State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Elite Health Ctrs., Inc.

364 F. Supp. 3d 758
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedOctober 11, 2018
DocketCase No. 2:16-cv-13040
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 364 F. Supp. 3d 758 (State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Elite Health Ctrs., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Elite Health Ctrs., Inc., 364 F. Supp. 3d 758 (E.D. Mich. 2018).

Opinion

Anthony P. Patti, UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

This matter is before the Court for consideration of Nonparty Kotz Sangster Wysocki P.C.'s motion for reconsideration of the Court's July 31, 2018 Order (DE 265) granting in part and denying in part State Farm Mutual Insurance Company's amended motion to compel Kotz Sangster and Keith Soltis to produce documents responsive to subpoenas. (DE 284). For the reasons set forth below, Kotz Sangter's motion for reconsideration is DENIED .

A. Procedural History

1. State Farm Mutual's motion to compel Kotz Sangster and Soltis to produce documents responsive to subpoenas

Plaintiff State Farm Mutual Insurance Company (State Farm Mutual) filed a motion to compel nonparties Kotz Sangster Wysocki P.C. (Kotz Sangster), a law firm, and Keith Soltis, a partner at Kotz Sangster, to produce documents responsive to subpoenas. (DEs 150-151, 189).1 According to State Farm Mutual's motion, it served subpoenas on Kotz Sangster and Soltis on December 7, 2017. Kotz Sangster served general objections to the subpoena, including objecting that the subpoena "directly impinges on attorney-client privilege" and *761about the cost of compliance with the subpoena. Soltis also served his general objections, adopting Kotz Sangster's objections. State Farm Mutual advised that it was not seeking privileged communications at this time, the parties exchanged a list of proposed ESI search terms, and Kotz Sangster, on behalf of itself and Soltis, offered to review a universe of about 2,000 potentially responsive non-privileged documents, but added a demand that State Farm Mutual agree to pay Kotz Sangster's legal fees of $ 4,000. State Farm Mutual disputes that it should be required to pay Kotz Sangster's legal fees because it has taken reasonable steps to avoid imposing undue burden or expense on Kotz Sangster and Soltis, and thus filed the motion to compel.

2. Nonparties Kotz Sangster's and Soltis's response in opposition to the motion to compel

On May 31, 2018, Kotz Sangster and Soltis filed their response to State Farm Mutual's motion to compel. (DE 168.) They argued that "the underlying issue here is not a 'refusal' " to produce documents, but rather that the subpoenas, and even having to respond to the motion to compel, impose an "undue burden" because Kotz Sangster "estimates that it must invest at least $ 4000 in attorney time" to conduct a privilege review, and because the motion to compel "is predicated on a thorough misunderstanding of applicable law" regarding the formation of non-profit corporations, citing Michigan Attorney General Opinion No. 6770 and Miller v. Allstate Insurance Company , 481 Mich. 601, 751 N.W.2d 463 (2008) in support. The response further argues that the motion to compel grossly distorts the underlying facts and is interposed "to intimidate and harass Mr. Soltis," and that the motion "should be denied, or if granted in any limited way, costs imposed [sic] for non-party compliance." (DE 168 at 17.)

3. State Farm Mutual's reply brief in support of its motion

On June 14, 2018, State Farm Mutual filed its reply brief in support of its motion to compel, noting first the arguments absent from the response brief:

Kotz Sangster and Soltis do not: (1) address their primary objection to producing documents, that they want attorney fees, (2) address the controlling Rule 26 factors, (3) establish undue burden in complying with the subpoenas, or (4) argue the inapplicability of the crime-fraud exception, except to incorrectly state that a lawyer cannot waive privilege, even in connection with a crime or fraud.

(DE 204.) State Farm Mutual goes on to contend that the nonparties' argument that Soltis's role in the conduct alleged was minimal is "belied by the numerous emails and other documents cited in the Motion," and that their argument that the subpoenas "serve no valid purpose" because Miller v. Allstate stands for the proposition that Michigan non-profit corporations are entitled to an "irrebuttable presumption" of legality ignores SFMAIC v. Universal Health Grp., Inc. , 2014 WL 5427170, at *12 (E.D. Mich. Oct. 24, 2014), which explained that because "plaintiff argues that [UHG] is behaving contrary to its corporate status as a non-profit, and that this behavior makes it part of an enterprise designed to defraud plaintiff[,]" " Miller does not bar such a claim." State Farm Mutual argues that the nonparties "should be compelled to produce responsive documents and bear their own costs incurred as the result of any privilege review," that they have not met their burden to establish undue burden, and that the crime-fraud exception may apply.2

*7624. The joint statement of resolved and unresolved issues

In their July 16, 2018 joint statement of resolved and unresolved issues, Kotz Sangster states that "subject to its ethical obligations to protect its clients' attorney-client privilege, and Kotz Sangster's pending motion for leave to file a sur-reply [ ], Kotz Sangster does not object to producing documents responsive to State Farm Mutual's subpoena." (DE 242-4.) The joint statement goes on to state that Plaintiff and Kotz Sangster have identified two remaining unresolved issues: (1) primarily, whether State Farm Mutual should be required to pay Kotz Sangster's legal fees incurred to conduct a privilege review of responsive documents before being required to produce them; and (2) whether the crime-fraud exception would vitiate any potential privilege claims to be made by Kotz Sangster.

5. The Court's July 31, 2018 Order

On July 31, 2018, the Court issued an order granting in part and denying in part State Farm Mutual's motion to compel. (DE 265.) The Court found that although Kotz Sangster and Soltis generally objected to producing documents responsive to the subpoenas based on an "undue burden," they have failed to support that assertion with affidavits or other evidence to substantiate the objection, and that State Farm Mutual was not required to pay Kotz Sangster's legal fees to conduct a privilege review. The Court also found that State Farm Mutual's argument regarding the crime-fraud exception was not ripe because State Farm Mutual expressly stated that it is not requesting privileged communications at this time.

6. Kotz Sangster's motion for reconsideration

On August 13, 2018, Kotz Sangster filed the instant motion for reconsideration of the Court's July 31, 2018 Order.

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Bluebook (online)
364 F. Supp. 3d 758, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-farm-mut-auto-ins-co-v-elite-health-ctrs-inc-mied-2018.