Parkway Gallery Furniture, Inc. v. Kittinger/Pennsylvania House Group, Inc.

116 F.R.D. 46, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9132
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. North Carolina
DecidedMay 8, 1987
DocketNos. C-86-674-D, C-86-675-G
StatusPublished
Cited by59 cases

This text of 116 F.R.D. 46 (Parkway Gallery Furniture, Inc. v. Kittinger/Pennsylvania House Group, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Parkway Gallery Furniture, Inc. v. Kittinger/Pennsylvania House Group, Inc., 116 F.R.D. 46, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9132 (M.D.N.C. 1987).

Opinion

ORDER

RUSSELL A. ELIASON, United States Magistrate.

Defendant seeks a protective order requiring plaintiffs to return twenty documents allegedly inadvertently produced [48]*48during a document exchange and an order precluding plaintiffs from using these documents at trial. Plaintiffs resist the motion and further move to compel the production of five additional documents claiming that the subject matter of them is related to the twenty documents already produced and, therefore, any protection or privilege has been waived as to them as well. The parties have presented the matter through affidavits of counsel. • At oral argument, counsel for plaintiffs professed interest only in document PH 5644 which is a September 7, 1982 letter to Edwin Roberts of Pennsylvania House from its general counsel providing confidential legal advice regarding the current state of antitrust resale price maintenance enforcement. Plaintiffs agreed to return the other documents to defendant, but still seek the five additional documents which they claim are tied to the Roberts letter.

Defendant contends that production of the Roberts letter was unintentional, that it had taken adequate precautions to protect against disclosure, and that it did not waive its attorney-client privilege to that letter. Plaintiffs argue that the highly probative nature of the document and the misuse of document production by defendant support a finding of waiver. In addition, plaintiffs request the Court to find waiver based upon their contention that defendant has forfeited its attorney-client privilege by attempting to use an attorney to carry out an illegal or fraudulent scheme.

Disputes over whether the attorney-client privilege has been waived through inadvertent production of the documents or on the basis of the fraud or crime exception to the privilege often involve contested facts necessitating an evidentiary showing. Generally, the proponent or party claiming rights or benefit of an assertion bears the burden of establishing his contention. In re Chicken Antitrust Litigation, 560 F.Supp. 1006, 1008 (N.D.Ga.1982); see Mashpee Tribe v. New Seabury Corp., 592 F.2d 575, 589 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 866, 100 S.Ct. 138, 62 L.Ed.2d 90 (1979). Because defendant claims its disclosure of the document was inadvertent, it will have the burden of establishing that fact. Because plaintiffs assert the Roberts letter was written in furtherance of an illegal or fraudulent scheme, they have the burden of initially developing that issue.

Findings

1. The document production in issue took place in November, 1986. Because of the volume of documents at issue, defendant insisted the production be at defendant’s place of business. Plaintiffs, while not satisfied, reluctantly agreed.

2. Prior to the document production, defendant spent two weeks using one attorney and three assistants, working ten to twelve hours a day, going through 100 file drawers of documents. A large number of these documents were files of correspondence with defendant’s dealers which did not contain much sensitive material. When the legal assistants checked a file, they were directed to refer all questionable matters to an attorney for final decision. Those files which were known to be sensitive were personally reviewed by an attorney who was then double-checked by a legal assistant. The documents in question came from files in Mr. Roberts’ office and were considered sensitive. In addition, once the file search started, new documents were not permitted to be filed in the drawers.

3. The law firm representing defendant has a large Washington, D.C., office. When a case involves massive document production, such as the instant one, the procedure of this firm, or at least the lead attorney in this case, is to have opposing counsel select or identify documents which are to be produced and then have them shipped to the law firm office for copying. This procedure is employed for two reasons. First, the firm usually has superior copying facilities than are available at most document sites. Second, this procedure permits the attorney to conduct a second review of any document which is to be produced in order to determine whether it is privileged or protected.

[49]*494. Shortly before the document production took place, defendant’s lead counsel had major surgery and turned the matter over to her assistant. The assistant talked to plaintiffs’ attorney about his reservations over having the documents copied locally and indicated he wanted them shipped to Washington for copying. Defendant’s lead counsel had previously discussed this preference with plaintiffs’ counsel. At that time, plaintiffs’ counsel did not raise an objection. However, upon arriving at defendant’s premises, plaintiffs’ attorneys felt overwhelmed by the document presentation and began to suspect the confusion and disarray was the result of a “document dump.” Notwithstanding, the Court determines that defendant produced the files as they were kept for business use. Much of the confusion resulted from the fact that dealer files contain an extreme amount of irrelevant transaction material and, therefore, created an impression that defendant had attempted to manufacture the confusion. The other files, especially the ones from Mr. Roberts’ office, did not present as much of a problem and contained a high percentage of relevant information.

5. On the second day of plaintiffs’ 4V2 -day inspection, the assistant for defendant indicated he wanted to ship the documents to Washington. Plaintiffs’ counsel expressed concern and wanted the documents permanently stamped to make sure all documents selected would, in fact, be copied. Defendant refused. The parties reached a compromise and hired a local independent contractor to copy the documents. After copying 11,000-12,000 pages, the contractor sent the documents to plaintiffs and defendant. Defendant did not make any arrangements to review the documents pri- or to the independent contractor’s shipping them to plaintiffs.

6. Within a few weeks of receiving the documents, defendant discovered that several privileged documents had been inadvertently produced. Defendant immediately contacted plaintiffs and requested their return but plaintiffs refused.

Evidence as to the Crime and Fraud Exception

In support of its claim that defendant has forfeited any privilege to the Roberts letter because legal advice was sought in the furtherance of a crime or fraudulent scheme, plaintiffs only submit the letter itself as evidence. The letter reveals that Roberts had apparently submitted an article to the general counsel requesting an opinion on how it might affect resale price maintenance. The attorney responded with his legal advice. At oral argument, plaintiffs argued that in 1985 and 1986 defendant used a firm to conduct a public opinion poll of its dealers in order to accumulate complaints which it could then use to justify a change in its marketing policy in order to institute an illegal price resale maintenance policy.

Discussion

I. Inadvertent Disclosure

The attorney-client privilege encompasses more than communications by the client to the attorney and includes an attorney’s legal advice pursuant to a client’s request.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
116 F.R.D. 46, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9132, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/parkway-gallery-furniture-inc-v-kittingerpennsylvania-house-group-inc-ncmd-1987.