In re Sunrise Securities Litigation

130 F.R.D. 560, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6288, 1989 WL 201213
District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania·Decided May 31, 1989·No. MDL No. 655·Published·Cited by 61 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

O’NEILL, District Judge.

This multidistrict litigation arises out of the insolvency of Sunrise Savings and Loan Association (“Sunrise”). Three groups of claims have been consolidated for pretrial proceedings in this district: state common law and Securities Exchange Act of 1934 claims asserted by Sunrise shareholders (the “Securities case”); fiduciary duty claims asserted by the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (“FSLIC”) in its corporate capacity (the “Fiduciary Duty case”); and state common law and civil RICO claims asserted by former Sunrise depositors (the “Depositors case”).1 Among the defendants in this litigation are former officers and directors of Sunrise, as well as the law firm which served as Sunrise’s general counsel, and the accounting firm which served as Sunrise’s outside auditor.

Presently before this Court are a number of motions to compel discovery relating to first phase document production.2 In this memorandum, I decide most of the legal issues presented by the outstanding discovery motions, and refer to the Special Master those issues which will require examination of individual documents or further factfinding. See In re Sunrise Securities Litigation, 124 F.R.D. 99 (E.D.Pa. 1989) (stating the reasons for appointment of a Special Master in this litigation).

I. Blank Rome, Foxman, Treadwell and Gitomer—Work Product Documents

Blank Rome, Michael D. Foxman, Kenneth A. Treadwell and M. Kalman Gitomer3 have claimed work product protection [563]*563for a multitude of documents sought by the outside directors of Sunrise,4 Deloitte Has-kins & Sells (“DHS”), FSLIC, Caldwell C. Robinson, Frederic Gruher, Kenneth R. Howard, Laddie D. Howard, J. Randolph Black, and Curtis Walker.5 Blank Rome turned over two-thirds of these work product documents to FSLIC pursuant to an agreement that FSLIC would “not place the documents in the plaintiffs’ Sunrise document depository, or allow any third party to inspect, review or use the documents in any manner whatsoever, absent a court order.”6 Response of Blank Rome to Certain Defendants’ Amended Motion, Exhibit B. The moving parties argue that by giving these documents to FSLIC Blank Rome has waived any claims it may have that they are protected work product.7 They also contend that work product protection is not applicable because Blank Rome is a defendant in this litigation, and its legal advice to Sunrise is directly at issue.8

F.R.C.P.Rule 26(b)(3) codifies the doctrine of work product protection set forth in Hickman v. Taylor, 329 U.S. 495, 67 S.Ct. 385, 91 L.Ed. 451 (1947), for documents and tangible things “prepared in anticipation of litigation” by or for a party or a party’s representative.9 The Hickman Court formulated the work product doctrine to protect “the public policy underlying the orderly prosecution and defense of legal claims,” stating that “it is essential that a lawyer work with a certain degree of privacy, free from unnecessary intrusion by opposing parties and their counsel.” 329 U.S. at 510, 67 S.Ct. at 393. The public [564]*564policy supporting the work product doctrine “is not to protect all recorded opinions, observations and impressions of an attorney made in connection with any legal problem, but to protect the integrity of the adversary process.” Hercules Inc. v. Exxon Corp., 434 F.Supp. 136, 150-151 (D.Del.1977).

“The privilege derived from the work-product doctrine is not absolute. Like other qualified privileges, it may be waived.” United States v. Nobles, 422 U.S. 225, 239, 95 S.Ct. 2160, 2170, 45 L.Ed.2d 141 (1974). The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has identified three factors as important in determining whether there has been a waiver of work product protection: (1) did the party claiming the privilege “seek[ ] to use it in a way that is not consistent with the purpose of the privilege”; (2) did the party have any “reasonable basis for believing that the disclosed materials would be kept confidential”; and (3) would waiver of the privilege under the circumstances of the case “trench on any policy elements now inherent in th[e] privilege?” In re Subpoenas Duces Tecum, 738 F.2d 1367, 1372 (D.C.Cir.1984).

Regarding the first factor, the general rule is that “[disclosure to an adversary waives the work product protection as to items actually disclosed.” Grumman Aerospace Corp. v. Titanium Metals Corp., 91 F.R.D. 84, 90 (E.D.N.Y.1981). As the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit stated, “the health of the adversary system—which spawned the need for protection of an attorney’s work product from discovery by an opponent— would not be well served by allowing [parties] the advantages of selective disclosure to particular adversaries, a differential disclosure often spurred by considerations of self-interest.” In re Subpoenas Duces Tecum, 738 F.2d at 1372. By the same token, “[disclosure to a person with an interest common to that of the attorney or the client normally is not inconsistent with an intent to invoke the work product doctrine’s protection and would not amount to such a waiver.” In re Doe, 662 F.2d 1073, 1081 (4th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 1000, 102 S.Ct. 1632, 71 L.Ed.2d 867 (1982).

The question here, then, is whether Blank Rome disclosed the documents to an adversary. The moving parties contend that FSLIC is an adversary of Blank Rome. Blank Rome argues that it gave the documents to FSLIC Receiver, which is not its adversary in this action,10 and not to FSLIC Corporate, plaintiff in the Fiduciary Duty case. According to the agreement under which Blank Rome handed over the documents, they were sought by “FSLIC, as successor in interest to Sunrise Savings & Loan Association, Blank, Rome’s former client.” Response of Blank Rome to Certain Defendants’ Amended Motion, Exhibit B.11 Blank Rome claims that FSLIC identified “FSLIC as successor in interest to Sunrise” as FSLIC Receiver in its Motion to Compel Documents by Blank Rome.12 FSLIC contends that “FSLIC as successor in interest to Sunrise” was FSLIC Corporate, since all rights against Blank Rome “previously held by FSLIC-Receiver have been assigned to FSLIC-Corporate.” FSLIC’s Reply to Blank Rome’s Response to FSLIC’s Motion to Compel, at 2.

But Blank Rome and FSLIC did not distinguish between FSLIC Corporate and [565]*565FSLIC Receiver when the documents were transferred. The FSLIC/Blank Rome agreement does not refer to “FSLIC Receiver” or “FSLIC Corporate” at all, much less provide that the disclosure of work product was limited to FSLIC Receiver alone, or even to FSLIC only as successor in interest to Sunrise.13 Moreover, throughout this litigation, FSLIC Receiver and FSLIC Corporate, although recognized as legally separate entities, have been represented by the same attorneys and law firm.

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In re Sunrise Securities Litigation, 130 F.R.D. 560, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6288, 1989 WL 201213 (E.D. Pa. 1989).

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