Motion for Protective Order in BERNARD TUBEILEH, et al vs. GLOBAL OIL & GAS TEXAS LLC , et al| Trellis.Law

On June 06, 2023 a Stipulation,Agreement was filed involving a dispute between Sinostar Investments Llc, Tubeileh, Bernard, and Global Oil & Gas Fields Oklahoma Llc, for OTHER (CIVIL) in the District Court of Dallas County.

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CAUSE NO. DC-23-07534

BERNARD TUBEILEH AND SINOSTAR §
INVESTMENTS, LLC, § IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF
§
Plaintiffs and Counterclaim- § DALLAS COUNTY, TEXAS
Defendants, §
§ 68TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT
V.
§

GLOBAL OIL & GAS TEXAS, LLC, et al.,
g

Defendants and Counterclaim-
g
Plaintiffs.
§

AGREED PROTECTIVE ORDER
The Court, having been advised that the Parties have reached agreement regarding the

production or disclosure of certain conﬁdential or private information, documents or things, as

described below, and that the disclosure of such Conﬁdential Information without reasonable

restriction on its use may cause harm, damage, loss, embarrassment or disadvantage to the

Producing Party,1 the Parties being in agreement and the Court being fully and duly advised in the

premises, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED:

1. Scope. All materials produced or adduced in the course of discovery, including

initial disclosures, responses to discovery requests, deposition testimony and exhibits, and

information derived directly therefrom (hereinafter collectively “documents”), shall be subject to

this Order concerning Conﬁdential Information as deﬁned below. This Order is subject to any

applicable Local Rule and the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure on matters of procedure and

calculation of time periods.

1
For purposes of this Order, the term "Producing Party" shall be deﬁned as any Party or non-party
who is required to produce or provide materials, testimony, hard copy documents or “ESI,” as
deﬁned in the Stipulated Protocol for Discovery of Electronically Stored Information and Hard
Copy Documents. The term “Receiving Party” shall be deﬁned as any party or non-party who
receives materials, testimony, hard copy documents, or ESI.

Agreed Protective Order - 1
2. Confidential Information. As used in this Order, “Conﬁdential Information”

means information designated as “CONFIDENTIAL - SUBJECT TO PROTECTIVE ORDER” by

the Producing Party, which the Producing Party believes in good faith falls within one or more of

the following categories: (a) information that reveals trade secrets, competitively sensitive

technical, marketing, ﬁnancial, sales or other conﬁdential business information, or information

received from third parties that is subject to a separate protective order, conﬁdentiality agreement,

or otherwise marked conﬁdential; or (b) personal identity information; or (c) income tax returns

(including attached schedules and forms), W-2 forms and 1099 forms; or (d) personnel or

employment records of a person who is not a party to the case; or (e) information that if disclosed

could invade the legitimate privacy interests of the person(s) to whom the information pertains,

including information that is subject to foreign or domestic data privacy laws or regulations.

Information or documents that are available to the public may not be designated as Conﬁdential

Information.

3. Designation.

a. Procedure. A Producing Party may designate a document as Conﬁdential

Information for protection under this Order by placing or affixing the words “CONFIDENTIAL -

SUBJECT TO PROTECTIVE ORDER” on the document and on all copies in a manner that will

not interfere with the legibility of the document. If a party produces a document that contains

Conﬁdential Information in native format, the native ﬁle shall be renamed to include the

conﬁdentiality designation, Where possible. As used in this Order, the term “copies” includes

electronic images, duplicates, extracts, notes, summaries or descriptions that contain the

Conﬁdential Information. The marking “CONFIDENTIAL - SUBJECT TO PROTECTIVE

ORDER” shall be applied prior to or at the time that the documents are produced or disclosed.

