First Aviation Services, Inc. v. Gulf Insurance

205 F.R.D. 65, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4652
CourtDistrict Court, D. Connecticut
DecidedMarch 8, 2001
DocketNo. 3:00cv150 (PCD)
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 205 F.R.D. 65 (First Aviation Services, Inc. v. Gulf Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
First Aviation Services, Inc. v. Gulf Insurance, 205 F.R.D. 65, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4652 (D. Conn. 2001).

Opinion

RULING ON MOTIONS TO COMPEL

DORSEY, Senior District Judge.

Plaintiffs and defendant move to compel production of certain documents. The three pending motions are resolved below.

[67]*67I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs seek damages pursuant to a Directors & Officers (“D & 0”) Liability and Company Reimbursement Insurance Policy issued by defendant (“Gulf Policy”). In particular, they seek defense and settlement costs allegedly incurred in a California lawsuit brought by John Risko against plaintiffs and others for alleged breach of contract and bad faith (“Risko Action”). In the Risko Action, Risko alleged that Hollander and Culver falsely promised that Risko would be given a one-third share of First Aviation Services, Inc. (“FAVS”) or National Airmo-tive Corporation (“NAC”). He also alleged he was wrongfully terminated from his employment at FAVS, NAC, and First Equity Development, Inc. (“FED”), a Risko Action defendant not insured under the Gulf Policy.

Plaintiffs in the instant case seek damages in excess of $3 million for the above claims, as well as for alleged violations of the Connecticut Unfair Insurance Practices Act (“CUIPA”) and the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (“CUTPA”).

II. DISCUSSION

A. Defendant’s Motion to Compel

Defendant moved for production of 1) documents responsive to Document Requests Nos. 45, 48, and 49; 2) answers responsive to Interrogatories Nos. 7 and 8; and 3) a privilege log. Plaintiffs objected only to production of documents responsive to Request No. 45. Accordingly, defendant withdraws its motion except with respect to Request No. 45 and the privilege log that plaintiffs ultimately produced.

Request No. 45 asks for “[a]ll documents concerning the action brought by First Equity Development, Inc. against Risko in Connecticut, referred to in the invoice of Weil, Gotshal & Manges dated May 4, 1998.” Defendant claims that the Connecticut action focused in part on an employment dispute between Risko and some of the parties from the Risko action. Defendant argues that “the relatedness of the two actions is demonstrated by the fact that documents from the Connecticut Action were expressly designated as confidential pursuant to the Protective Order entered by the California Court in the Risko Action, indicating an unmistakable overlap in the evidence relevant to both of those actions.” Def.’s Mem. in Supp., at 4.

Plaintiffs respond that, to the extent any invoice inadvertently included any expense related to the Connecticut action, they do not expect Gulf to pay that expense. Plaintiffs argue that there is nothing relevant or reasonably calculated to lead to discovery of admissible evidence in the Connecticut action documents. Further, plaintiffs dispute defendant’s characterization of the Connecticut action as an employment dispute — the action dealt with allegations by FED that Risko engaged in misconduct after termination of his employment. Specifically, FED alleged that Risko breached the terms of a restrictive covenant in his employment agreement with FED, violated CUTPA and the Connecticut Trade Secrets Act, and breached his fiduciary duties as a former officer and director of FED.

Defendant’s argument that the documents from the Connecticut action are relevant to the instant action is tenuous at best. Defendant does not explain how the chain of events after Risko’s termination, i.e., the facts underlying the Connecticut Action, could have any relevance to the Risko action. Rather, defendant rests its argument on the fact that a protective order governed documents from both cases. If documents from the Connecticut Action were admitted as evidence in the Risko action, defendant is certainly entitled to these documents. However, a request for all the documents from a lawsuit that does not appear to have any bearing on the instant lawsuit is beyond the scope of discovery. Defendant’s motion to compel production of all Connecticut Action documents is denied.

Defendant also seeks a more detailed privilege log from plaintiffs. Defendant contends that the log’s first four entries set forth “categorical claims” of privilege that do not specify or identify the specific documents withheld by plaintiffs. Defendant claims it cannot determine from the log the number of documents withheld, whether any attorney was party to the communications, who au[68]*68thored the documents, when they were authored, or whether copies were sent to any third-parties.

Local Rule 9(d)(1) requires a privilege log to contain 1) the type of document, 2) the general subject matter of the document, 3) the date of the document, 4) the author of the document, and 5) each recipient of the document. Accordingly, except where the information required by the above categories is itself privileged, plaintiffs shall provide a more detailed log in compliance with the Local Rule.

Defendant’s motion to compel is granted in part and denied in part.

B. Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel Production of Claims Documents

Plaintiffs move to compel Gulf to produce all claims documents of its outside claims handlers, Lord, Bissell & Brook (“LBB”), and all claims and underwriting manuals and interpretive documents. Defendant objects, claiming the LBB documents are privileged and no manuals or interpretive documents exist.

Plaintiffs assert that Gulf retained LBB to investigate and make a coverage determination regarding their D & 0 claim. They contend that such a task is normally performed by an insurance company’s claim department, and thus the claims-handling documents are not protected by the attorney-client or work-product privileges. Defendant responds that LBB served as its legal advis- or and, thus, their communications are entitled to attorney-client privilege. Further, defendant claims that it anticipated an adversarial coverage dispute from the early stages of the matter and is therefore entitled to the protection of the work-product doctrine.

In a diversity action, the issue of privilege is governed by the substantive law of the forum state. Dixon v. 80 Pine Street Corp., 516 F.2d 1278, 1280 (2d Cir.1975). As neither party has argued to the contrary, Connecticut law will govern. Discovery procedure will be governed by federal law. Id.

The attorney-client privilege in Connecticut “protects both the confidential giving of professional advice by an attorney acting in the capacity of a legal advisor to those who can act on it, as well as the giving of information to the lawyer to enable counsel to give sound and informed advice.” Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 249 Conn. 36, 52, 730 A.2d 51, 60 (1999). “Not every communication between attorney and client falls within the privilege. A communication from attorney to client solely regarding a matter of fact would not ordinarily be privileged, unless it were shown to be inextricably linked to the giving of legal advice.” Ullmann v. State, 230 Conn. 698, 713, 647 A.2d 324, 332 (1994). A request by a client to his attorney to obtain factual information does not come within the scope of privileged communication.

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205 F.R.D. 65, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4652, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/first-aviation-services-inc-v-gulf-insurance-ctd-2001.