IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
EASTERN DIVISION

SUNBEAM PRODUCTS, INC., )
a Delaware corporation, )
)No.97C6313
Plaintiff)
)Judge Leinenweber
v.)
)Magistrate Judge Keys
AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION,)
an Illinois corporation,)
)
Defendant.)
)
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN)
PHYSICIANS & SURGEONS, INC.,)
)
Intervenor. )

JOINT REPORT OF PLAINTIFF AND DEFENDANT
REGARDING RETURN AND PRESERVATION OF DOCUMENTS

Plaintiff Sunbeam Products, Inc. ("Sunbeam") and defendant American Medical Association ("AMA"), by their respective attorneys, jointly submit this report to the Court regarding their intention to return to each other copies of documents obtained in pre-trial discovery.

1. Sunbeam and the AMA intend to return to each other copies of each other's documents produced during discovery in this case -- a course of action which they had intended (and stipulated to under the Stipulated Protective Order Governing Confidentiality ("Confidentiality Order")) all along. In other words, the AMA will return its copies of Sunbeam's documents to Sunbeam, and Sunbeam will return its copies of the AMA's documents to the AMA.

2. While neither party believes that their private arrangement to return copies of documents is prohibited by this Court's order dated November 3, 1998 ("November 3 Order") or by any other order, case, rule or statute, they wish to keep the Court apprised of their intentions. The parties will, of course, also abide by their ethical obligations, to the extent applicable, to preserve the originals of their own documents.

4. Sunbeam and the AMA have decided to return documents to each other for three reasons. First, they have intended to do so from virtually the beginning of the lawsuit. Second, neither party should be or wants to be responsible for retaining or protecting the other party's documents. Third, both parties want to avoid becoming ensnared in any potential disputes over the other party's documents.

5. In short, neither the November 3 Order nor any other legal requirement prohibits Sunbeam or the AMA from returning each other's documents.

Respectfully submitted,

SUNBEAM PRODUCTS, INC. AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION

1 By the same token, parties generally cannot be required to disseminate discovery materials to any particular third party. As the Seventh Circuit observed in Jepson, "'While it may be conceded that parties to litigation have a constitutionally protected right to disseminate information obtained by them through the discovery process absent a valid protective order, it does not follow that they can be compelled to disseminate such information."' 30 F.3d at 858 (emphasis added) (quoting Oklahoma Hosp. Ass'n v. Oklahoma Pub. Co., 748 F.2d 1421, 1424 (10th Cir. 1984)). And as one leading commentator has observed, the right of public access to litigation materials "has never been extended beyond the confines of the courtroom and court documents." Arthur R. Miller, Confidentiality, Protective Orders, and Public Access to the Courts, 105 Harv. L. Rev. 428, 429 (1991). Other aspects of the litigation process, including discovery, "are conducted far from public view." Id.