Applying the marking “CONFIDENTIAL - SUBJECT TO PROTECTIVE ORDER” to a

Agreed Protective Order - 2
document does not mean that the document has any status or protection by statute or otherwise

except to the extent and for the purposes of this Order. Any copies made of any documents marked

“CONFIDENTIAL -SUBJECT TO PROTECTIVE ORDER” shall also be so marked, except that

indices, electronic databases or lists of documents that do not contain substantial portions or

images of the text of marked documents and do not otherwise disclose the substance of the

Conﬁdential Information are not required to be marked.

b. Designation of Documents by Receiving Party. Any party to this Order may

designate as Conﬁdential Information any document produced by another party or third party,

which document(s) shall be designated as Conﬁdential Information under this Order. This

provision does not apply to documents designated as Conﬁdential Information by the Producing

Party who produced those documents.

c. Inadvertent Failure to Designate. An inadvertent failure to designate a

document as Conﬁdential Information does not waive the right to subsequently so designate the

document. If a party designates a document as Conﬁdential Information after it was initially

produced, the Receiving Party, on notiﬁcation of the designation, must make a reasonable effort

to assure that the document is treated in accordance with the provisions of this Order. No party

shall be found to have violated this Order for failing to maintain the conﬁdentiality of material

during a time when that material has not been designated Conﬁdential Information.

d. Inspection of Materials Prior to Production. In the event that documents,

materials or other information are made subject to inspection prior to their production, no marking

of those materials need be made by the Producing Party at the time of that inspection. For purposes

of such an inspection, all materials made available for the inspection shall be considered

Conﬁdential Information and subject to this Order at the time of the inspection. Thereafter, if any
materials subject to that inspection are produced and the Producing Party wishes those materials

Agreed Protective Order - 3
to be considered Conﬁdential Information under this Order, the producing party shall so designate

them in accordance with the procedures set forth in this Order.

4. Conﬁdential Information may include any information that a Producing Party

reasonably believes to be subject to federal, state or foreign data protection laws or other privacy

laws.

5. Production Not a Waiver. The production of Conﬁdential Information pursuant to

this Order is not a waiver of any privilege or right to claim the trade secret or conﬁdential status

of the documents, materials, or information produced.

6. Depositions. With respect to any depositions that involve the disclosure of

Conﬁdential Information of a Party to this action, such Party shall have fourteen (14) days after

delivery of the ﬁnal deposition transcript to serve a Notice of Designation to all parties of record

identifying the speciﬁc portions of the transcript that are designated Conﬁdential Information, and

thereafter those portions identiﬁed in the Notice of Designation shall be protected under the terms

of this Order. No such deposition transcript shall be disclosed to any individual other than the

individuals permitted under this Order during these fourteen (14) days. Upon being timely

informed that speciﬁc portions of the deposition are designated as Conﬁdential Information, all

parties shall limit disclosure of the portions of the transcript designated Conﬁdential Information

in accordance with this Order. The time frames set forth in this paragraph may be extended by

agreement of the parties.

7. Protection of Conﬁdential Material.

a. General Protections. Conﬁdential Information shall not be used or disclosed

by the parties, counsel for the parties or any other persons identiﬁed in subparagraph (b) for any

purpose whatsoever other than in this action or as set forth in subparagraph (c), which includes

any appeal thereof.

Agreed Protective Order - 4
b. Limited Third-Party Disclosures. The parties and counsel for the parties

shall not disclose or permit the disclosure of any Conﬁdential Information to any third person or

entity except as set forth in subparagraphs (1)-(9) below. Subject to these requirements, the

following categories of persons may be allowed to review Conﬁdential Information: (1) Attorneys

of record for the parties, including members of their respective law ﬁrms and their employees

assisting in preparation of this case for trial; (2) individual parties and representatives of a party,

but only to the extent counsel determines in good faith that the representative’s assistance is

reasonably necessary to the conduct of and decisions related to the litigation in which the

information is disclosed; (3) the Court, any Special Master appointed by the Court and their

personnel, and any jury in this case; (4) translators, court reporters, recorders, and videographers

engaged for depositions, hearings, and trial; (5) those persons speciﬁcally engaged for the limited

purpose of making copies of documents or organizing or processing documents, including outside

vendors hired to process electronically stored documents but only after such persons have

completed the certiﬁcation contained in Attachment A (“Acknowledgment of Understanding and

