Counsel

Gregory J. Pals Esq., Pro Hac Vice, R. Prescott Sifton Jr., Esq., William W. Blair Esq., Pro Hac Vice, OnderLaw, LLC, St. Louis, MO, J. Grant LaBar Esq., Pro Hac Vice, T. Roe Frazer II, Esq., Pro Hac Vice, Thomas Roe Frazer III, Esq., Pro Hac Vice, Frazer PLC, Nashville, TN, Pietro J. Lynn Esq., Lynn, Lynn, Blackman & Manitsky, P.C., Burlington, VT, for Plaintiffs.
Alexandrea L. Nelson Esq., Devin T. McKnight Esq., Hannah C. Waite Esq., Ian P. Carleton Esq., Sheehey Furlong & Behm P.C., Burlington, VT, Douglas J. Moore Esq., Pro Hac Vice, Quentin F. Urquhart Jr., Esq., Pro Hac Vice, Irwin Fritchie Urquhart Moore & Daniels, LLC, New Orleans, LA, Emyr T. Remy Esq., Pro Hac Vice, Richard L. Campbell Esq., Pro Hac Vice, Stephen I. Hansen Esq., Pro Hac Vice, Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP, Boston, MA, Thomas M. Goutman Esq., Pro Hac Vice, Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P., Philadelphia, PA, for Defendants.

Reiss, Christina, United States District Judge

B. The Production Protocol does not alter the scope of discovery permitted by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b) or preclude any party from moving the court for a protective order under Rule 26(c) or an order compelling discovery under Rule 37.
C. The Parties incorporate the provisions of the Mutual Clawback Agreement and the Protective Order.
D. Nothing in this Production Protocol establishes any agreement regarding the subject matter or scope of discovery in this Litigation, or the relevance, authenticity, or admissibility of any Documents or ESI.
F. Any practice or procedure set forth herein may be varied by written agreement of the Parties.A. “Parties” means the named Plaintiffs and Defendants to this Litigation.
B. “Producing Party” shall refer to any person or entity producing, including by making available for copying and inspection, information, Documents, ESI, discovery responses, or testimony in connection with this Litigation.
C. “Receiving Party” shall refer to any person or entity receiving information, Documents, ESI, discovery responses, or testimony in connection with this Litigation.
E. “Custodian” means an individual or entity repository that has administrative control of ESI or Documents.
*2 F. “Native File” means a file saved in the format of the original application used to create that file.

1. Single-page 1-Bit Group PV TIFF images shall be provided using at least 300 × 300 DPI resolution and 8 1//2 × 11 inch page size, except for documents requiring different resolution or page size. The Requesting Party retains the right to request a TIFF image in a higher resolution or larger page size if necessary to render the image legible or reasonably usable. Each image shall have a unique file name, which is the Bates number of the Document. Original Document orientation shall be maintained (i.e., portrait to portrait and landscape to landscape). TIFFs will show any and all text and images which would be visible to the reader using the native software that created the Document.

2. The Producing Party will selectively identify which of its color-containing Documents should be produced in color including, but not limited to, any images (unless only appearing in a company logo, email signature block or similar), graphs, charts, maps, Autocad files, photographs, posters, government reports, and Documents containing text in different colors. These selected colored Documents will be produced in JPEG format. If an original Document or ESI item contains color text, markings, or graphics, and it is necessary to see those items in their original color to understand the full meaning or content of the Document or ESI, and the Producing Party has not already provided that Document or ESI item in color, then the Receiving Party may, in good faith, request that the Document or ESI item be produced in color format. The Producing Party will not unreasonably deny such a request.

3. Hidden content, tracked changes or edits, comments, notes, and other similar information viewable within the Native File shall also be imaged so that such content is viewable on the image, provided that the hidden material is not privileged, protected, or otherwise precluded from production.

4. The Producing Party will brand all TIFF images in the lower right-hand corner with a Bates number that shall always: (1) be unique across the entire document production, (2) maintain a constant length (zero/0-padded) across the entire production, (3) contain no special characters or embedded spaces, (4) be sequential within a given document, and (5) stamped onto the TIFF image in such a manner that information from the source document is not obliterated, concealed, or interfered with. Productions made after entry of this Production Protocol must not contain “PCB” or “Monsanto” in the Bates prefix/numbers. If a Bates number or set of Bates numbers is skipped in a production, the producing party will disclose the Bates numbers or ranges in a cover letter accompanying the production. The Producing Party will brand all TIFF images in the lower left-hand corner with “Confidential” designations, as needed, in accordance with the Protective Order.

