In re Commercial Money Center, Inc., Equipment Lease Litigation

248 F.R.D. 532, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21320, 2008 WL 650322
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedMarch 5, 2008
DocketNo. 1:02cv16000 (MDL Docket)
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 248 F.R.D. 532 (In re Commercial Money Center, Inc., Equipment Lease Litigation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Commercial Money Center, Inc., Equipment Lease Litigation, 248 F.R.D. 532, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21320, 2008 WL 650322 (N.D. Ohio 2008).

Opinion

[533]*533 MEMORANDUM OPINION & ORDER

NANCY A. VECCHIARELLI, United States Magistrate Judge.

On October 18, 2007, four of the sureties in this multi-district litigation (“MDL”), SafeCo Insurance Company of America (“SafeCo”), RLI Insurance Company (“RLI”), Royal Indemnity Company (“Royal”) and American Motorists Insurance Company (“AMICO”) (collectively, “the Sureties”), filed a motion for a protective order (Doe. No. 2126) in accordance with this Court’s October 2, 2007 Order (Doc. No. 2120). The motion relates to a discovery request from four banks, hereinafter referred to as the SafeCo Claimant Banks,1 to SafeCo and its forensic accounting expert, Michael R. Huhn, C.P.A. (“Huhn”). The SafeCo Claimant Banks requested Safe-Co and Huhn to “produce all documents that Huhn received, obtained, generated, reviewed, considered and/or relied upon in connection with his retention as SafeCo’s forensic accounting expert.” (See 02-16000, Doc. No. 2118.)2 SafeCo has withheld production of certain documents on the basis of privileges being asserted by it, as well as by the three other sureties. For the reasons set forth below, the Sureties’ motion for a protective order (Doc. No. 2126) is DENIED.

The Sureties must produce all the documents withheld and identified on the privilege log immediately.

I. BACKGROUND

In February 2002, each of the Sureties filed lawsuits against Commercial Money Center (“CMC”) and related parties in the Southern District of California. (See Doe. No. 2126 at 1.) At that time, RLI, Royal, and AMICO obtained temporary restraining orders freezing CMC’s bank accounts and ordering CMC to turn over its books and records for audit. (Id. at 1-2.) CMC subsequently entered into a stipulated restraining order with SafeCo to the same effect. (Id.)

On or about February 1, 2002, RLI retained Huhn as a consultant to conduct an investigation of CMC’s financial records. (Doc. No. 2126-2, Huhn Decl. ¶ 2.) Huhn was retained in a similar consultative capacity by Royal and AMICO on or about February 6, 2002 and by SafeCo on or about February 13, 2002. (Id.) According to Huhn, he began an audit of the lease files and accounting records of CMC and its subsidiary, Commercial Servicing Center (“CSC”), but was unable to complete it because CMC withheld documents. (Id.) When the Sureties returned to court to enforce their discovery rights, Huhn “provided advice to the Sureties, spoke or met with CMC principals and managers in an effort to understand and locate the documents needed, helped organize the documents produced and supplied factual declarations to the Sureties as needed.” (Id.)

In 2002, CMC filed for bankruptcy and “CSC abandoned most of the files to the Sureties.” (Id. ¶ 3.) According to Huhn, “for a time, [his] role was primarily to assist the Sureties in organizing the documents.” (Id.) The Sureties “retained outside companies to service the leases,” and as those companies undertook the task of determining “which leases were paying and which were not,” Huhn was not asked by any of the Sureties to complete the audit of the lease files. (Id.)

On October 25, 2002, after a number of banks, including the SafeCo Claimant Banks, filed suits against the Sureties in various federal courts, all of the CMC-related suits were transferred to this Court by order of the Judicial Panel on Multidistriet Litigation (Doc. No. 1). The cases have been coordinated by the Court for pretrial purposes. (Doc. No. 2).

Over the course of litigation, Huhn continued to provide consulting services to each of the Sureties. In April 2002, at SafeCo’s request, Huhn calculated the default rate on CMC lease pools pre-dating SafeCo’s involvement, which Huhn understood to have begun in June 1999. (Huhn Decl.t 4.) According to [534]*534Huhn, he was able to make his calculation from “a limited number of documents,” and he provided the information to counsel for SafeCo. (Id.)

From May 2002 forward, at the direction of the individual Sureties, Huhn “performed discrete forensic accounting analysis assignments related to the individual Sureties.” (Huhn Decl. ¶ 5.) Huhn did not keep, and was not directed to keep, separate files for the work he performed for the various Sureties. (Huhn Deck ¶ 14.)

According to the declaration of counsel for AMICO, Ronald W. Hopkins, prior to the filing of the actions against CMC in February 2002, counsel for the Sureties agreed that any attorney-client, work-product, and other privileged information shared between them would be confidential. (Doc. No. 2126-4, Hopkins Deck ¶ 3.) On May 8, 2002, the Sureties memorialized the oral agreement in a document identified as the “Joint Information Shai’ing Agreement.” (Id. at ¶ 4.)

On October 10, 2006, SafeCo designated Huhn as a testifying expert. (02-16000, Doc. No. 1869.) None of the other Sureties (“non-SafeCo Sureties”) have designated Huhn as such. SafeCo produced Huhn’s expert report on January 4, 2007. (Doc. No. 2126, Ex. B.) Huhn’s report provides his opinions on the default rate of CMC lease pools prior to SafeCo’s involvement, the default rate on lease pools during SafeCo’s involvement, and the lack of payments on lease pools involving lessee Shandoro Ventures, Inc. or Medquiek Supply, Inc. (Id. at 4-5.) It also provides Huhn’s “financial statement observations.” (Id. at 5.)

On August 30, 2007, the SafeCo Claimant Banks requested SafeCo to produce all documents that Huhn considered in connection with his retention as SafeCo’s forensic accounting expert. (Doc. No. 2129, Ex. 1.) SafeCo produced some documents from Huhn’s file, but withheld others on the ground that they fall outside the scope of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2)(B) and are privileged and confidential.

After being notified of the discovery dispute, the Court held a telephone conference on October 2, 2007. During the conference, counsel informed the Court that some of the documents originally withheld have been produced, and that the non-SafeCo Sureties would permit SafeCo to produce a number of other documents subject to an agreed-upon protective order. However, the Sureties declined to produce a group of documents based on their assertion of the attorney-client and work-product privileges. As to these documents, the Court ordered SafeCo to file a motion for a protective order and a privilege log. (Doc. No. 2120.)

On October 18, 2007, the Sureties filed a motion for a protective order with an attached privilege log identifying 184 withheld documents. (Doc. No. 2126.) According to the Sureties, the majority of these documents were “created, reviewed, or received by Huhn in his consulting capacity to the non-SafeCo sureties,” and “approximately five documents [were] generated by Huhn in his consulting capacity to SafeCo.” (Doc. No. 2135 at 2.) The Sureties maintain that the documents are privileged under the attorney-client and work-product privileges, and, in any event, do not relate to the subject matter of Huhn’s report, and thus, are not subject to discovery under Rule 26(a)(2)(B). The motion has been fully briefed and is ready for review.

II. DISCUSSION

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248 F.R.D. 532, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21320, 2008 WL 650322, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-commercial-money-center-inc-equipment-lease-litigation-ohnd-2008.