Agreement to Be Bound by Protective Order”); (6) consultants, investigators, litigation support

personnel or experts employed by the parties or counsel for the parties, including their staff,

employees, and agents whose duties and responsibilities require access to such materials, to assist

in the preparation for pretrial discovery, trial of this action and/or hearings but only after such

persons have completed the Acknowledgment of Understanding and Agreement to Be Bound by

Protective Order; (7) Witnesses in this action to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary, while

in the presence of counsel and for the purpose of assisting in the preparation or trial of this case;

(8) the author or recipient of the document in the regular course of business (not including a person

who received the document in the course of litigation); (9) mediators and/or facilitators; and (10)

Agreed Protective Order - 5
other persons only by written consent of the Producing Party or upon order of the Court and on

such conditions as may be agreed upon or ordered.

c. All Conﬁdential Information shall be used by the parties solely for the

necessary purposes of the prosecution or defense of this action.

d. Conﬁdential Information shall not be used by the Receiving Party in any

other litigation, current or anticipated, or for any business, commercial, competitive, personal or

other purpose, and shall not be disclosed by the Receiving Party to anyone other than those set

forth in Paragraph 6(b). It is, however, understood that counsel for a party may give advice and

opinions to his or her client solely relating to the above-captioned action based on his or her

evaluation of Conﬁdential Information, provided that such advice and opinions shall not reveal the

content of such Conﬁdential Information except by prior written agreement of counsel for the

parties, or by order of the Court.

e. Control of Documents. Counsel for the parties shall make reasonable efforts

to prevent unauthorized or inadvertent disclosure of Conﬁdential Information. Counsel shall

maintain the original Acknowledgement of Understanding and Agreement to Be Bound by the

Protective Order form signed by persons acknowledging their obligations under this Order for a

period of three (3) years after the termination of the case.

8. Filing of Conﬁdential Information. To the extent Conﬁdential Information is to

be ﬁled in connection with a motion, brief or other submission to the Court, the Conﬁdential

Information must be ﬁled under seal or provided to the Court solely for in camera review.

9. Challenges by a Party to Designation as Conﬁdential Information. The

designation of any material or document as Conﬁdential Information is subject to challenge by

any party. The following procedure shall apply to any such challenge.

Agreed Protective Order - 6
a. Meet and Confer. A party challenging the designation of Conﬁdential

Information must do so in good faith and must begin the process by conferring directly with

counsel for the designating party, or directly with a party who is appearing pro se. In conferring,

the challenging party must explain the basis for its belief that the conﬁdentiality designation was

not proper. The designating party shall have an opportunity to review the designated material, to

reconsider the designation, and, if no change in designation is offered, to explain the basis for the

designation. The designating party must respond to the challenge within ﬁve (5) business days.

b. Judicial Intervention. A party who elects to challenge a conﬁdentiality

designation shall present the dispute to the Court by ﬁling and serving a motion that identiﬁes the

challenged material and sets forth in detail the basis for the challenge. The burden of persuasion

in any such challenge proceeding shall be on the designating party/Producing Party. Until the Court

rules on the challenge, the materials shall remain Conﬁdential Information under the terms of this

Order.

10. Action by the Court. Nothing in this Order or any action or agreement of a party

under this Order shall limit the Court’s authority to make orders concerning the disclosure of

documents produced in discovery or at trial.

11. Use of Conﬁdential Documents or Information at Trial. This Order shall not

apply to the disclosure of Conﬁdential Information at any trial or hearing. The closure of trial

proceedings, the sealing of the record of a trial, or a request by a party for protection from public

disclosure of Conﬁdential Information at trial involve considerations not presently before the

Court. These issues may be raised as a separate matter upon the motion of any party at or any time

before the pretrial conference in this case.

