Auto Owners Insurance v. Totaltape, Inc.

135 F.R.D. 199, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18546, 1990 WL 274508
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedOctober 16, 1990
DocketNo. 89-955-CIV-T-13C
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 135 F.R.D. 199 (Auto Owners Insurance v. Totaltape, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Auto Owners Insurance v. Totaltape, Inc., 135 F.R.D. 199, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18546, 1990 WL 274508 (M.D. Fla. 1990).

Opinion

ORDER

ELIZABETH A. JENKINS, United States Magistrate.

THIS CAUSE comes on for consideration of defendant’s Motion to Compel Auto Owners’ Complete Response to First Request for Production (Dkt. 26) and plaintiff’s response thereto. (Dkt. 34)

The documents in dispute requested by defendant are:

(1) Correspondence, inter-office memoranda and telephone messages between Aug. 10, 1987, and July 5, 1989, listed in “Exhibit A” to the Motion to Compel (Requests 1, 2, and 3);

[201]*201(2) The plaintiffs claims file (Request 14); and,

(3) The plaintiff’s claims manuals or guidelines for business interruption claims. (Requests 5 and 6).

Plaintiff objects on work product grounds to producing documents, in response to Requests 1, 2, 3 and 14. As to Requests 5 and 6, plaintiff contends that the documents are protected by the trade secret privilege and the work product doctrine.1

I. Requests 1, 2, 3, and 14

Plaintiff argues that Requests 1, 2, 3, and 14 seek protected work product. Plaintiff cites United States Fire Insurance Company v. Clearwater Oaks Bank, 421 So.2d 783 (Fla. 2d DCA 1982), for the proposition that until the right of coverage is first established, a party claiming to be an insured cannot compel disclosure of work product or privileged matters in its claim file. Because defendant has filed a claim for coverage under the policy, plaintiff argues, defendant cannot compel disclosure of plaintiff’s work product.

In addition, plaintiff cites Florida state court decisions and one federal district court opinion which have held that mental impressions of insurance investigators and attorneys contained in claims files were protected work product.

While Rule 501, Fed.R.Evid. provides that Florida law of privilege governs in a federal diversity suit, the work product doctrine is a limitation on discovery in federal cases and federal law provides the primary decisional framework. See Hickman v. Taylor, 329 U.S. 495, 512, 67 S.Ct. 385, 394, 91 L.Ed. 451 (1947); Airheart v. Chicago and North Western Transp. Co., 128 F.R.D. 669, 671 (D.S.D.1989). Therefore, plaintiff’s Florida state court cases on discoverability of claims files are not binding.

The work product doctrine protects from disclosure materials prepared in anticipation of litigation by or for a party or that party’s representative (including its attorney). In re Grand Jury Proceedings, 601 F.2d 162, 171 (5th Cir.1979); Rule 26(b)(3), Fed.R.Civ.P. The party resisting discovery bears the burden of demonstrating the applicability of the work product doctrine. See Bar clays American Corp. v. Kane, 746 F.2d 653, 656 (10th Cir.1984). Plaintiff’s argument that the “very nature” of the documents precludes their discovery is simply insufficient.

Plaintiff’s federal district court case, Joyner v. Continental Ins. Companies, 101 F.R.D. 414 (S.D.Ga.1983), is distinguishable regarding that court’s consideration of the work product issue. In Joyner, defendant submitted for the court’s review the affidavit of an insurance adjuster involved in the investigation in support of its contention that certain documents were prepared in anticipation of litigation. Id. at 416-417. The Joyner court also cited with approval Carver v. Allstate Ins. Co., 94 F.R.D. 131, 134 (S.D.Ga.1982) in which the court, following review of available claims adjusters’ depositions, held that mental impressions in investigatory reports need not be produced. Joyner, 101 F.R.D. at 417; see also Lett v. State Farm Fire and Cas. Co., 115 F.R.D. 501, 503 (N.D.Ga. 1987) (court held deposition of claims investigator supported contention that documents were created in anticipation of litigation). While the Joyner court ultimately ordered that mental impressions and opinions be excised from documents ordered produced, the court had some information before it, i.e. the adjuster’s affidavit.

By contrast, in this ease the items listed in Exhibit “A” to defendant’s motion to compel, from a list provided by plaintiff, do not identify in sufficient detail the authors of the memoranda or their content. In addition, plaintiff attaches no affidavits in support of its contention that the documents in this list were prepared in anticipation of litigation. See Taroli v. General Elec. Co., 114 F.R.D. 97, 99 (N.D.Ind.1987), [202]*202aff'd. without opinion 840 F.2d 920 (7th Cir.1988) (claims that litigation became a realistic possibility at a certain time will normally have to be supported by affidavits giving specific factual detail). Further, plaintiff identifies no particular deposition testimony supporting the position that the documents listed in Exhibit “A” were prepared in anticipation of litigation.

Accordingly, the undersigned concludes that plaintiff has failed to show that the documents listed in Exhibit “A” to defendant’s motion as responsive to defendant’s Requests 1, 2, and 3 are protected work product.

Plaintiff has withheld the claims files sought in Request 14 on work product grounds. The trend in lower federal courts is to analyze work product claims concerning insurance claims files on a case by case basis while recognizing that the proponent bears the burden of establishing the doctrine’s applicability. See Lett, 115 F.R.D. at 503; Airheart, 128 F.R.D. at 671-672; Pete Rinaldi’s Fast Foods v. Great American Ins. Companies, 123 F.R.D. 198, 202 (M.D.N.C.1988). Plaintiff has argued that the nature of claims files precludes their discovery and that the mental impressions of claims adjusters are included. Plaintiff has offered to submit the documents for in camera inspection. Because the undersigned concludes that plaintiff waived work product protection for the claims files, as is set forth below, it is unnecessary to conduct such a review.

Defendant contends that any privilege regarding the claims files at issue in request 14 was waived by plaintiff’s fire and marine claims manager Edward A. Keene’s reference to and review of the files during his deposition. Defendant argues that Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. v. Underwriters Laboratories, Inc., 81 F.R.D. 8 (N.D.Ill.1978) expands the application of Rule 612, Fed.R.Evid., to depositions and gives the court discretion to allow an adverse party to inspect a writing used by a witness to refresh his memory before or while testifying. This contention is supported by decisions of other lower federal courts. See e.g. In re Joint Eastern & Southern Dist. Asbestos Lit., 119 F.R.D. 4, 5 (E.D. & S.D.N.Y.1988).

In opposition, plaintiff cites Merlin v. Boca Raton Community Hospital, Inc., 479 So.2d 236 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985), which held that notes prepared in contemplation of litigation or during litigation and kept confidential prior to review by the deponent were privileged and not discoverable. The Merlin undersigned finds Merlin distinguishable because the deponent in that case did not use notes to refresh his recollection during the deposition. Id. at 238. Here, it appears that Mr. Keene repeatedly reviewed the two claims file binders during the deposition. See

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Bluebook (online)
135 F.R.D. 199, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18546, 1990 WL 274508, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/auto-owners-insurance-v-totaltape-inc-flmd-1990.