NUTRATECH, INC. v. SYNTECH (SSPF) INTERNATIONAL, INC., et al., 242 F.R.D. 552

Summary

The parties disputed whether plaintiff's requested discovery should be limited to "attorney eyes only". Defendant asserted that the parties were competitors and that it would suffer competitive harm if its customer and supplier lists were disclosed directly to the president of plaintiff. Plaintiff asserted that defendant failed to show that the information in disputed qualified as "trade secretes" and claimed that the prosecution of its case would be impaired if the information was restricted to "attorney eye only." The court found that Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c)(7) did not limit its reach to "trade secrets," but also allowed for protection of "confidential commercial information." Customer/supplier lists and sales and revenue information qualified as "confidential commercial information." Defendant's fear of competitive harm from the disclosure of its supplier and customer lists to the president and owner of plaintiff rather than counsel, was legitimate. The disclosure of defendant's ...