12. Conﬁdential Information Subpoenaed or Ordered Produced in Other Litigation.

Agreed Protective Order - 7
a. If a Receiving Party is served with a subpoena or an order issued in other

litigation or investigation that would compel disclosure of any material or document designated in

this action as Conﬁdential Information, the Receiving Party must so notify the designating party,

in writing, immediately and in no event more than three (3) court days after receiving the subpoena

or order. Such notiﬁcation must include a copy of the subpoena or court order.

b. The Receiving Party also must immediately inform, in writing, the person

or entity that caused the subpoena or order to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the

material covered by the subpoena or order is the subject of this Order. In addition, the Receiving

Party must deliver a copy of this Order promptly to the party in the other action that caused the

subpoena to issue.

c. The purpose of imposing these duties is to alert the issuing person or entity

to the existence of this Order and to afford the designating party in this case an opportunity to

make attempts to protect its Conﬁdential Information in the court from which the subpoena or

order issued. The designating party shall bear the burden and the expense of seeking protection in

that court of its Conﬁdential Information, and nothing in these provisions should be construed as

authorizing or encouraging a receiving party in this action to disobey a lawful directive from

another court. The obligations set forth in this paragraph remain in eﬁect while the party has in its

possession, custody or control Conﬁdential Information by the other party to this case.

13. Obligations upon Conclusion of Litigation.

a. Order Continues in Force. Unless otherwise agreed upon in writing or

ordered by the Court, this Order shall remain in force after dismissal or entry of ﬁnal judgment not

subject to further appeal.

b. Obligations upon Conclusion of Action. Within ninety (90) days after

dismissal or entry of ﬁnal judgment not subject to further appeal in this action, the Producing Party

Agreed Protective Order - 8
may make demand upon the Receiving Party to return or destroy all materials considered

Conﬁdential Information under this Order, including “copies” as deﬁned above, except as this

Court may otherwise order.

14. Order Subject t0 Modiﬁcation. This Order shall be subject to modiﬁcation by the

Court on its own initiative or on motion of a party or any other person with standing concerning

the subject matter.

15. Retention of Jurisdiction by Court. This Court shall retain jurisdiction to make

amendments, modiﬁcations, and additions to this Order as the Court may, from time to time, deem

appropriate, as well as to resolve any disputes.

16. No Prior Judicial Determination. This Order is entered based on the

representations and agreements of the parties and for the purpose of facilitating discovery. Nothing

herein shall be construed or presented as a judicial determination that any document or material

designated Conﬁdential Information by counsel or the parties under this Order is either

conﬁdential or entitled to protection under Rule 192.6 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure or

otherwise until such time as the Court may rule on a speciﬁc document or issue.

17. Persons Bound. This Order shall take effect when entered and shall be binding

upon all counsel of record and their law ﬁrms, the parties, and persons made subject to this Order

by its terms. 11I9I2023 3:09:11 PM

IT IS SO ORDERED.

DATED; 11/9/2023 Wig} lid/LR
JUDGE
.

PlfESIDIHLiQ;

Agreed Protective Order - 9
AGREED TO AS TO FORM AND SUBSTANCE:

/s/C0urtnev G. Bowline /s/J0shua L. F ellenbaum
BRIAN LAUTEN, P.C. TUCKER ELLIS LLP
Joshua L. Fellenbaum (pro hac Vice)
Brian P. Lauten
Michael C. Zellers (pro hac Vice)
State Bar N0. 24031603
Jeffrey C. Sindelar (pro hac Vice)
b1auten@brianlauten.com
Stephanie A. Rzepka (Texas State Bar No.
Courtney G. Bowline 24102442)
State Bar No. 24055206 950 Main Avenue
cbowline@brianlauten.com Suite 1 100
Kaylee Vanstory Cleveland, OH 44113
State Bar No. 241 15009 Tel: 216.592.5000
Kvanstory@brianlauten.com Fax: 216.592.5009
3811 Turtle Creek Blvd., Suite 1450 E-mail: joshua.fellenbaum@tuckerellis.com
Dallas, TX 75219 michael.zellers@tuckerellis.com
(214) 414-0996 telephone jeffrey.sindelar@tuckerellis.com
(214) 744-3015 facsimile stepheanie.rzepka@tuckerellis.com

ATTORNEYS FOR PLAINTIFFS AND and
COUNTERCLAIM-DEFENDANTS
BERNARD TUBEILEH AND SINOSTAR CHRISTOPHER M. STAINE
INVESTMENTS LLC Texas State Bar No. 24104576
CROWE & DUNLEVY
2525 McKinnon St., Ste. 425
Dallas, TX 75201
(214) 420-2143
(214) 736-1763 (Fax)
Christopher.staine@crowedunlevy.com

