Henson v. Wyeth Laboratories, Inc.

118 F.R.D. 584, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13132, 1987 WL 39666
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Virginia
DecidedMay 15, 1987
DocketCiv. A. No. 85-0168-H
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 118 F.R.D. 584 (Henson v. Wyeth Laboratories, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Henson v. Wyeth Laboratories, Inc., 118 F.R.D. 584, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13132, 1987 WL 39666 (W.D. Va. 1987).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

B. WAUGH CRIGLER, United States Magistrate.

Presently before the court are the objections by Wyeth to the disclosure of certain documents requested by plaintiff. In accordance with the procedure outlined by the court in its prior orders, Wyeth has tendered copies of the documents to the court in camera and has listed them for the plaintiff. Both sides have filed their respective memoranda.

Wyeth seeks to protect the documents from disclosure on four (4) grounds: 1) that some are commercially sensitive containing cost data, marketing strategies, financial information and trade secrets; 2) that some post date what Wyeth believes are relevant periods of inquiry; 3) that some are protected by the work product and trial preparation doctrines; and 4) that still others are protected by the attorney-client privilege. As to some documents, Wyeth asserts protection under a combination of categories, and, as to others, only one is claimed to apply.

Before the court addresses these categorical objections seriatim, it is important to note that the parties have entered into a Stipulation of Confidentiality, which apparently was executed some time in December 1986. No mention was made of it by defendant, its existence being brought to the attention of the court in plaintiff's reply to Wyeth’s memorandum supporting its objections. Irrespective of who the moving party was in initiating, drafting and securing the entry of this stipulation, its effect is to remove most, if not all, of the risk of document content disclosure beyond identified persons, and, then, under controlled circumstance. If the substance of those documents is discoverable, then the individuals set forth by agreement clearly should have access to them. With that having been addressed, the court turns to the categories of objection.

I. Commercial Sensitivity, etc. and Trade Secrets

According to Wyeth’s brief, certain documents are objected to on the basis that they relate to matters of confidential cost data, marketing and financial strategies, financial information and trade secrets.1 Wyeth believes that such documents are protected from disclosure because, inter alia, they contain "frank discussions” concerning what Wyeth believes to be commercially sensitive information now known only to Wyeth employees. Furthermore Wyeth states that much, if not all, the information was acquired by agreement in September 1982 with Takeda Chemical Industries, Ltd. of Japan and that a disclosure of the subject documents would violate that agreement.

The authorities cited in support of Wyeth’s position of non-disclosure here, in this court’s view, do not stand for the proposition that commercially sensitive, etc. and trade secret information is insulated from discovery, only that a court must be circumspect in determining whether its relevance has been established and whether the sensitive information properly may be reviewed by the other side in a manner that minimizes the risk of third-party disclosure. This, in essence, is the position taken by plaintiff in his brief, and it appears to this [586]*586court to be the correct one.2

There is little question in the court’s mind that the material here sought is relevant, and that it alone may be, or it may lead to admissible evidence. The court so finds. In addition, the parties themselves have implemented the mechanism which limits the risk of disclosure to others by entering into the Stipulation of Confidentiality. Wyeth’s objection to discovery on the first ground will be overruled.

II. Post Date Information and Documents

In view of this court’s Order of February 17, 1987, fixing the periods of inquiry, and based on Wyeth’s understanding thereof, Wyeth is “withholding from production ____[document which] are dated after June 23,1984” and which address topics it believes were not available to Wyeth “on or before June 23,1982.” Mem. of Defendant at 4-5. Plaintiff responds first by suggesting that the documents withheld in this “Post-date” category, in fact, are covered by this court’s prior Order. If not, he asks the court to “determine for itself whether or not the document in question is relevant” to this case and/or whether such might reasonably lead to admissible evidence. Plaintiff’s Mem. at 16. He then proffers how the information, at this stage of the proceedings, is relevant irrespective of whether it was available to or known by defendant as of the “bright line” date(s). Id. at 16 et seq.

The court finds that the documents covered by this category of objection are highly relevant, and would either themselves be admissible or would lead to admissible evidence. The court is not influenced by Wyeth’s perception that its prior Order created some “bright line,” for that Order appears to speak for itself. Clearly the documents objected to also are covered in that Order, and Wyeth here raises no ground for objection different from which was raised prior to the entry of that Order. The court believes Wyeth had accepted the court’s position thereon by not appealing the prior Order, and that it is now doing little more than reasserting its prior objection.3

Wyeth’s objections based on “PostDate” will be overruled as previously determined.

III. Trial Preparation and Work Product

At the outset of addressing this category of objection, the court wishes to make clear that it does not believe we here are dealing with a “privilege” as alluded to in Wyeth’s brief. Mem. of Defendant at 5. If we faced a privilege, there would be an absolute bar to its disclosure once the privilege attached. Instead, trial preparation and work product materials are protected under Rule 26(b)(3) and the cases that have provided either the genesis for the Rule or its interpretation. Therefore, the court must first determine whether the material sought to be protected falls within the purview of the applicable doctrine, and, if so, whether the requisite need or cause has been demonstrated for avoidance of doctrinal protection.

The documents here sought to be brought under the protection of the trial preparation and work product doctrines are Doc. Nos. 154973-977 and 156187, though Wyeth’s brief also refers to Document No. 31803. While these documents contain some of what is commonly called “risk management” information, they do not amount to anything more than documents addressing business decisions. The fact that litigation and costs of facing such is factored into the anticipated gain/loss projections does not render the information “in anticipation of litigation.” That is, under [587]*587the circumstances here, the mere prospect of litigation is not enough. Where, as here, such information is used in factoring positions to be taken in the market place, one would be hard pressed to fit these documents under the prenumbra of the trial preparation and work product doctrines. State Farm Fire and Cas. Co. v. Perri-gan, 102 F.R.D. 235 (W.D.Va.1984); cf. APL Corp. v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co., 91 F.R.D. 10 (D.Md.1980). The court finds that such doctrines do not apply to the documents cited. Accordingly, an order will enter overruling this category of objection.

IV. Attorney-Client Privilege

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Bluebook (online)
118 F.R.D. 584, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13132, 1987 WL 39666, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/henson-v-wyeth-laboratories-inc-vawd-1987.