Opinion
2:23-cv-01495-JHC
10-25-2024
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, et al., Plaintiffs, v. AMAZON.COM, INC., a corporation, Defendant.
Susan A. Musser Edward H. Takashima J. Wells Harrell Shira Steinberg Federal Trade Commission Attorneys for Plaintiff Federal Trade Commission Michael Jo (admitted pro hac vice) Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Bureau New York State Office of the Attorney General Counsel for Plaintiff State of New York Rahul A. Darwar (admitted pro hac vice) Assistant Attorney General Office of the Attorney General of Connecticut Counsel for Plaintiff State of Connecticut Alexandra C. Sosnowski (admitted pro hac vice) Assistant Attorney General Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau New Hampshire Department of Justice Office of the Attorney General One Granite Place South Concord, Counsel for Plaintiff State of New Hampshire Robert J. Carlson (admitted pro hac vice) Assistant Attorney General Consumer Protection Unit Office of the Oklahoma Attorney General Counsel for Plaintiff State of Oklahoma Timothy D. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General Antitrust and False Claims Unit Oregon Department of Justice Counsel for Plaintiff State of Oregon Jennifer A. Thomson (admitted pro hac vice) Senior Deputy Attorney General Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General Strawberry Square, Counsel for Plaintiff Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Michael A. Undorf (admitted pro hac vice) Deputy Attorney General Delaware Department of Justice Counsel for Plaintiff State of Delaware Christina M. Moylan (admitted pro hac vice) Assistant Attorney General Chief, Consumer Protection Division Office of the Maine Attorney General Counsel for Plaintiff State of Maine Gary Honick (admitted pro hac vice) Assistant Attorney General Deputy Chief, Antitrust Division Office of the Maryland Attorney General Counsel for Plaintiff State of Maryland Katherine W. Krems (admitted pro hac vice) Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General One Ashburton Place, Counsel for Plaintiff Commonwealth of Massachusetts Scott A. Mertens (admitted pro hac vice) Assistant Attorney General Michigan Department of Attorney General Counsel for Plaintiff State of Michigan Zach Biesanz (admitted pro hac vice) Senior Enforcement Counsel Office of the Minnesota Attorney General Counsel for Plaintiff State of Minnesota Lucas J. Tucker (admitted pro hac vice) Senior Deputy Attorney General Office of the Nevada Attorney General Counsel for Plaintiff State of Nevada Andrew Esoldi (admitted pro hac vice) Deputy Attorney General New Jersey Office of the Attorney General Counsel for Plaintiff State of New Jersey Jeffrey Herrera (admitted pro hac vice) Assistant Attorney General New Mexico Office of the Attorney General Counsel for Plaintiff State of New Mexico Zulma Carrasquillo Almena (admitted pro hac vice) Puerto Rico Department of Justice Counsel for Plaintiff Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Stephen N. Provazza (admitted pro hac vice) Special Assistant Attorney General Chief, Consumer and Economic Justice Unit Department of the Attorney General Counsel for Plaintiff State of Rhode Island Sarah L.J. Aceves (admitted pro hac vice) Assistant Attorney General Public Protection Division Vermont Attorney General's Office Counsel for Plaintiff State of Vermont Laura E. McFarlane (admitted pro hac vice) Assistant Attorney General Wisconsin Department of Justice Counsel for Plaintiff State of Wisconsin Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP Patty A. Eakes, Molly A. Terwilliger, Williams & Connolly LLP Heidi K. Hubbard (pro hac vice) John E. Schmidtlein (pro hac vice) Kevin M. Hodges (pro hac vice) Jonathan B. Pitt (pro hac vice) Carl R. Metz (pro hac vice) Carol J. Pruski (pro hac vice) Katherine Trefz (pro hac vice) Covington & Burling LLP Thomas O. Barnett (pro hac vice) Katherine Mitchell-Tombras (pro hac vice) One CityCenter Wilkinson Stekloff LLP Kosta S. Stojilkovic (pro hac vice) Attorneys for Defendant Amazon.com, Inc.
