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Protective Order
Practical Law Glossary Item 9-520-0527 (Approx. 3 pages)
Glossary
Protective Order
In civil litigation, an order that prevents the disclosure of certain information.
A party or person, such as a non-party recipient of a subpoena, may move for a protective order by showing good cause that the court should not permit the requested discovery because the discovery request is:
- Annoying.
- Embarrassing.
- Oppressive.
- Unduly burdensome.
- Expensive.
Parties also may agree to enter into a protective order (also referred to as a confidentiality order) to keep confidential information protected from disclosure outside of the case. The parties may agree to provisions:
- Protecting the disclosure of commercially sensitive information, such as trade secrets, or personal information to anyone outside of the case.
- For handling the inadvertent production of information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work product doctrine.
- For designating discovery material confidential after a party inadvertently produces it.
For more information about protective orders in federal court, see Practice Note, Protective Orders: Overview (Federal).