1. Each text file must be at Document level.

2. The text file name shall be the same name of the first image page for the Document set, followed by .txt.

3. An OCR or Extracted text file containing the produced Document's content will be provided for all Documents whether it is produced as an image file or as a Native File.

4. Electronic text must be extracted directly from the Native File format unless the Document was redacted, an image file, or a Hard Copy Document. In these instances, a text file created using OCR will be produced in lieu of extracted text. This text file shall be created prior to any production branding (including but not limited to Bates numbers and Confidentiality designations), unless the image is produced with redactions. Extracted Text and OCR for documents produced without redactions shall not contain the Bates and confidentiality branding designations.

5. There should be a single extracted/OCR text file per Document.

6. Do not include extracted/OCR text as a field in the metadata load file.

7. The UTF-16 Unicode character set should be used for all extracted/OCR text files in a production.

D. E-mail: E-mail shall be collected in a manner that maintains reliable E-mail metadata and structure. Whenever possible, E-mail shall be collected from the Producing Party's E-mail store or server. Metadata and “header fields” shall be extracted from E-mail messages. In order to reduce the volume of entirely duplicative content within email threads, the Parties may utilize threading or “email thread suppression.” As used in this Production Protocol, email thread suppression means employing commercially acceptable methods to reduce production of duplicative email threads by producing only the inclusive email messages and their attachments from each email thread. An email message is inclusive when it contains any non-duplicative content or has a document or set of documents attached that does not appear elsewhere within the email thread. Typically, an inclusive email will be either the longest, most recent in time email message containing all of the text from previous, earlier in time email messages within that same thread or an email message with attachments not otherwise attached to a later in time email within that same thread, but any email will be treated as inclusive when it contains non-duplicative content. Accordingly, exact duplicates of emails as well as email messages comprised of text identical to text contained within an inclusive email in the same conversation will be suppressed and not produced; however, responsive, non-duplicative attachments will be produced along with their conveying email message even when the text of that parent email message is fully represented in a longer, later in time email thread.F. Time Zone: Time zones for all documents should be consistent and should be standardized across all documents. All ESI should be processed with a single time zone and a date and time setting that is consistent across all of the Party's productions.
H. Native Files: The Parties will produce the following ESI types in Native File format: (a) spreadsheets such as Excel files or .CSV files; (b) audio/video files; (c) PowerPoint presentations; and (d) any files that cannot be imaged, except when the Producing Party requires the production of databases or other similar ESI under paragraph III.L below.

1. Any file produced in Native File format need not be imaged. Instead, Native Files will be produced together with a single page placeholder TIFF image. The placeholder TIFF will state that the Document was produced natively and displaying the starting Bates number to the Native File and any confidentiality designation (if applicable);

2. A unique Bates number and confidentiality designation (if applicable) shall be used as the file name;

3. The Native File format Documents shall be accompanied by reference information that sets forth for each Document, sufficient information to allow the Parties to track and authenticate the Native File format Document produced, including: (i) the name of the Custodian from whom the Native File is produced; (ii) any appropriately calculated “MD5Hash Value”; (iii) the original name of the file; and (iv) the file extension;

4. If media files are maintained in a non-standard format, the Parties will meet and confer on the proper method for production of non-standard media file formats; and

5. If a spreadsheet requires redactions, the Producing Party may redact by overwriting the data contained in a particular cell, row, column, or tab of a production copy of the spreadsheet with the word “REDACTED” (or similar designation). These documents will be identified as redacted within the Redaction metadata field. If the producing party deems it necessary to produce redacted spreadsheets in any format other than Native, the Parties should meet and confer before such a production is made.

6. If a PowerPoint presentation requires redaction, the Producing Party may produce the presentation as TIFF images with speaker notes and “hidden” slides as extracted by the software used to process the documents. Color PowerPoint presentations requiring redactions shall be produced as JPEG, and black and white PowerPoint presentations requiring redactions shall be converted to black and white TIFF images, provided that proper grayscale printing is enabled to ensure that any dark colored text is not hidden by dark objects/drawings around the text. If the PowerPoint or slide program contains video or audio components, the video or audio will be produced as native files with the appropriate attachment relationships.

J. Image Load/Unitization Files: An image load file/unitization file, in a standard Opticon format (OPT) or LOG litigation support image load format, shall accompany all document images and provide:

1. the document number for each image;

2. the full path name(s) of each image file;

3. the document boundaries for each document;

4. the load file shall be in the order that appropriately corresponds with each image file; and

5. the following represents the format of a standard OPT or LOG image load/unitization file:

Bates,Volume,PATH_to_image,Document Break,Folder Break,Box Break,Total_Pages.

