Hyundai Motor America v. O'NEILL

839 S.W.2d 474, 1992 Tex. App. LEXIS 2789, 1992 WL 205388
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 13, 1992
Docket05-92-01032-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 839 S.W.2d 474 (Hyundai Motor America v. O'NEILL) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hyundai Motor America v. O'NEILL, 839 S.W.2d 474, 1992 Tex. App. LEXIS 2789, 1992 WL 205388 (Tex. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinions

OPINION

LAGARDE, Justice.

In this original proceeding, relator seeks a writ of mandamus directing the trial court to vacate its April 7, 1992 order requiring production of documents that relator contends are protected by various privileges. The trial court concluded that relator had waived its claims of privilege. Relator asserts that this conclusion was an abuse of discretion. We disagree. Accordingly, we deny relator’s petition for writ of mandamus.

I. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Real-party-in-interest Corina McDonald sued relator Hyundai Motor Company and other defendants after she was injured in an automobile accident. On October 15, 1990, McDonald served requests for production on Hyundai. Request 17 sought production of any documents addressing claims, problems, or complaints pertaining to the seat assembly or passive seat belt system in the type of Hyundai that McDonald was driving. Hyundai timely objected to this request on the ground that it was overly broad and, through incorporation of responses to other requests, on the ground that it sought attorney work product or trade secrets. After McDonald filed a motion to compel, a hearing was held before a visiting judge. In an order signed March 5, 1991, the visiting judge directed Hyundai to produce all documents set forth in request 17 “to the extent that the corresponding interrogatories are limited.” 1 Interpreting this order as requiring production of documents only addressing multiple claims, Hyundai filed an additional response on March 4, 1991.2 In that re[476]*476sponse, Hyundai stated that “there [were] no documents responsive to the requests.” Hyundai also specifically asserted the attorney-client privilege, the work-product exemption, and the investigative privilege in the event Hyundai later located any responsive documents.

McDonald filed a motion for sanctions contesting Hyundai’s assertion that it had no responsive documents. A special master ruled that the visiting judge’s order required Hyundai to produce documents that addressed a single claim or complaint as well as compilations of multiple claims or complaints. Hyundai filed a third response on July 22, 1991, asserting that request 17 was overly broad and unduly burdensome and that “nearly all” of the responsive documents were protected by the attorney-client, investigative, party-communication, trade-secret/proprietary, or work-product privileges. Hyundai also filed a motion requesting that the visiting judge, rather than the master, clarify Hyundai’s obligations under his March 5 order.

McDonald filed a motion for sanctions and to compel production. On August 15, 1991, Hyundai responded and filed a motion for protection. In connection with this motion, Hyundai filed a log identifying the documents and the privilege claimed for each. Hyundai also tendered the documents for in camera inspection.

In reports filed December 10, 1991, the special master ordered Hyundai to produce the documents sought in request 17. The special master ruled either that the visiting judge had overruled Hyundai’s claims of privilege or that Hyundai had failed to assert its privileges at the hearing before the visiting judge and, therefore, had waived them. Finding that Hyundai’s failure to produce the documents was based on a good-faith, but mistaken, belief, the special master refused to impose sanctions on Hyundai. The special master denied Hyundai’s request for clarification by the visiting judge.

Hyundai appealed the special master’s reports with respect to request 17 and with respect to its motion for clarification by the visiting judge. In the order that is the subject of this mandamus, the trial court overruled Hyundai’s appeal from the special master’s discovery report, ordered Hyundai to produce all documents set forth in request 17 “to the extent that the corresponding interrogatory is limited as that order has been interpreted and clarified by previous rulings of the Master as adopted by [the trial court],” and denied Hyundai’s motion for clarification of the March 5 order. The trial court’s April 7, 1992 order recites, in part:

The Court finds that the visiting judge heard the objections made by the Defendant, Hyundai Motor America, hereinafter “Defendant,” related to Request for Production No. 17. The Court further finds that as a general proposition that [sic] there cannot be an obligation on the respondent to a discovery request to assert burdensomeness and also itemize and produce a log of all privileged documents and privileges which might be asserted, but in this case the visiting judge heard all the objections and evidence which were presented and after such hearing signed a very specific order requiring the production of all documents requested under Request for Production No. 17, as modified.
The Court further finds that Defendant waived its possible right to assert privilege that Defendant might have had with respect to Request for Production No. 17.

In this proceeding, Hyundai is seeking mandamus relief from this order.

II. MANDAMUS STANDARDS

To obtain relief by writ of mandamus, relator must show that: (1) the trial court committed a clear abuse of discretion, and (2) relator has no adequate remedy at law. See Walker v. Packer, 827 S.W.2d 833, 839-40 (Tex.1992). A trial court abuses its discretion when it reaches a decision so arbitrary and unreasonable as to amount to a clear and prejudicial error of law. Id. [477]*477at 839. A relator has no adequate remedy when the trial court erroneously orders disclosure of privileged material. Id. at 843. In this case, the trial court has ordered disclosure of documents that Hyundai contends are protected by various privileges. Therefore, Hyundai has established that it has no adequate remedy at law. Id. The primary issue is whether Hyundai has also demonstrated a clear abuse of discretion.

III. RELATOR’S ARGUMENTS

Hyundai contends that the trial court abused its discretion in two ways. First, the trial court abused its discretion by finding that Hyundai waived any privileges with respect to request 17 and by ordering Hyundai to produce the documents requested in request 17. Second, the trial court abused its discretion by denying Hyundai’s motion for a rehearing before the visiting judge who signed the March 5 order. We will address first Hyundai’s arguments concerning waiver.

IV. WAIVER

A. The procedure for asserting a privilege from discovery — general rules.

Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 166b(4), first promulgated in 1988, sets out the procedure for asserting an objection to a discovery request. Rule 166b(4) states, in pertinent part:

In objecting to an appropriate discovery request within the scope of paragraph 2, a party seeking to exclude any matter from discovery on the basis of an exemption or immunity from discovery, must specifically plead the particular exemption or immunity from discovery relied upon and at or prior to any hearing shall produce any evidence necessary to support such claim either in the form of affidavits served at least seven days before the hearing or by testimony. If the trial court determines that an in camera inspection ...

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Hyundai Motor America v. O'NEILL
839 S.W.2d 474 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1992)

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Bluebook (online)
839 S.W.2d 474, 1992 Tex. App. LEXIS 2789, 1992 WL 205388, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hyundai-motor-america-v-oneill-texapp-1992.