Evanston Insurance Company v. Murphy

Opinion

WO

Evanston Insurance Company, No. CV-19-04954-PHX-MTL

Plaintiff, ORDER

v.

Tracey Portee Murphy, et al.,

Defendants. Pending before the Court is the parties’ joint summary of the discovery dispute regarding Plaintiff/Counterdefendant Evanston Insurance Company’s privilege logs after its denial of insurance coverage on July 24, 2019. (Doc. 84.) Specifically, Defendants take issue with the sufficiency of the descriptions provided in Plaintiff’s Second Amended Privilege Log (Doc. 83-1). Generally, a privilege log “must include the following information for each document: (1) the author(s); (2) the nature or type of document; (3) the names of all individuals who were shown, sent, received, or informed of the substance of the document; (4) the date of the document; and (5) the subject matter of the document.” MJG Enters., Inc. v. Cloyd, No. 2:10-cv-00086-TMB, 2012 WL 12964345, at *2 (D. Ariz. Oct. 30, 2012); see also In re Grand Jury Investigation, 974 F.2d 1068, 1071 (9th Cir. 1992). The Court agrees with Defendants that many of the entries on Plaintiff’s privilege log (Doc. 83-1) are insufficient. /// 1 Plaintiff shall have seven (7) days to submit a revised or augmented privilege log with enough information for each document or communication to allow Defendants and this Court to readily assess each claim of privilege. While “plaintiff is not required to provide information about ‘strategy’ or the detailed substance of the subject communications, it must provide a description of the general topic that is detailed enough” to show that the privilege claim is appropriate. Friends of Hope Valley v. Frederick Co., 268 F.R.D. 643, 652 (E.D. Cal. 2010). Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiff shall submit a revised or augmented privilege log to Defendants within seven (7) days of this Order. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the joint discovery dispute regarding privilege and redactions to files prior to Plaintiffs July 24, 2019 denial of coverage (Doc. 83) remains pending at this time. Dated this 17th day of September, 2020. Wichal T. Fburde M7 Michael T. Liburdi United States District Judge

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