Compton v. Allstate Property & Casualty Insurance

278 F.R.D. 193, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 143072, 2011 WL 6181336
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Indiana
DecidedDecember 13, 2011
DocketNo. 1:10-cv-01448-LJM-DML
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 278 F.R.D. 193 (Compton v. Allstate Property & Casualty Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Compton v. Allstate Property & Casualty Insurance, 278 F.R.D. 193, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 143072, 2011 WL 6181336 (S.D. Ind. 2011).

Opinion

Order Following In Camera Review

DEBRA MeVICKER LYNCH, United States Magistrate Judge.

On November 15, 2011, the court held a discovery hearing on defendant Allstate Property & Casualty Insurance Company’s (“Allstate”) objections to producing certain portions of a computerized claims record known as the NextGen record. The court heard argument from the parties and ordered Allstate to submit the record for in camera review. The parties also provided the court with the deposition transcript of an Allstate claims examiner, Bradley Schaefer, who testified regarding the claims record and his practices in keeping track of his activities by making entries in the NextGen record.

Allstate contends that its redactions are proper because they are protected from disclosure by the attorney-client privilege or the work product doctrine. Allstate made other redactions because entries were “privileged” insurance reserve information, “privileged” information regarding another insured, or “privileged” subrogation information. In addition, Allstate justifies some redactions on the ground that the information is not relevant. Allstate has coded the NextGen record to show its grounds for each redaction.

The court has carefully reviewed the Nex-tGen record and the reasons for Allstate’s redactions, examined applicable law, and makes the determinations explained below.

Factual Background

This case concerns insurance coverage to Ms. Compton for losses from a November 15, 2009 fire that destroyed a home she owned. Allstate, by Mr. Schaefer, advised Ms. Compton by letter dated July 8, 2010, of Allstate’s denial of her claim. Mr. Schaefer was the primary claims examiner for Ms. Compton’s claim. He works in one of Allstate’s special claims investigation units, a unit to which “suspicious” claims are sent for handling. A claim may be labeled “suspicious” if, for example, the insured has a significant history of prior claims, a fire appears to have suspicious origins, the insured appears to have had a financial motive, or there is an indication that an insured may have made misrepresentations about the claim. For various reasons, Ms. Compton’s claim was investigated primarily under Mr. Schaefer’s direction, and the claim was ultimately denied based on alleged material misrepresentations that Ms. Compton made in connection with her claim. Further, although Allstate concluded that the fire was intentionally set, Mr. Schaefer had (and has) no basis to believe that Ms. Compton set the fire or caused it to be set.

Allstate uses a computerized claims recordkeeping system called NextGen. The NextGen system is used by Allstate representatives to record their activities in connection with the claim process. The NextGen claims notes entered by Allstate personnel are used by Allstate as a reference source of all activities undertaken in investigating and processing a claim. Mr. Schaefer testified that his activities for Ms. Compton’s claim included having discussions with field adjusters and personal property adjusters, hiring an investigator to perform a “cause and origin” analysis and report, obtaining information from the local fire department, hiring an investigator to interview persons in Ms. Compton’s neighborhood to find witnesses regarding the fire or other activities at the home, conducting background checks regarding Ms. Compton including with respect to her finances and bankruptcy filings, reviewing claims files for other claims Ms. Compton [196]*196has made, hiring outside counsel to take Ms. Compton’s and her daughter’s examination, and participating in those examinations. Mr. Schaefer also testified that, at least up to the time that he sent the July 8, 2010 letter to Ms. Compton denying her claim, he had no reason to believe that Ms. Compton intended to hire counsel or that this matter would lead to litigation.

Mr. Schaefer agreed that his documentation of activities as part of evaluating Ms. Compton’s claim in the NextGen computerized notes was done as part of the ordinary course of his claim evaluation.

Analysis

Work Product Doctrine

The court first addresses the work product doctrine and its application in the first-party insurance context.

Allstate’s ability to withhold documents based on the work product doctrine is governed by federal law. Harper v. Auto-Owners Ins. Co., 138 F.R.D. 655, 658 (S.D.Ind.1991). The work product doctrine protects from disclosure (1) documents and tangible things (2) prepared in anticipation of litigation or for trial (3) by or for a party or its representatives. Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b)(3). An insurance company in a first-party insurance coverage dispute may not withhold on work product grounds material that it or its representatives prepared as part of the normal course of the insurance business, as contrasted to documents prepared for purposes of litigation with its insured. See Harper, 138 F.R.D. 655 (S.D.Ind.1991) (containing detailed discussion for applying the anticipation of litigation factor in insurance coverage litigation). In the insurance context, the same document (or an entry in a document) can serve both litigation and ordinary business purposes. Harper, 138 F.R.D. at 661 n. 2. A document that serves dual purposes may be protected work product for purposes of Rule 26(b)(3) where the “ ‘primary motivating purpose behind the creation of a document or investigative report [is] to aid in possible litigation.’” Binks Mfg. Co. v. National Presto Industries, Inc., 709 F.2d 1109, 1118 (7th Cir.1983) (quoting Janicker v. George Washington University, 94 F.R.D. 648, 650 (D.D.C.1982)). See also Stout v. Illinois Farmers Ins. Co., 852 F.Supp. 704, 706 (S.D.Ind.1994) (for document to fall within work product doctrine, “it must pass the ‘primary motivating purpose’ test” discussed in Binks).

Allstate has redacted entries from the NextGen record as work product on the ground that the investigation of Ms. Compton’s claim was “outside the scope of ordinary claims adjustment with the prospect of litigation.” It points to the numerous grounds it had for suspecting foul play (by someone) or an otherwise improper claim by Ms. Compton as justification for labeling the entries work product. But the existence of an out-of-the-ordinary claim does not transform work regarding the claim into litigation work product. Allstate’s normal course of business includes the adjustment of both “suspicious” claims and “ordinary” claims. Although Allstate may assign specialists to adjust “suspicious” claims and those specialists may undertake a more rigorous and detailed investigation of a claim than Allstate finds necessary for “ordinary” claims, the investigation and adjustment of a “suspicious” claim still falls within Allstate’s ordinary business duty to its insured to examine, adjust, and investigate the claim, and to determine whether and the extent to which the claim must be covered.

Based on the court’s review of the Nex-tGen record and Mr. Schaefer’s testimony regarding his activities, the court finds that none of the entries before suit was filed by Ms. Compton were made with the “primary motivating purpose” to aid in possible litigation. The seven entries dated 11/19/2010, after Ms. Compton filed her lawsuit, and redacted on work product grounds, need not be produced.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
278 F.R.D. 193, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 143072, 2011 WL 6181336, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/compton-v-allstate-property-casualty-insurance-insd-2011.