M_0100000,06150101,\06150101\0000\0001.TIF,Y,,,1

M_0100001,06150101,\06150101\0000\0002.TIF,Y,,,1

M_0100002,06150101,\06150101\0000\0003.TIF,Y,,,1

M_0100003,06150101,\06150101\0000\0004.TIF,Y,,,2

M_0100004,06150101,\06150101\0000\0005.TIF,,,

M_0100005,06150101,\06150101\0000\0006.TIF,Y,,,1

M_0100006,06150101,\06150101\0000\0007.TTF,Y,,,4

M_0100007,06150101,\06150101\0000\0008.TIF,,,,,

M_100008,0615010,\06150101\0000\0009.TIF,,,,,

M_0100009,06150101,\06150101\0000\0010.TIF,,,,,

1. A delimited text file (either standard Concordance .DAT or comm delimited .CSV) containing the fields listed in the table included in Section III.K.3 below should be provided. The delimiters for the file can be Concordance defaults, but defined delimiters are acceptable: Comma - ASCII character 20 ( ); Quote - ASCII character 254 (b); Newline - ASCII character 174 (®)

2. The fielded data should include the metadata fields identified in Section III.K.3 for a file/Document in addition to the unitization (including the production number of the first and last page of each Document) and attachments (including information sufficient to identify the parent and child relationships of all Documents that are or have attachments). The first line of the data load file should contain the field headers indicating the contents of each field, and each subsequent line should contain the fielded data for each Document.

3. The following metadata fields should be provided for each Document for which the information can be extracted.

1. Data stored in a backup system for the purpose of system recovery or information restoration, including but not limited to, disaster recovery backup tapes, continuity of operations systems, and data or system mirrors or shadows, if such data are routinely deleted or written over in accordance with an established routine system maintenance practice;

2. System or executable files (.exe, .dll, etc.);

3. Structural files not material to individual file contents that do not contain substantive content (.ess, .xsl, .xml, .dtd, etc.);

4. Data remaining from systems no longer in use that are unreadable on the systems in use;

5. Deleted computer files, whether fragmented or whole (nothing in this order authorizes the intentional deletion of ESI after the duty arose to preserve such ESI);

6. Data stored in random access memory (“RAM”), cache memory, or in temporary or cache files, including internet history, web browser cache and cookie files, wherever located;

7. Data stored on photocopiers, scanners, and fax machines;

8. Server, system, or network logs;

9. Electronic data temporarily stored by scientific equipment or attached devices, provided that the data that is ordinarily preserved is, in fact, preserved; or

10. Voicemail messages, instant messages, or text messages.

1. Single-page 1-Bit Group TV TIFF images shall be provided using at least 300 × 300 DPI resolution and 8 1//2 × 11 inch page size, except for Documents requiring different resolution or page size. The Requesting Party retains the right to request a TIFF image in a higher resolution or larger page size if necessary to render the image legible or reasonably usable. Each image shall have a unique file name, which is the Bates number of the Document. Original Document orientation shall be maintained (i.e., portrait to portrait and landscape to landscape).

2. The Producing Party will selectively identify which of its color-containing Documents should be produced in color including, but not limited to, any images (unless only appearing in a company logo, email signature block or similar), graphs, charts, maps, Autocad files, photographs, posters, government reports, and Documents containing text in different colors. These selected colored Documents will be produced in JPEG format. If an original Document contains color text, markings, or graphics, and it is necessary to see those items in their original color to understand the full meaning or content of the Document, and the Producing Party has not already provided that Document in color, then the Receiving Party may, in good faith, request that the Document be produced in color format. The Producing Party will not unreasonably deny such a request.

3. In scanning paper Documents, distinct Documents shall not be merged into a single record, and single Documents shall not be split into multiple records (i.e., paper Documents should be logically unitized). In the case of an organized compilation of separate Documents–for example, a binder containing several separate Documents behind numbered tabs–the Document behind each tab should be scanned separately, but the relationship among the Documents in the binder should be reflected in proper coding of the beginning and ending Document and attachment fields. The Parties will use common sense to unitize Documents correctly.