ATTORNEYS FOR DEFENDANTS AND
COUNTERCLAIM-PLAINTIFFS GLOBAL
OIL & GAS TEMS, LLC AND GLOBAL
OIL & GAS FIELDS OKLAHOMA, LLC

Agreed Protective Order - 10
ATTACHMENT A
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF UNDERSTANDING AND
AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND
The undersigned hereby acknowledges that he/she has read the Protective Order dated

in the above-captioned action and attached hereto, understands

the terms thereof and agrees to be bound by those terms. The undersigned submits to the

jurisdiction of the District Court of Dallas County, Texas, 68th Judicial District in matters relating

to the aforementioned and attached Protective Order and understands that the terms of the Order

obligate him/her to use materials designated as Conﬁdential Information in accordance with the

Order solely for the purposes of the above-captioned action, and not to disclose any such

Conﬁdential Information to any other person, firm or concern. The undersigned acknowledges

that Violation of the Protective Order may result in penalties for contempt of court.

Name (printed):

Job Title:

Employer:

Business Address:

Date :

Signature:

Agreed Protective Order - 11
Automated Certificate of eService
This automated certificate of service was created by the efiling system.
The filer served this document via email generated by the efiling system
on the date and to the persons listed below. The rules governing
certificates of service have not changed. Filers must still provide a
certificate of service that complies with all applicable rules.

Sarah Prince on behalf of Christopher Staine
Bar No. 24104576
sarah.prince@crowedunlevy.com
Envelope ID: 81383458
Filing Code Description: Motion - Protect
Filing Description: Unopposed
Status as of 11/7/2023 3:00 PM CST

Associated Case Party: GLOBAL OIL & GAS TEXAS LLC

Name BarNumber Email TimestampSubmitted Status

Christopher Staine Christopher.staine@crowedunlevy.com 11/7/2023 12:1 1 :32 PM SENT
Michael C.Zellers michael.zellers@tuckerellis.com 11/7/2023 12:11:32 PM SENT
Jeffrey C.Sindelar Jr. jeffrey.sindelar@tuckerellis.com 11/7/2023 12:11:32 PM SENT

Associated Case Party: BERNARD TUBEILEH

Name BarNumber Email TimestampSubmitted Status
Brian PLauten blauten@brianlauten.com 11/7/2023 12:11:32 PM SENT
Michelle Logan mlogan@brianlauten.com 11/7/2023 12:11:32 PM SENT
Courtney GBowline cbowline@brianlauten.com 11/7/2023 12:11:32 PM SENT

Case Contacts

Name BarNumber Email TimestampSubmitted Status

Stephanie Rzepka stephanie.rzepka@tuckerellis.com 11/7/2023 12:11:32 PM SENT
Sarah Prince sarah.prince@crowedunlevy.com 11/7/2023 12:11:32 PM SENT
Joshua Fellenbaum joshua.fellenbaum@tuckerellis.com 11/7/2023 12:11:32 PM SENT

Case Info

Judge

HOFFMAN, MARTIN Track Judge’s New Case

Case No.

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Document Filed Date

November 09, 2023

Case Filing Date

June 06, 2023

County

Parties

BOWLINE, COURTNEY GENE Attorney for the Plaintiff
EGGSPUEHLER, CHAD MICHAEL Attorney for the Defendant
FELLENBAUMM, JOSHUA Attorney for the Defendant
GLOBAL OIL & GAS FIELDS OKLAHOMA LLC Defendant
SINOSTAR INVESTMENTS LLC Plaintiff
STAINE, CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL Attorney for the Defendant
TUBEILEH, BERNARD Plaintiff
Brian Lauten Attorneys for Plaintiffs
Kaylee Vanstory Attorneys for Plaintiffs
Stephanie Rzepka Attorney
Gene Hamm Attorney
John Ashburn Attorney

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Stipulation,Agreement: BERNARD TUBEILEH, et al vs. GLOBAL OIL & GAS TEXAS LLC , et al

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