in Re Manhattan Vaughn, JVP

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided June 2, 2015·No. 01-15-00349-CV·Published

Opinion

ACCEPTED 01-15-00349-CV FIRST COURT OF APPEALS HOUSTON, TEXAS 6/2/2015 3:46:15 PM CHRISTOPHER PRINE CLERK

No. 01-15-00349-CV

FILED IN 1st COURT OF APPEALS IN THE COURT OF APPEALS HOUSTON, TEXAS AT HOUSTON 6/2/2015 3:46:15 PM CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE Clerk

IN RE MANHATTAN I VAUGHN, JVP

Original Proceeding Regarding Cause No. 2013-76550 In the 80th Judicial District Court of Harris County, Texas

RELATOR'S REPLY TO REAL PARTIES IN INTEREST'S RESPONSE TO RELATOR'S PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS

J.J. Knauff State Bar No. 24032517 jknauff@tmlfpc.com Michael A. Miller State Bar No. 14100650 mmiller@tmlfpc.com Clark S. Butler State Bar No. 00793437 cbutler@ tmlfpc.com

THE MILLER LAW FIRM 3811 Turtle Creek Blvd., Suite 1950 Dallas, Texas 75219-4535 (469) 916-2552 (469) 916-2555- Telefax COUNSEL FOR RELATOR MANHATTAN I VAUGHN, JVP

ORAL ARGUMENT REQUESTED TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Contents ..................................................................................................... 11

Index of Authorities ................................................................................................. iii

Arguinent ................................................................................................................... 1

1. Su1nn1ary of Argun1ent .................................................................................... 1

2. Rebuttal to Appellee's Brief. ........................................................................... 1

Prayer for Relief ...................................................................................................... 12

Ce1iificate of Service .............................................................................................. 13

Certificate of Compliance ....................................................................................... 13

Verification .............................................................................................................. 14

11 INDEX OF AUTHORITIES

Cases

In re BP Prods. N. Am., Inc., 263 S.W.3d 106 (Tex. App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2006, orig. proceeding) .... 2

Rules

TEX. DISCIPLINARY R. OF PROF. CONDUCT 3.08 ...................................................... 11

TEX. R. CIV. P. 193 ................................................................................. 5, 6, 9-10, 10

111 ARGUMENT

1. Summary of Argument.

Respondent's Order violated Relator's due process rights because there was

no notice of a hearing on the First Amended Third Motion to Compel.

Additionally, Respondent abused his discretion by granting more relief than was

requested by requiring production of the Privileged Notes and Box that were not

the subject of any valid, pending noticed motion. Finally, Respondent abused his

discretion by ordering production of the Privileged Notes when they were clearly

subject to the attorney-client and/or work product privileges because they were

created after counsel was hired, after litigation was anticipated, and the Privileged

Notes were transcribed by a representative acting upon instructions from counsel.

2. Rebuttal to Response by Real Parties in Interest.

A. Real Parties In Interest incorrectly recite the factual/procedural history of this case by asserting that Relator failed to comply with the trial court's instruction when such an assertion is not supported by the record.

The Real Parties In Interest (hereinafter "Plaintiffs") assert the trial comi

instructed Relator to "produce all documents responsive to Plaintiffs' requests or

submit a privilege log for documents claimed to be protected by attorney-client

privilege for in camera review. Contrary to the [trial court's] instruction, Relator

produced a privilege log claiming attorney-client and work product privileges for

Reply to Response to Petition for Writ of Mandamus Page 1 all documents contained in the box" (Response ~ 11 ). The foregoing assertion that

Relator acted in a manner that was contrary to the trial court's instruction is

demonstrably false because the trial court did not limit its instruction to just

attorney-client privilege as shown in the following hearing excerpts:

I'm going to order the Defendant to prepare a privilege log to documents that sound like they may be responsive but to which you're claiming a privilege. Then those documents can be reviewed in camera by the Court.

(TAB 1 10 p. 27/18-24).

If it's not in the box and you haven't turned over to the Plaintiff everything in the box, then at least prepare a log so we understand what it is that either hasn't been produced to them or the Court so they have the ability to challenge it if they believe it's something that's discoverable that you haven't produced.

(TAB 10 p. 58/4-10). The foregoing insttuctions by the trial court were clear,

concise, and not limited to only "atton1ey-client privilege" as Plaintiffs have

alleged. In fact, Jason Gibson, counsel for Plaintiffs, restated the trial comi's

instruction when he stated:

[T]hey're going to produce a list or a privilege log-- either produce it, tell us what's in there or, if they're going to claim privilege, then give us a privilege log; and then we'll take that up separately.

(TAB 10 p. 59/16-20).

1 As used herein, "TAB" references each tab in the appendix to Relator's Petition for Writ of Mandamus and the evidence contained therein is incorporated fully herein.

Reply to Response to Petition for Writ of Mandamus Page2 The foregoing excerpts establish Plaintiffs' assertions lack merit. On

December 5, 2014 the trial court ordered that Relator provide a privilege log (TAB

10 p. 27/21-25, p. 30/3-5, p. 57/24-58/10), and on December 8, 2014 Relator

complied with the order (TAB 16, Ex. G). Therefore, this Comi should disregard

the foregoing complaints in detennining the merits of Relator's Mandamus

Petition.

B. Plaintiffs' argument that Relator had multiple opportunities to be heard does not remedy the lack of notice and violation of Relator's due process rights.

Plaintiffs do not contest that they failed to provide proper notice of the

hearing on their Amended Third Motion to Compel; rather, they contend the issues

had been before the trial court for months and Relator "had a month's notice of the

hearing on Plaintiffs' Amended Third Motion to Compel" (Response ~~ 26, 14,

25). Plaintiffs' statement of "a month's notice" of the hearing on the Amended

Third Motion to Compel fails to direct this Court to any evidence of such notice,

contradicts the facts, and contradicts Plaintiffs' judicial admission that notice of a

hearing on Plaintiffs initial "Third Motion to Compel" was given on December 22,

2014 but "[ s]even days before the hearing, Plaintiffs filed an Amended Third

Motion to Compel" (Response~ 13). The lack of proper notice on the Atnended

Third Motion to Compel is precisely what Relator complains about in its

Reply to Response to Petition for Writ of Mandamus Page3 Mandamus (Mandamus Statement of Facts § I (B)(vi)-(vii); Mandamus Argument

§III (A)).

Further, Plaintiffs' allegation that Relator's due process rights were not

violated because it "had four separate opportunities to provide argument and

evidence" does not hold water given the fact that only one of the "four separate

opportunities" was properly noticed? The "four separate occasions" where

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Related

In Re BP Products North America Inc.
263 S.W.3d 106 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2006)