Order Limiting Use of Discovery Post-Case Ruled Too Restrictive

A legal aid organization that represented agricultural workers in a class action showed that a protective order unreasonably restricts access to information and documents from that case, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said.

The order’s requirement that Columbia Legal Services get court approval to use the information obtained in discovery during the class action wasn’t sufficiently justified, Judge William A. Fletcher said in a Thursday opinion vacating and remanding the dispute.

The workers in the now-settled class action alleged that Stemilt AG Services, a subsidiary of a large fruit grower in Washington, engaged in forced labor ...