Logan v. Equifax Information Services, LLC et al

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW MEXICO
KIMBERLY LOGAN,
Plaintiff,
v.
NATIONAL CREDIT SYSTEMS, INC., and
TRANS UNION, LLC,
Defendants.
Case No.: 1:25-cv-01176-MIS-KRS
ORDER GRANTING [24] JOINT MOTION FOR ENTRY
OF PROTECTIVE ORDER
Currently before the Court is the Joint Motion For Entry Of Protective Order, filed by
Plaintiff Kimberly Logan and Defendants National Credit Systems, Inc. and Trans Union, LLC.
(Doc. 24). Finding good cause and noting the agreement of the parties, the Court grants the Motion
and enters the parties Stipulated Protective Order, with slight modifications, as follows:
STIPULATED PROTECTIVE ORDER
The parties to this Stipulated Protective Order have agreed to the terms of this Order;
accordingly, it is 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
the Local Rules of this District and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure on matters of
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procedure and calculation of time periods.
2. 	Confidential Information. As used in this Order, “Confidential Information”
means 	information 	designated 	as 	“CONFIDENTIAL-SUBJECT 	TO 	PROTECTIVE
ORDER” by the producing party that meets the standards of FRCP 26(c) and falls within one
or more of the following categories: (a) information prohibited from disclosure by statute; (b)
information that reveals trade secrets; (c) research, technical, commercial or financial
information that the party has maintained as confidential; (d) medical information concerning
any individual; or (e) personal identity information. Information or documents that are
available to the public may not be designated as Confidential Information. Information or
documents that were previously produced in any other litigation matter to an opposing party
without designation may not be designated as Confidential Information.
3. 	Designation.
(a) 	A 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. As used in this Order, “copies” includes
electronic 	images, 	duplicates, 	extracts, 	summaries 	or 	descriptions 	that 	contain 	the
Confidential Information. The marking “CONFIDENTIAL - SUBJECT TO PROTECTIVE
ORDER” shall be applied prior to or at the time of the documents are produced or disclosed.
Applying the marking “CONFIDENTIAL - SUBJECT TO PROTECTIVE ORDER” to a
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 that are made of any
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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) 	The designation of a document as Confidential Information is a
certification by an attorney that the document contains Confidential Information as defined in
this order.1
4. 	Depositions.
All deposition testimony taken in this case shall be treated as Confidential Information
until the expiration of the following: No later than t h i r t y ( 30) days after the transcript has
been provided to counsel, within this time period, a party may serve a Notice of Designation to
all parties of record as to specific portions of the testimony that are designated Confidential
Information, and thereafter only those portions identified in the Notice of Designation shall be
protected by the terms of this Order. A party may only designate deposition testimony as
confidential after a good faith review of the transcript and a supportable determination that the
information warrants a confidential designation. The failure to serve a timely Notice of
Designation shall waive any designation of testimony taken in that deposition as Confidential
Information, unless otherwise ordered by the Court.
5. 	Protection of Confidential Material.
(a) 	General Protections. 	Confidential Information shall not be used or
1 By designating documents confidential pursuant to this Order, counsel submits to the jurisdiction and
sanctions of this Court on the subject matter of the designation.
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disclosed by the parties, counsel for the parties or any other persons identified in subparagraph
(b) for any purpose whatsoever other than in this litigation, including any appeal thereof.
(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)-(10). Subject to these requirements, the
following categories of persons may be allowed to review Confidential Information:
(1) 	Counsel. 	Counsel for the parties and employees of counsel who have
responsibility for the action;
(2) 	Parties. Individual parties and employees of a party but only to the extent
counsel determines in good faith that the employee’s assistance is reasonably
necessary to the conduct of the litigation in which the information is disclosed;
(3) 	The Court and its personnel;
(4) 	Court Reporters and Recorders. Court reporters and recorders engaged for
depositions;
(5) 	Contractors. 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;
(6) 	Consultants and Experts. Consultants, investigators, or experts employed by
the parties or counsel for the parties to assist in the preparation and trial of this
action but only after such persons have completed the certification contained in
Attachment A, Acknowledgment of Understanding and Agreement to Be
Bound;
(7) 	Mediators. Those individuals engaged by any party to assist the parties to
resolve the matter.
(8) 	Witnesses at depositions. During their depositions, witnesses in this action to
whom disclosure is reasonably necessary. Witnesses shall not retain a copy
of 	documents containing Confidential Information, except witnesses may
receive a copy of all exhibits marked at their depositions in connection with
review of the transcripts. Pages of transcribed deposition testimony or exhibits
to depositions that are designated as Confidential Information pursuant to the
process set out in this Order must be separately bound by the court reporter and
may not be disclosed to anyone except as permitted under this Order.
