Cogdill v. Tennessee Valley Authority

7 F.R.D. 411, 1947 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1689
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Tennessee
DecidedJuly 10, 1947
DocketNo. 914
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 7 F.R.D. 411 (Cogdill v. Tennessee Valley Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cogdill v. Tennessee Valley Authority, 7 F.R.D. 411, 1947 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1689 (E.D. Tenn. 1947).

Opinion

TAYLOR, District Judge.

This cause is before me on motion of plaintiff to amend the summons issued November 6, 1946, and the counter-part summons issued November 18, 1946, by deleting from the respective summons the figures “$15,000.00”, and by inserting in lieu of said figures “$100,000.00”; also tO' amend her declaration filed in this cause by striking the wording “Fifteen Thousand ($15,000.00) Dollars” from the first, second and third counts thereof and by substituting in lieu of the averments stricken, and in each of the three respective counts the. following words and figures, to wit: “One Hundred Thousand ($100,-000.00) Dollars”, and the Court, in consideration of said motion, is pleased to and allows same.

The plaintiff, by her attorneys, also moved the Court in part two of her motion as follows: “That the Court enter an order requiring the defendant to produce and permit the inspection and copying or photographing, by or on behalf of the plaintiff, of all written statements obtained by it, from witnesses, in the course of its investigation of the accident wherein plaintiff was injured when struck by a truck operated by the defendant, and all photographs taken by or on behalf of the defendant in the course of its investigation of said accident, and all maps or diagrams made by, or on behalf of the defendant of the scene of the accident.”

In support of part two of the motion, plaintiff and her attorneys have filed their separate affidavits for the purpose of showing the necessity of plaintiff for the information asked for, in order to prepare her case against the defendants. The defendants have objected to the granting of the motion, principally on the ground that the cjiscovery asked for is comprised of material that is privileged and that plaintiff [413]*413has not shown sufficient reason why the privileged character of the material should be disregarded. Both parties have filed briefs, in which each relies heavily on the case of Hickman v. Taylor et al., 329 U.S. 495, 67 S.Ct. 385, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States, January 13, 1947.

The controversial interrogatory in that case called upon the defendants to state whether statements had been taken from boat crewmen in connection with a tug boat accident, and to “attach hereto exact copies of all such statements if in writing, and if oral, set forth in detail the exact provisions of any such oral statements or reports.” Supplemental interrogatories asked whether any oral or written statements, records, reports, or other memoranda had been made concerning the various activities relating to the accident. In the event' of an affirmative answer, the defendants were requested to set forth the nature of all such records, reports, statements or other memoranda.

Three days after the accident, which involved the sinking of a tug owned by them, the defendants had employed an attorney to defend them against potential suits growing out of the accident and to sue the railroad company whose float had been involved in the accident. Response to the interrogatories would have required the attorney, without a showing of good cause or necessity on the part of the plaintiff, to make available to the plaintiff not only signed statements he might have obtained from witnesses, but also any memoranda he might have made as to oral statements of witnesses. It would also have required him to “set forth in detail the exact provisions of any such oral statements or reports.” All this plaintiff asked as a matter of right, with no showing of any necessity therefor.

The District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ordered the attorney and defendants to comply with the requests and ordered them jailed for contempt for their refusal. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals, 153 F.2d 212, reversed the judgment of the District Court, 4 F.R.D. 479, and the Supreme Court affirmed the Circuit Court.

It appears from the foregoing that Hickman v. Taylor et ah, is not directly in point in the present case. Here the plaintiff has not asked for discovery into privileged matters as a mere matter of right, but has shown by affidavits the necessity therefor. Nor has she asked for reproductions of oral statements, or for mental impressions of defendants’ attorneys, but for permission to copy or photograph written statements in the control of the defendant. The reasoning of the Hickman case indicates that the decision was not based upon the privileged character of the material or upon the attorney-client relationship, but rather upon the unreasonableness of invading as a matter of right the “work product” of the attorney for the defendant, and of requiring him to reduce to writing for the plaintiff’s convenience oral statements he had heard from witnesses, who might later testify at variance with what the attorney had predicted as to their testimony. The unfairness of the interrogatories in those respects, when addressed to the attorney as well as to the defendants, was so obvious that to allow them would have gone beyond the liberal objectives of the Rules.

No such unfairness is apparent here. The plaintiff has supported her motion by her own affidavit and by the affidavits of her attorneys, by way of showing good cause, as required by Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, rule 34, 28 U.S.C.A. following section 723c. Defendants have filed a counter-affidavit to the effect that a brother of the plaintiff was either present when plaintiff was injured or arrived a short time thereafter; that plaintiff’s husband resided in the vicinity of the accident scene, and that plaintiff’s attorneys are competent to investigate and prepare the case for trial.

The situation which presents itself to the mind’s eye differs from that which defendants’ affidavit suggests. Here was a woman, allegedly critically injured and at the time unconscious. Her relatives, if behaving with what may be assumed to be the normal behavior of close relatives in such painful circumstances, were concerned with her injuries and her care, rather than with a search for witnesses and [414]*414the preparation of evidence. On the other hand, it may be assumed that defendant driver of the truck which injured plaintiff was concerned with the possible consequences of the accident to himself and his employer, and that he, possibly under standing instructions, immediately reported the accident to his superiors, then proceeded to collect what information he found available for use in more extended investigations by other agents of his employer. The result of such contrasting situations, if found to exist in fact, would be to place the initial advantage in the acquisition of facts all on one side. There is an implication in Rules 26 to 37, and particularly Rule 34, that such an advantage is unfair and should not permanently prevail.

Defendants have further objected to plaintiff’s motion on the ground of privilege arising from the relation of attorney and client, but without showing that the requested material is not within defendants’ control. It should be clear from a reading of Hickman v. Taylor et al., that the Rules do not ipso facto recognize this sort of privilege, especially where it is not clear whether the client-attorney or the employer-employee relationship is dominant.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
7 F.R.D. 411, 1947 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1689, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cogdill-v-tennessee-valley-authority-tned-1947.