OEC Freight (NY), Inc. v. Don Smith & Associates, Inc., et al.

District Court, S.D. New York·Decided June 22, 2026·No. 1:23-cv-06299·Unknown

Opinion

Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP Allen Matkins Attorneys at Law 599 Lexington Avenue, 38th Floor | New York, NY 10022-6030 Telephone: 212.542.3400 | Facsimile: 212.364.4548 www.allenmatkins.com Brian D. Hail E-mail: bhail@allenmatkins.com Direct Dial: 212.542.3377 File Number: 4914-6321-8613.1/395717.00001 Via ECF/Via Email June 16, 2026 Honorable Valerie Figueredo, U.S.M.J. Southern District of New York Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse 500 Pearl Street, Room 1660 New York, New York 10007-1312 Re: OEC Freight (NY), Inc. v. Don Smith & Associates, Inc., et al. (Case No. 1:23-cv-06299-ALC-VF) Dear Judge Figueredo: Defendant Storlie Furniture Distributors, LLC (“Storlie”) submits this letter to request guidance and otherwise inform the Court and all parties that Storlie intends to produce certain documents in Storlie’s possession for which Defendant Don Smith & Associates, Inc. (“DSA”) has asserted a claim of privilege. Storlie is willing to participate in a discovery conference regarding the production of these documents if the Court or any party requests such conference. Storlie is in possession of communications between DSA’s owners, written on behalf of DSA, with DSA’s attorneys. Storlie has notified all parties of these documents. DSA’s counsel claims the documents are privileged and objects to the production, but refused to participate in a telephone conference call with all counsel (including counsel for Plaintiff OEC Freight (NY), Inc. (“OEC”)) regarding this issue. And OEC has demanded production of the documents. Storlie takes no position on the claims of privilege and to the extent needed, seeks any guidance on production. Storlie intends to produce the documents at issue within five business days of the filing of this letter, unless the Court or any party requests a discovery conference. If DSA fails to submit objections before the Court or appear at a conference, we will maintain that, no matter the underlying issues, DSA has waived privilege that might have applied. I. Procedural Background This case concerns alleged debt for logistics services owed by DSA to OEC. OEC alleges that DSA has not paid an outstanding balance owed to OEC, which as of March 28, 2023, totaled $930,738.13. (Second Amended Complaint (“SAC”), ¶ 36.) Attorneys at Law Honorable Valerie Figueredo, U.S.M.J. June 16, 2026 Page 2 Storlie is not a party to the credit agreement and never assumed responsibility for this debt. Nonetheless, OEC has attempted to hold Storlie liable for DSA’s debt under a meritless theory that Storlie impliedly assumed the debt when it purchased DSA’s asset pursuant to a written Asset Purchase Agreement (the “APA”). (Id., Count III and IV.) This theory is incorrect. Far to the contrary, Storlie expressly disclaimed any liability for debt(s) owed to OEC. OEC’s claim for payment of DSA’s debt is against DSA – alone. OEC should look to DSA’s assets – including the consideration paid by Storlie to DSA for those assets – to satisfy its claim. II. The Discovery Dispute Storlie entered into the APA with DSA on August 19, 2022, for the purpose of purchasing DSA’s assets. Pursuant to the transaction, Storlie agreed to employee certain of DSA’s former employees, including DSA’s owners, Mr. Tom O’Brien and Ms. Jennifer Wolf-Logsdon. During the course of discovery, Storlie identified emails on its email system in which Mr. O’Brien and Wolf- Logsdon, acting as DSA owners and writing solely on behalf of DSA, communicated with DSA’s attorneys. These communications relate to the APA, amounts DSA allegedly owes to OEC, and other matters that are responsive to discovery requests served by OEC upon Storlie in this action. Storlie does not believe these DSA communications are protected by the attorney-client privilege or otherwise shielded from discovery, as they were sent or received using the Storlie email system, which is owned by Storlie and according to company policy, persons using that email system should not have an expectation of privacy. Of course, if Storlie employees use their email to communicate on Storlie’s behalf, that communication is privileged. But Ms. Wolf-Logsdon and Mr. O’Brien’s use of Storlie’s email system on their own personal behalf, to conduct DSA business with DSA’s counsel is not part of Storlie’s attorney-client privilege. Accordingly, Storlie prepared to produce these documents as responsive and not-privileged. Before production, on April 30, 2026, my associate, Ms. Suzanne Khalil, acting on behalf of Storlie, provided DSA’s owner, Ms. Jennifer Wolf-Logsdon, with courtesy email notice that it intended to produce DSA’s communications with counsel unless DSA obtained a court order directing Storlie otherwise. (Ex. 1.) Ms. Khalil notified Ms. Wolf-Logsdon that DSA had a pending judgment against it. (Id.) On May 8, 2026, Mr. Jared Marsh informed Ms. Khalil that he was DSA’s attorney and stated that he “believe[s] those communications to be covered by the attorney-client privilege.” (Id.) Mr. Marsh also requested that Storlie share the documents at issue. (Id.) That same day, Ms. Khalil provided the documents and informed Mr. Marsh that Storlie would produce the documents on May 12, 2026, absent a court order otherwise. (Id.) Mr. Marsh did not respond. (Id.) From May 12 through May 26, Ms. Khalil sent multiple follow-up emails, with no response by DSA’s counsel. (Id.) On May 26, Ms. Khalil called Mr. Marsh on the telephone, and he confirmed he was in receipt of the emails, that he was discussing this matter with his client, and that he would advise on the issue by the end of the week. (Id.) On May 29, Mr. Marsh informed Ms. Khalil that DSA was asserting a claim to privilege over the documents at issue, but failed to file any motion for protection regarding this matter. (Id.) Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP Attomeys at Law Honorable Valerie Figueredo, U.S.M.J. June 16, 2026 Page 3 Accordingly, on June 1, 2026, Ms. Khalil informed OEC’s counsel, in a joint email to counsel, of the existence of the documents in question and Mr. Marsh’s objections. (Ex. 2.) Storlie requested that OEC and DSA confer. Ud.) Ms. Khalil informed the parties that Storlie would abide by any agreement of the parties or direction from the Court. U/d.) On Friday, June 12, 2026, upon Storlie’s request, OEC and Storlie participated in an approximately 15-minute telephone conference call. (/d.) Ms. Suzanne Khalil was present on behalf of Storlie and Ms. Eva-Maria Mayer on behalf of OEC. Mr. Marsh declined to participate and informed counsel via email that he would not be appearing in this case. (/d.) During the conference call, Ms. Khalil informed Ms. Mayer that Storlie does not take any position on DSA’s claim of privilege, and is not asserting any claim of privilege over production of the documents. Ms. Khalil informed Ms. Mayer that she believed the parties had reached an impasse. Storlie now brings this issue before the Court for guidance, and has copied DSA’s counsel on this letter to ensure they have the opportunity to object or request a Court conference. Storlie intends to produce the documents at issue within five business days of the filing of this letter, unless the Court or any party requests a discovery conference. If DSA fails to object before the Court or otherwise obtain relief, we believe that DSA will have also waived any claim of privilege that might otherwise apply. Respectfully submitted, /s/ Brian D. Hail Brian D. Hail

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OEC Freight (NY), Inc. v. Don Smith & Associates, Inc., et al., (S.D.N.Y. 2026).

OEC Freight (NY), Inc. v. Don Smith & Associates, Inc., et al. (OEC Freight (NY), Inc. v. Don Smith & Associates, Inc., et al.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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