4. Bates numbers shall be branded to the images so that the numbers print.

5. The Producing Party will brand all TIFF images in the lower right-hand corner with a Bates number that shall always: (1) be unique across the entire document production, (2) maintain a constant length (zero/0-padded) across the entire production, (3) contain no special characters or embedded spaces, (4) be sequential within a given document, and (5) stamped onto the TIFF image in such a manner that information from the source document is not obliterated, concealed, or interfered with. Productions made after entry of this Production Protocol must not contain “PCB” or “Monsanto” in the Bates prefix/numbers. If a Bates number or set of Bates numbers is skipped in a production, the producing party will disclose the Bates numbers or ranges in a cover letter accompanying the production. The Producing Party will brand all TIFF images in the lower left-hand corner with “Confidential” designations, as needed, in accordance with the Protective Order.

*8 6. The Requesting Party may only request production of originals of Documents in circumstances where a TIFF or JPEG image is not an adequate representation of the Document. If this occurs, the Requesting Party will provide the Producing Party with a request for access to the original Document, which must include an explanation of why the TIFF or JPEG image does not adequately represent the original Document. Upon receipt of that request, the Producing Party will not unreasonably withhold access to the original Document.

1. An image load file/unitization file, in a standard Opticon format (OPT) or LOG litigation support image load format, shall accompany all Document images and provide:

a. the document number for each image;

b. the full path name(s) of each image file that represents a document page;

c. the document boundaries for each document;

d. the load file shall be in the order that appropriately corresponds with each image file;

e. the following represents the format of a standard OPT or LOG image load/unitization file:

Bates, Volume, PATH_to_image,Document Break,Folder Break,Box Break,Total_Pages.

M_0100000,06150101,\06150101\0000\0001.TIF,Y,,,1

M_0100001,06150101,\06150101\0000\0002.TIF,Y,,,1

M_0100002,06150101,\06150101\0000\0003.TIF,Y,,,1

M_0100003,06150101,\06150101\0000\0004.TIF,Y,,,2

M_0100004,06150101,\06150101\0000\0005.TIF,,,,

M_0100005,06150101,\06150101\0000\0006.TIF,Y,,,1

M_0100006,06150101,\06150101\0000\0007.TTF,Y,,,4

M_0100007,06150101,\06150101\0000\0008.TIF,,,,,

M_0100008,06150101,\06150101\0000\0009.TIF,,,,,

M_0100009,06150101,\06150101\0000\0010.TIF,,,,,

1. Document level OCR files will be found in a folder entitled TEXT;

2. The OCR file name shall be the same name of the first image page for the Document set, followed by .txt.

1. A delimited text file (.DAT or .CSV) containing the fields listed in the table included in Section IV.D.2 below should be provided. The delimiters for the file can be Concordance defaults, but defined delimiters are acceptable: Comma - ASCII character 20 ( ); Quote - ASCII character 254 (b); Newline - ASCII character 174 (®).

2. The fielded data should include all the below metadata fields for a file/Document in addition to the unitization (including the production number of the first and last page of each Document) and attachments (including information sufficient to identify the parent-child relationships of all Documents that are or have attachments as captured by any hard copy binding). The first line of the data load file should contain the field headers indicating the contents of each field, and each subsequent line should contain the fielded data for each Document. Load files shall include the below metadata fields, or substantially identical metadata fields, to the extent already in existence and reasonably accessible.

1. DATA – contains metadata, OPT, LOG and other load files.

2. IMAGES – contains image files, with no more than 2,000 images per subfolder.

3. NATIVES – contains Native Files, with no more than 2,000 natives per subfolder.

4. TEXT – contains text files, with no more than 2,000 document level text files per subfolder.

1. Communications exclusively between a Plaintiff and his/her/its Litigation counsel regarding this Litigation within three (3) years of filing of the Litigation and thereafter;

2. Communications exclusively between a Defendant and its litigation counsel regarding the PCB Litigation[2];

3. Communications between Plaintiffs’ litigation counsel and experts, consultants, and litigation support personnel regarding the prosecution of this Litigation;

4. Communications between Defendants’ litigation counsel and experts, consultants, and litigation support personnel regarding the defense of the PCB Litigation;

*10 5. Work product created by Plaintiffs’ litigation counsel in anticipation of this Litigation within three (3) years of filing of the Litigation and thereafter;

6. Work product created by Defendants’ litigation counsel in anticipation of the PCB Litigation; and

7. Produced documents with redactions for attorney-client privilege, work product doctrine, or any other applicable protection or privilege, provided the reason for the redaction appears on the redaction label, and provided the unredacted portion provides information sufficient to allow the Receiving Party to assess the claim of privilege.