Susan A. Musser Edward H. Takashima J. Wells Harrell Shira Steinberg Federal Trade Commission Attorneys for Plaintiff Federal Trade Commission
Michael Jo (admitted pro hac vice) Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Bureau New York State Office of the Attorney General Counsel for Plaintiff State of New York
Rahul A. Darwar (admitted pro hac vice) Assistant Attorney General Office of the Attorney General of Connecticut Counsel for Plaintiff State of Connecticut
Alexandra C. Sosnowski (admitted pro hac vice) Assistant Attorney General Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau New Hampshire Department of Justice Office of the Attorney General One Granite Place South Concord, Counsel for Plaintiff State of New Hampshire
Robert J. Carlson (admitted pro hac vice) Assistant Attorney General Consumer Protection Unit Office of the Oklahoma Attorney General Counsel for Plaintiff State of Oklahoma
Timothy D. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General Antitrust and False Claims Unit Oregon Department of Justice Counsel for Plaintiff State of Oregon
Jennifer A. Thomson (admitted pro hac vice) Senior Deputy Attorney General Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General Strawberry Square, Counsel for Plaintiff Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Michael A. Undorf (admitted pro hac vice) Deputy Attorney General Delaware Department of Justice Counsel for Plaintiff State of Delaware
Christina M. Moylan (admitted pro hac vice) Assistant Attorney General Chief, Consumer Protection Division Office of the Maine Attorney General Counsel for Plaintiff State of Maine
Gary Honick (admitted pro hac vice) Assistant Attorney General Deputy Chief, Antitrust Division Office of the Maryland Attorney General Counsel for Plaintiff State of Maryland
Katherine W. Krems (admitted pro hac vice) Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General One Ashburton Place, Counsel for Plaintiff Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Scott A. Mertens (admitted pro hac vice) Assistant Attorney General Michigan Department of Attorney General Counsel for Plaintiff State of Michigan
Zach Biesanz (admitted pro hac vice) Senior Enforcement Counsel Office of the Minnesota Attorney General Counsel for Plaintiff State of Minnesota
Lucas J. Tucker (admitted pro hac vice) Senior Deputy Attorney General Office of the Nevada Attorney General Counsel for Plaintiff State of Nevada
Andrew Esoldi (admitted pro hac vice) Deputy Attorney General New Jersey Office of the Attorney General Counsel for Plaintiff State of New Jersey
Jeffrey Herrera (admitted pro hac vice) Assistant Attorney General New Mexico Office of the Attorney General Counsel for Plaintiff State of New Mexico
Zulma Carrasquillo Almena (admitted pro hac vice) Puerto Rico Department of Justice Counsel for Plaintiff Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
Stephen N. Provazza (admitted pro hac vice) Special Assistant Attorney General Chief, Consumer and Economic Justice Unit Department of the Attorney General Counsel for Plaintiff State of Rhode Island
Sarah L.J. Aceves (admitted pro hac vice) Assistant Attorney General Public Protection Division Vermont Attorney General's Office Counsel for Plaintiff State of Vermont
Laura E. McFarlane (admitted pro hac vice) Assistant Attorney General Wisconsin Department of Justice Counsel for Plaintiff State of Wisconsin
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP Patty A. Eakes, Molly A. Terwilliger,
Williams & Connolly LLP Heidi K. Hubbard (pro hac vice) John E. Schmidtlein (pro hac vice) Kevin M. Hodges (pro hac vice) Jonathan B. Pitt (pro hac vice) Carl R. Metz (pro hac vice) Carol J. Pruski (pro hac vice) Katherine Trefz (pro hac vice)
Covington & Burling LLP Thomas O. Barnett (pro hac vice) Katherine Mitchell-Tombras (pro hac vice) One CityCenter
Wilkinson Stekloff LLP Kosta S. Stojilkovic (pro hac vice) Attorneys for Defendant Amazon.com, Inc.
STIPULATION AND ORDER REGARDING PRIVILEGE LOGGING
The Court's June 11, 2024 Order Regarding Discovery of Electronically Stored Information (the “ESI Order”) directed the parties to “meet and confer regarding the scope of logging for internal Federal Trade Commission communications, internal Plaintiff State communications, and internal Defendant Amazon communications.” Dkt. #256 ¶ E.8.