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(9) 	Author or recipient. The author or recipient of the document (not including a
person who received the document in the course of litigation); and
(10) 	Others by Consent. Other persons only by written consent of the producing
party or upon order of the Court and on such conditions as may be agreed or
ordered.
(c) 	Control of Documents. Counsel for the parties shall make reasonable
efforts to prevent unauthorized or inadvertent disclosure of Confidential Information. Counsel
shall maintain the originals of the forms signed by persons acknowledging their obligations
under this Order for a period of three years after the termination of the case.
6. 	Inadvertent Failure 	to Designate. An inadvertent failure to designate a
document as Confidential Information does not, standing alone, waive the right to so
designate the document; provided, however, that a failure to serve a timely Notice of
Designation of deposition testimony as required by this Order, even if inadvertent, waives
any protection for deposition testimony. 	A party or non-party who discloses or produces
Confidential Information without designation may, within seven (7) days of discovering the
failure to designate or within 7 days of having had reason to discover the error, provide
notice of the error and produce a designated copy of the same.
7. 	Filing of Confidential Information. This Order does not, by itself, authorize
the filing of any document under seal. Any party wishing to file any document, or any portion
of a document, designated as Confidential Information in connection with a motion, brief or
other submission to the Court, must file a motion seeking leave of court to file the document
under seal as provided in paragraph 8. In general, before filing a motion for leave to seal a
document filed with the Court, the parties should consider other steps to prevent the
unnecessary disclosure of confidential information in court filings, such as redacting
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confidential information from the document to be filed.
8. 	Motions To File Protected Materials Under Seal. In the event a party seeks
to file any document containing Confidential Information subject to protection under this
Order with the Court, that party must take appropriate action to ensure that the document
receives proper protection from public disclosure, including: (a) filing a redacted document
with the consent of the party who designated the document as confidential; (b) where
appropriate (e.g., in relation to discovery and evidentiary motions), submitting the
document solely for in camera review; or, (c) when the preceding measures are inadequate,
seeking leave to file the document or portions thereof under seal by filing a written motion
for leave to file under seal. The submitting party may file a document designated as
confidential under this Order as a separate sealed exhibit before a sealing order is obtained.
However, contemporaneously with that filing, the party must file a motion for leave to file
the document under seal, identifying the party that has designated the material as
confidential (“the designating party”). If the party filing the document containing
confidential information is the designating party, the motion for leave to file under seal
should identify the confidential information contained in the document, explain why the
document is sealable, and indicate whether the motion for leave to file under seal is opposed
or unopposed. If the party filing the document is not the designating party, the designating
party must provide a written explanation identifying the confidential information contained
in the document, and stating why the designated material is sealable. The designating
party’s explanation may be provided to the filing party to be included with the filing party’s
motion to seal, or the designating party may file a separate notice with the required
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explanation. If the designating party’s explanation is not included with the motion to file
under seal, or is not filed as a separate notice within five (5) business days of the filing of
the motion to file under seal, the motion to seal may be denied, in which case the filing
party must file the document on the public record no earlier than four business days, and
no later than ten days, after the motion to file under seal is denied.
9. 	No Greater Protection of Specific Documents. Except on privilege grounds
not addressed by this Order, no party may withhold information from discovery on the
ground that it requires protection greater than that afforded by this Order unless the party
moves for an order providing such special protection.
10. 	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.
(a) 	Meet and Confer. A party challenging the designation of Confidential
Information must do so in good faith and the Parties shall meet and confer within five (5)
business days from the date the challenge is made. In conferring, the challenging party must
explain the basis for its belief that the confidentiality designation was not proper and must
give the designating party 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. 	If the
Parties cannot agree after the meet & confer, the designating party must file a motion seeking
entry of a protective order concerning the designated materials, seeking to have the Court
designate the same as Confidential Information. That motion shall be filed within 21 (twenty-
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one) calendar days after the Parties meet & confer as discussed earlier in this paragraph. If
the designating party fails to file the motion within 21 calendar days after the Parties meet &
confer, then the challenged designation is waived.
(b) 	Judicial Intervention. In the event motion practice is necessary, the
burden of persuasion shall be on the designating party. Until the Court rules on the challenge,
all parties shall continue to treat the materials as Confidential Information under the terms of
this Order.
