In Re: Stephen Rumnock, Plaintiff v. Dennis Anschutz and American Family Mutual Insurance Company, a Wisconsin…

Summary

The court discharged its rule to show cause and affirmed the trial court’s partial denial of a protective order because American Family presented no evidence establishing that the requested documents were trade secrets or confidential commercial information. The court held that a party seeking protection for such information must first make that threshold showing, and American Family failed to do so through affidavits, testimony, sealed documents, or other competent evidence. Justice Coats, joined by Justice Eid, dissented, arguing that the court should have decided whether discovery materials may be disseminated for use in unrelated litigation.