Having met and conferred pursuant to the ESI Order, the parties, by and through their respective attorneys of record, hereby stipulate and agree that the following privileged or otherwise protected communications need not be placed on a privilege log: Email, notes, drafts, communications, memoranda, documents, or other work product produced by or exchanged solely among and between:
a. Outside counsel for Amazon;
b. Outside counsel for Amazon (for this Action and Related Actions) and Amazon employees, as long as such communications are related directly to the representation of Amazon in the pre-Complaint investigation, litigation of this Action, or Related Actions;
c. Amazon's In-House Counsel who are members of Amazon's Competition team and its Litigation Regulatory team, identified herein, involved in this Action and the Related Actions as long as such communications are related directly to the representation of Amazon in the pre-Complaint investigation, litigation of this Action, or the Related Actions;
d. Amazon's In-House Counsel who are Designated In-House Counsel under Paragraph 5.3 of the Protective Order in this Action or Designated InHouse Counsel under corresponding provisions of the Protective Orders in Related Actions, and Amazon employees, as long as such
communications are related directly to the representation of Amazon in the pre-Complaint investigation, litigation of this Action, or the Related Actions;
e. Counsel for the Federal Trade Commission involved in litigating this Action or in the pre-Complaint investigation, persons employed by or contracted with the Federal Trade Commission involved in litigating this Action or in the pre-Complaint investigation, or Commissioners, as long as such communications are related directly to the pre-Complaint investigation, litigation of this Action, or the Related Actions;
f. Counsel for each Plaintiff State involved in litigating this Action or in the pre-Complaint investigation, persons employed by or contracted with that State's Office of the Attorney General involved in litigating this Action or in the pre-Complaint investigation, or that State's Attorney General, as long as such communications are related directly to the pre-Complaint investigation, litigation of this Action, or the Related Actions;
g. The individuals described in subparagraph (e) and (f), above, as long as such communications are related directly to the pre-Complaint investigation, litigation of this Action, or Related Actions; and
h. The individuals described in subparagraphs (e) and (f), above, and outside counsel, counsel, employees, or contractors for a plaintiff or other State (or that State's Attorney General) where the parties to the communication
shared a common legal interest, as long as such communications are related directly to the pre-Complaint investigation, litigation of this Action, or Related Actions.
For purposes of this stipulation, “Action” refers to the above-captioned case, Federal Trade Commission v. Amazon, Case No. 2:23-cv-01495-JHC (W.D. Wash.) and “Related Actions” shall mean the following actions: Frame-Wilson v. Amazon.com, Inc., No 2:20-cv-00424 (W.D. Wash.); De Coster v. Amazon.com, Inc., No. 2:21-cv-00693 (W.D. Wash.); Hogan v. Amazon.com, Inc., No. 2:21-cv-00996 (W.D. Wash.); Hopper v. Amazon.com, Inc., No. 2:23-cv-01523 (W.D. Wash.); Zulily, LLC v. Amazon.com, Inc., No. 2:23-cv-01900 (W.D. Wash.); People of the State of California v. Amazon.com, Inc., No. CGC-22-601826 (Cal. Super. Ct.); District of Columbia v. Amazon.com, Inc., No. 2021 CA 001775 B (D.C. Super. Ct.); Mbadiwe et al. v. Amazon.com, Inc., No. 1:22-cv-09542 (S.D.N.Y.); Taylor v. Amazon.com, Inc., No. 2:24-cv-00169 (W.D. Wash.); Brown v. Amazon.com, Inc., No. 22-cv-00965 (W.D. Wash.); State of Arizona v. Amazon.com, Inc., No. CV2024-012081 (Ariz. Super. Ct. Maricopa Cnty.); and any and all actions filed after the effective date of this Stipulation and Order that All Parties agree and/or the Court determines meet the criteria of Local Civil Rules 3(g)&(h).
The Amazon In-House Counsel referenced in subparagraph (c) and (d) are limited to: Nate Sutton, Bryson Bachman, Cristina Fernandez, Scott Fitzgerald, Amy Posner, Jasmine Rosner, Andrew Willekes, Omid Banuelos, Caroline Jones, Erna Mamikonyan, Lee Roach, Aaron Ross, Stelios Xenakis, Elisa Perlman, Larry Reicher, Alexis Collins, Zach Jackson, Jeffrey Goldberg, Ashley Boizelle, Brad Elias, Ben Langner, Serena Orloff, Chris Pickett, Tanisha Creed, Kevin Kramer, David Metcalf, Robert Miller, Brian Buckley, Lauren Rothenberg, Sarah Eichenberger, Mike Macko, and Kyle Maurer.
Stipulation and Protective Order ¶ 20(b), People of the State of California v. Amazon.com, Inc., No. CGC-22-601826 (Cal. Super. Ct. Jan. 27, 2023); Protective Order ¶ 5.3(g), Frame-Wilson v. Amazon.com, Inc., No. 2:20-cv-00424 (W.D. Wash. Feb. 27, 2023); Stipulated Motion and Protective Order ¶ 5.3(g), De Coster v. Amazon.com, Inc., No. 2:21-cv-00693 (W.D. Wash. Mar. 15, 2023); Amended Stipulated Protective Order ¶ 5.3(g) Brown v. Amazon.com, Inc., No. 22-cv-00965 (W.D. Wash. July 29, 2024); Amended Stipulated Protective Order ¶ 5.3(g), Mbadiwe et al. v. Amazon.com, Inc., No. 1:22-cv-09542 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 18, 2024).
ORDER
IT IS SO ORDERED.