent protected by the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a. The Privacy Act provides that "[n]o agency shall disclose any record which is contained in a system of records by any means of communication to any person, or to another agency, except pursuant to a written request by, or with the prior written consent of, the individual to whom the record pertains . . . ." 5 U.S.C. § 552a(b). The term "record" is broadly defined as "any item, collection, or grouping of information about an individual that is maintained by an

Case 1:05-cv-00612-CCM

Document 25

Filed 12/05/2006

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agency, including, but not limited to, his education, financial transactions, medical history, criminal or employment history and that his name, or the identifying number, symbol, or other identifying particular assigned to the individual . . . ." 5 U.S.C. § 552a(a)(4)(emphasis added). The Privacy Act, however, permits the agency to produce such "records" pursuant to a court order. 5 U.S.C. § 522a(b)(11). The parties, therefore, believe that a protective order would facilitate discovery in this case. For these reasons, the parties respectfully request that the court issue the proposed protective order. Respectfully submitted, PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General DAVID M. COHEN Director

s/ Kathryn A. Bleecker KATHRYN A. BLEECKER Assistant Director

s/ Camilla C. McKinney CAMILLA C. MCKINNEY Law Offices of Camilla C. McKinney 1100 Fifteenth St., N.W. Suite 300 Washington, D.C. 20005 Tel: (202) 861-2934 Fax: (202) 517-9111 Attorney for Plaintiff

s/ Nancy M. Kim NANCY M. KIM Trial Attorney Department of Justice Civil Division Commercial Litigation Branch 1100 L Street, N.W. Attn: Classification Unit, 8th Floor Washington, D.C. 20530 Tel: (202) 353­0546 Fax: (202) 514-8640 Attorneys for Defendant

December 5, 2006

Case 1:05-cv-00612-CCM

Document 25

Filed 12/05/2006

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CERTIFICATE OF FILING I hereby certify that on December 5, 2006, a copy of the foregoing "JOINT MOTION FOR A PROTECTIVE ORDER" was filed electronically. I understand that notice of this filing will be sent to all parties by operation of the Court's electronic filing system. Parties may access this filing through the Court's system.

s/ Nancy M. Kim