Gingrich v. Sandia Corporation

2007 NMCA 101, 165 P.3d 1135, 142 N.M. 359
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 15, 2007
Docket25,955, 25,956
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 2007 NMCA 101 (Gingrich v. Sandia Corporation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gingrich v. Sandia Corporation, 2007 NMCA 101, 165 P.3d 1135, 142 N.M. 359 (N.M. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

OPINION

ALARID, Judge.

{1} Defendants-Appellants Sandia Corporation, Lockheed Martin Corporation, and C. Paul Robinson (collectively, Sandia) and Non-Party attorney Norman Bay (Bay) filed interlocutory appeals from an order of the district court compelling production of materials for which the Appellants have asserted attorney-client privilege and work product immunity. The district court ordered various materials produced after finding that Sandia, in defense of a suit brought by Plaintiff-Appellee Patricia Gingrich, had waived the attorney-client privilege with respect to an investigative report produced by Bay and relied upon by Sandia to defend this case. In that order compelling discovery, the district court certified the issues raised therein for appeal after making the requisite findings. See NMSA 1978, § 39-3-4(A) (1999) (permitting appellate review of an interlocutory district court order where the order “does not practically dispose of the merits of the action,” and the district court believes that the order “involves a controlling question of law as to which there is a substantial ground for difference of opinion,” and that “an immediate appeal from this order [or decision] may materially advance the ultimate termination of the litigation”). Sandia and Bay filed separate interlocutory appeals in this Court, which we granted and consolidated. The district court has stayed all further proceedings pending the resolution of this appeal. Requests for oral argument are hereby denied. For the reasons stated herein, we affirm the order of the district court, except to the extent that it required production of that portion of Bay’s work product that was not communicated to Sandia.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

{2} The facts relevant to this appeal are not in dispute. Bay was retained by Sandia to investigate allegations by two internal Sandia Ethics Office investigators who claimed that their work was being impeded and that they were being retaliated against by Sandia managers as a result of their investigations. Sandia was notified of the investigators’ allegations by way of a letter sent to Sandia management by a local attorney, captioned “Re: Employment discrimination — Pat O’Neill and Mark Ludwig.” The letter relayed several of the investigators’ accusations, including that Sandia managers had interfered with their investigative efforts, that they had suffered retaliatory adverse employment actions, and that they had been subjected to “potentially slanderous statements and libelous writings” and a “hostile work environment.” The letter requested that Sandia “reverse certain improperly motivated management initiatives against these two investigators.” In closing, the letter also encouraged Sandia to “avoid a serious legal mistake” by taking steps to ensure that the investigators were being treated lawfully.

{3} After receiving this letter, and after realizing that any such investigation would normally have been conducted by the investigators themselves, Sandia retained Bay, a former federal attorney and currently a professor of law at the University of New Mexico, to conduct an investigation into the investigators’ accusations. The letter memorializing Bay’s engagement, sent by Lawrence Greher, Senior Attorney for Sandia, instructed Bay to conduct an inquiry into the investigators’ allegations that they were:

(1) being prevented from fully and faithfully carrying out their assigned duties as security investigators and (2) being retaliated against because of their past or ongoing efforts to ferret out possible fraud, waste [or] abuse at Sandia.

{4} Sandia further instructed Bay to conduct a “complete, thorough, and comprehensive investigation into the allegations,” to treat his investigation as “attorney-client privileged to the fullest extent possible,” and to submit a “comprehensive report on [his] findings to C. Paul Robinson, Sandia’s President and Laboratory Director.” In addition to submitting a written report containing the results of his investigation, Bay was directed to “advise [Sandia’s in-house counsel] from time to time concerning, in general terms, the progress being made in completing [his] investigation.”

{5} Bay began his investigation in August 2002, culminating in the submission of a 221-page “Report of Independent Investigation” (the Report) to Robinson in June 2003. Plaintiff was one of several Sandia employees whose conduct, according to the Report, “merited scrutiny.” Plaintiff was disciplined later that month, and approximately one year later, she terminated her employment with Sandia. Plaintiff subsequently filed a complaint in district court challenging the disciplinary actions taken by Sandia, and alleging that the Report contained false allegations of wrongdoing by Plaintiff. Specifically, and more germane to this appeal, Plaintiff alleged that Sandia managers knew that the Report’s conclusions which criticized Plaintiffs conduct were incorrect, but nevertheless chose to discipline her in order to placate members of Congress responsible for oversight of the laboratory. Sandia’s response denied Plaintiffs allegations that the Report was a sham, and more particularly, stated that the Report provided an objective, reasonable belief that any action taken against Plaintiff was justified.

{6} The district court found that waiver of both the attorney-client privilege and work product immunity had occurred as a result of Sandia’s disclosure of the Report prior to and during this litigation, and by Sandia’s direct use of the Report in defending against Plaintiffs claim that she was demoted, and constructively discharged, without cause. In determining the scope of the waiver resulting from Sandia’s disclosure and use of the Report, the district court ordered that the following additional materials be disclosed as well: (1) communications between Bay, Sandia lawyers, and Sandia representatives regarding Plaintiff and the Report; (2) work product materials prepared by Sandia’s in-house counsel and communicated to non-legal representatives of Sandia; and (3) all materials prepared or compiled by Bay relating to the Report.

{7} Sandia and Bay request that we reverse the district court’s order and uphold Sandia’s assertions of attorney-client privilege and work product immunity. For the reasons stated herein, we affirm the district court’s order with respect to Sandia’s in-house communications and work product, but reverse insofar as it compels Bay to produce attorney work product materials that were not communicated to Sandia.

APPLICABILITY OF ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE AND WORK PRODUCT IMMUNITY

{8} We first address Plaintiffs contention that the district court erroneously concluded that the Report, prior to its disclosure and use in this litigation, was protected by the attorney-client privilege and that Bay’s investigation was entitled to work product immunity. Plaintiff advances this argument as an alternative ground for affirmance, and takes the position that if the aforementioned protections do not apply to Bay’s work and investigation, then the district court was correct to order their production. We review decisions regarding the initial applicability of the attorney-client privilege and work product immunity for abuse of discretion. See Hartman v. Texaco Inc., 1997-NMCA-032, ¶20, 123 N.M. 220, 937 P.2d 979.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2007 NMCA 101, 165 P.3d 1135, 142 N.M. 359, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gingrich-v-sandia-corporation-nmctapp-2007.