In Boston Scientific Corp., et al. v. Edwards Lifesciences Corp., et al., C.A. No. 16-275-SLR-SRF (D. Del. Dec. 27, 2016), Magistrate Judge Sherry R. Fallon denied Defendants’ request to include in the protective order an objection procedure for disclosure of confidential material to non-U.S. counsel in counterpart litigation. The Court concluded that the following provision would reveal counsel’s work product because it would reveal which documents were “important to Plaintiffs”: “Prior to disclosure of Protected Material to Designated Foreign Counsel, the Party seeking disclosure shall provide written notice to the Producing Party identifying (i) the names of the Designated Foreign Counsel and (ii) the specific Protected Material sought to be disclosed to the Designated Foreign Counsel.” Id. at 2.
Defendants argued that the provision was necessary to provide a mechanism by which disclosure of sensitive documents could be objected to, and maintained that “foreign counsel access is unnecessary for coordinating litigation strategy.” Id. at 3. It further argued that the provision was “modeled after a provision in [another case’s] protective order.” Id. However, the Court observed that “the [other order’s] provision upon which [the proposed provision] is modeled relates to the use of documents in foreign actions. Whereas, in the present case, there is no pending request to use the documents in foreign litigation. Plaintiffs previously agreed that the documents would not be used in any foreign litigation. Therefore, the addition of [the provision] is unnecessary.” Id. (emphasis in original).
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