11. 	Use of Confidential Documents or Information at Trial. Nothing in this
Order shall be construed to affect the use of any document, material, or information at any
trial or hearing. A party that intends to present or that anticipates that another party may
present Confidential Information at a hearing or trial shall bring that issue to the Court’s
and parties’ attention by motion or in a pretrial memorandum without disclosing the
Confidential Information. The Court may thereafter make such orders as are necessary to
govern the use of such documents or information at trial.
12. 	Confidential 	Information 	Subpoenaed 	or 	Ordered Produced in 	Other
Litigation.
(a) 	If a receiving party is served with a subpoena or an order issued in
other litigation 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 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 party
who caused the subpoena or order to issue in the other litigation that some or all of the
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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 interested persons
to the existence of this Order and to afford the designating party in this case an opportunity
to try 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 effect
while the party has in its possession, custody or control Confidential Information by the other
party to this case.
13. 	Protections Extended to Third-Party’s Confidential Information. The Parties
agree to extend the provisions of this Protective Order to Confidential Information produced
in this case by third parties, if timely requested by the third party.
14. 	Applicability to Parties Later Joined. If additional persons or entities become
parties to this lawsuit, they must not be given access to any Confidential Information until
they execute and file their written agreement to be bound by the provisions of this Order.
15. 	Obligations on Conclusion of Litigation.
(a) 	Order Continues in Force. Unless otherwise agreed or ordered, this
Order shall remain in force after dismissal or entry of final judgment not subject to further
appeal.
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(b) 	Obligations at Conclusion of Litigation. Within sixty-three (63) days
after dismissal or entry of final judgment not subject to further appeal, all Confidential
Information and documents marked “CONFIDENTIAL - SUBJECT 	TO PROTECTIVE
ORDER” under this Order, including copies as defined in ¶ 3(a), shall be destroyed unless the
document has been offered into evidence or filed without restriction as to disclosure.
(c) 	Retention of Confidential Information. 	Notwithstanding the above
requirements to destroy documents, each attorney may retain a copy of any Confidential
Information submitted to the court. 	Further, and irrespective of whether the Confidential
Information was submitted to the court, each attorney may retain Confidential Information as
required by the professional rules of conduct for lawyers or as necessary for the attorney or
attorney’s law firm to defend against, including but not limited to, potential claims of
malpractice, breach of contract and/or other litigation, ethics disputes, bar complaints or
grievance. Any retained Confidential Information shall continue to be protected under this
Order. The retention period is for seven years.
16. 	Order Subject to 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.
17. 	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 is entitled to protection
under Rule 26(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or otherwise until such time as the
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Court may rule on a specific document or issue.
18. 	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.
IT IS SO ORDERED this 29th day of January, 2026.
__________________________________
KEVIN R. SWEAZEA
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
AGREED TO:
/s/Tarek N. Chami
Tarek N. Chami – MI# P76407
CONSUMER JUSTICE LAW FIRM PLC
835 Mason St, Suite C349
Dearborn, MI 48124
T: (313) 447-0488
E: tchami@consumerjustice.com
Attorneys for Plaintiff,
Kimberly Logan
/s/James P. Barrett
JAMES P. BARRETT
7801 Academy Rd., Suite 1-202
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87109
Tel.: 505-243-1486
jbarrett@eatonlaw-nm.com
Attorney for Defendant
National Credit Systems Inc
/s/Paul W. Sheldon
Paul W. Sheldon
NM Fed. ID No. 20-115
psheldon@qslwm.com
QUILLING, SELANDER, LOWNDS,
WINSLETT & MOSER, P.C.
6900 N. Dallas Parkway, Suite 800
Plano, Texas 75024
(214) 560-5453
Fax: (214) 871-2111
Counsel for Trans Union LLC
Case 1:25-cv-01176-MIS-KRS Document 25 Filed 01/29/26 Page 11 of 12

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW MEXICO
KIMBERLY LOGAN,
Plaintiff,
v.
EQUIFAX INFORMATION SOLUTIONS,
LLC, TRANS UNION LLC, and NATIONAL
CREDIT SYSTEMS, INC.
Defendant.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING
I have read and understand the protective order in the case captioned Kimberly Logan v.
Equifax Information Solutions, LLC, et al., case no. 1:25-cv-01176-MIS-KRS in the United States
District Court for the District of New Mexico. As soon as my work in connection with that action
has ended, but not later than 30 days after the termination of that action (including any appeals), I
will return or destroy any confidential document that I received, any copy of or excerpt from a
confidential document, and any notes or other document that contains information from a
confidential document.
Date:_____________________ ___________________________________
Signature
___________________________________
Printed Name
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