Cooey v. Strickland

269 F.R.D. 643, 2010 WL 3238972
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Ohio
DecidedAugust 16, 2010
DocketNos. 2:04-cv-1156, 2:09-cv-242, 2:10-cv-27
StatusPublished
Cited by46 cases

This text of 269 F.R.D. 643 (Cooey v. Strickland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cooey v. Strickland, 269 F.R.D. 643, 2010 WL 3238972 (S.D. Ohio 2010).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

GREGORY L. FROST, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court for consideration of Defendants’ Privilege Log (Doc. # 774-1), Defendants’ Supplemental Privilege Log (Doc. # 777-1), and Plaintiffs’ Memo in Opposition to Defendants’ Privilege Log and Claims (Doc. # 794). For the reasons that follow, the Court finds that the documents are privileged or protected by the work product doctrine.

I. BACKGROUND

This is a federal civil rights case concerning Ohio’s lethal injection policy and procedures. (Doe. # 794, at 7.) Plaintiffs Jonathan Monroe, Brett Hartman, and Jerome Henderson (“Plaintiffs”) served discovery requests on Defendants on March 5, 2010. (Doc. # 745, at 3.) Defendants produced some answers and documents, but declined to provide other answers or documents regarding the November 30, 2009 execution policy, claiming that the deliberative-process privilege, the attorney-client privilege, and/or the work-product doctrine protected these answers and documents from disclosure. (Doc. # 745, at 3.) Following additional correspondence between the parties, the defendants produced some additional documents, but the plaintiffs determined that the additional responses were inadequate. (Doc. # 745, at 3.)

On April 28, 2010, the parties filed an agreement that they had reached regarding the discovery dispute, which called for Defendants to produce some additional information, to file under seal and for an in camera inspection copies of all documents that Defendants contended to be privileged along with a privilege log, and to allow Plaintiffs to subsequently file a response to the claims of privilege with the Court. (Doc. # 745, at 4.) The parties agreed that the Court would review Defendants’ claims of privilege and determine to what extent, if any, Defendants would be required to produce additional information.

Defendants’ privilege log was filed with the Court on May 18, 2010. (Doc. # 774-1.) The privilege log initially asserted that attorney-client privilege protected most of the communications and that the work-product doctrine protected seven others. (Doc. # 774-1.) After a reassessment of the information, Defendants assert that most of the communications are protected by the attorney-client privilege and that only one of the documents is covered by the work-produet doctrine. (Doc. #794, at 24-25.) Defendants no longer assert that any information is protected by the deliberative-process privilege. (Doc. # 794, at 25.)

Plaintiffs argue that Defendants have not carried their burden of establishing that any privilege applies to protect the communications in question. (Doc. # 794, at 26.) Plaintiffs further assert that even if any privileges do apply, Defendants have not proved that the privileges were not waived or dissolved (Doc. # 794, at 26).

[647]*647II. LEGAL STANDARD

According to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, courts may issue protective orders regarding specific matters relating to disclosure or discovery. Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(c). A protective order may, among other things, forbid the disclosure or discovery, specify terms of any discovery ordered, prescribe an alternate method of discovery, or limit the scope of discovery to certain matters. Fed. R.Civ.P. 26(c)(l)(A)-(D). If a motion for a protective order is wholly or partially denied, the court may order any party to provide discovery. Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(c)(2). A district court’s decision regarding discovery will only be reversed upon a showing of abuse of discretion that results in substantial prejudice to a party. Scales v. J.C. Bradford & Co., 925 F.2d 901, 906 (6th Cir.1991).

III. DISCUSSION

A. Attorney Work-Product Doctrine

The work-produet doctrine “protects from discovery documents and tangible things prepared in anticipation of litigation by or for a party or by or for that party’s representative.” United States v. Roxworthy, 457 F.3d 590, 593 (6th Cir.2006). The burden of proving that an item is prepared in anticipation of litigation rests with the party asserting the privilege. Id. The Sixth Circuit adopted the “because of’ test to determine whether this standard is met; that is, the asserting party must prove that the item was “prepared or obtained because of the prospect of litigation.” Id. (quoting United States v. Adlman (Adlman II), 134 F.3d 1194, 1202 (2d Cir.1998)). Items that are “prepared in the ordinary course of business, or pursuant to public requirements unrelated to litigation, or for non-litigation purposes,” are not protected by the work-product doctrine. Roxworthy, 457 F.3d at 593. Thus, if the item would have been prepared in substantially the same manner, regardless of the anticipated litigation, the doctrine does not apply. Id. at 593-94.

Furthermore, the “because of’ test includes both a subjective inquiry and an objective inquiry into the reasonableness of the party’s actions. A court considering the matter must consider “(1) whether a document was created because of a party’s subjective anticipation of litigation, as contrasted with an ordinary business purpose, and (2) whether that subjective anticipation of litigation was objectively reasonable.” Id. at 594.

Defendant’s maintain that Item # 215 is protected by the attorney work-produced doctrine. This Court has reviewed Item # 215 and finds that the document is protected by the attorney work-product doctrine. The letter was prepared because of the pending litigation. In fact, the letter specifically refers to the method of execution proceedings. And, this Court finds that it was objectively reasonable to anticipate the need for the information requested because of the ongoing litigation.

B. Relevance

Plaintiffs argue that Defendants’ relevance objections to items 63-70 are improper. (Doc. #794, at 28-29.) Specifically, Plaintiffs argue that because relevance is a substantive objection not related in any way to privilege, the defendants’ failure to raise the objection within the time frame prescribed by Rule 34(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure has resulted in a waiver of that objection. Id.

Rule 34(b) gives parties thirty days from the date of service to respond to discovery requests. Fed.R.Civ.P. 34(b)(2). This thirty-day period includes the time that a party has to raise objections to discovery requests. Cleveland Indians Baseball Co. v. United States, No. 96-2240,1998 WL 180623, at *4, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1459, at *13 (N.D. Ohio Jan. 28, 1998).

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269 F.R.D. 643, 2010 WL 3238972, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cooey-v-strickland-ohsd-2010.