Law Offices of Robert C. Lehman, A Professional Law Corporation, Law Offices of Robert C. Lehman, LLC and Robert C. Lehman, Individually v. Shawn W. Rogers, Rogers Law Firm, LLC dba Rogers Law Firm, Norman J. Manton, Jr., and Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Company

• Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
• Decided: March 2, 2021
• Docket: 2021CW0040
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

STATE OF LOUISIANA

COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT

LAW OFFICES OF ROBERT C. NO. 2021 CW 0040 LEHMAN, A PROFESSIONAL LAW

CORPORATION, LAW OFFICES OF PAGE 1 OF 2

ROBERT C. LEHMAN, LLC AND ROBERT C. LEHMAN, INDIVIDUALLY

VERSUS

SHAWN W. ROGERS, ROGERS LAW FIRM, LLC D/ B/ A ROGERS LAW FIRM, NORMAN J. MANTON, JR., AND LOUISIANA CITIZENS MARCH 02, 2021 PROPERTY INSURANCE COMPANY

In Re: Law Offices of Robert C. Lehman, APLC, Law Offices of

Robert Lehman, LLC, and Robert C. Lehman, Individually, applying for supervisory writs, 22nd Judicial District Court, Parish of St. Tammany, No. 2016- 13377.

BEFORE: GUIDRY, McCLENDON, AND ZANIER, JJ.

WRIT GRANTED WITH ORDER. The Louisiana discovery statutes

are to be liberally and broadly construed to achieve their intended objectives. Bridges v. Hertz Equipment Rental Corp., 2008- 0400 ( La. 6/ 20/ 08), 983 So. 2d 1256, 1. 258 ( per curiam).

Moreover, privileges, which are in derogation of such broad exchange of facts, are to be strictly interpreted. Smith v.

Lincoln General Hospital, 605 So. 2d 1347, 1348 ( La. 1992) ( per

curiam). Under Louisiana law, the party asserting the privilege

has the burden of proving that the privilege applies and must

adequately substantiate the claim and cannot rely on a blanket assertion of privilege. Maldonado v. Kiewit Louisiana Co., 2012-- 1868 ( La. App. 1st Cir. 5/ 30/ 14), 152 So. 3d 909, 927, writ

denied, 2014- 2246 ( La. 1/ 16/ 15), 157 So. 3d 1129. According to La. Code Civ. P. art. 1424( C), when a party withholds information otherwise discoverable under these rules by claiming that it is privileged or subject to protection as trial preparation material the party shall make the claim expressly and shall describe the nature of the documents, communications, or things not produced

or disclosed in a manner that, without revealing information itself privileged or protected, will enable other parties to

assess the applicability of the privilege or protection. We find that the trial court abused its discretion in denying plaintiffs', Law Offices of Robert C. Lehman, APLC, Law Offices of Robert C. Lehman, LLC and Robert C. Lehman, Individually, motion for contempt and to compel compliance with subpoenas duces tecum issued to defendant, Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, taking its blanket assertion of privilege as

satisfactory proof to allow it to withhold certain documents from discovery. We therefore grant this writ application, vacate the trial court' s September 22, 2020 judgment, and order Louisiana

Citizens Property Insurance Corporation to create a privilege log STATE OF LOUISIANA

PAGE 2 OF 2

describing the nature of the documents over which it has claimed a privilege without revealing any privileged information, which

shall be produced to the trial court to consider in conjunction with its ruling on this motion.

JMG

PMC WZL

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DEPUTY CLERK OF COURT FOR THE COURT