Thomas Organ Co. v. Jadranska Slobodna Plovidba

54 F.R.D. 367, 1972 A.M.C. 871, 15 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1343, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14611
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedMarch 17, 1972
DocketNo. 71 C 2273
StatusPublished
Cited by111 cases

This text of 54 F.R.D. 367 (Thomas Organ Co. v. Jadranska Slobodna Plovidba) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thomas Organ Co. v. Jadranska Slobodna Plovidba, 54 F.R.D. 367, 1972 A.M.C. 871, 15 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1343, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14611 (N.D. Ill. 1972).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

WILL, District Judge.

The plaintiff in this admiralty lawsuit seeks to recover damages for cargo loss. In support of their theory that they incurred no liability because the cause of the damages was the plaintiff’s improper design and packing of the shipped goods prior to shipment and the improp[369]*369er handling of the goods after they left the defendants’ custody, the defendants have requested the plaintiff to produce two documents written by a marine surveyor hired by the plaintiff's insurer who surveyed the damaged goods shortly after their arrival. The plaintiff has refused voluntarily to produce these documents and the defendants have moved the Court for an order compelling their production.

The plaintiff’s complaint alleges that the defendant ocean carriers accepted for shipment in Italy cartons containing 2000 electronic organs in good condition which were delivered in Chicago in a seriously damaged condition. In seeking discovery to support their defenses, the defendants have sought from Mr. Frank B. Cartwright, the marine surveyor hired by the plaintiff’s underwriters, Fireman’s Fund American Insurance Companies (hereinafter referred to as “Fireman’s Fund”), all of his notes, memoranda, photographs, and correspondence relating to the claim in question. The plaintiff, without objection, has turned over to the defendants all the documents in Mr. Cartwright’s file, with the exception of two documents dated May 20, and October 7, 1970. The first of these two documents is a transcription of a dictation made by Mr. Cartwright and the second is a letter based in part upon that dictation which was made by Mr. Cartwright at the request of Mr. Frank Cristiano of Fireman’s Fund. These are the two documents at issue in this motion.

As grounds for their motions to compel production, the defendants assert that the requested documents refer to and are relevant to the insufficiency of the packing of the goods. The defendants make no showing that they cannot obtain the substantial equivalent of the materials by other means “without undue hardship.” The plaintiff contends that the defendants are not entitled to discovery of these documents without such a showing. The issue thus narrows to the question of whether the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure allow for such production only if the moving party can make a showing of undue hardship.

As amended in 1970, Rule 34(a), Fed. R.Civ.P., allows any party, without leave of court, to request another party to produce any designated document containing matters within the scope of Rule 26(b). Unlike the Rule 34 practice as it existed prior to the 1970 amendments, the moving party need not show “good cause,” but must only satisfy the requirements of Rule 26(b). C. Wright and A. Miller, 8 Federal Practice and Procedure, § 2024, at 199 (1970). It is to this new rule, therefore, that we must turn.

Rule 26(b), which was also amended in 1970, is divided into three subdivisions. Subsection (b) (1) provides the general rule of thumb that anything is discoverable so long as it is relevant to the subject matter involved in the litigation. As the plaintiff admits that the documents sought by the defendants are relevant, they fall within the scope of discovery outlined by Rule 26(b) (1).

Subsection (b) (3) of Rule 26 provides in part:

Subject to the provisions of subdivision (b) (4) of this rule, a party may obtain discovery of documents and tangible things otherwise discoverable under subdivision (b) (1) of this rule and prepared in anticipation of litigation or for trial by or for another party or for that other party’s representative (including his attorney, consultant, surety, indemnitor, insurer, or agent) only upon a showing that the party seeking discovery has substantial need of the materials in the preparation of his case and that he is unable without undue hardship to obtain the substantial equivalent of the materials by other means. . . . (emphasis added)

Subsection (b) (4) provides that discovery of facts known and opinions held by experts, otherwise discoverable and “ac[370]*370quired or developed in anticipation of litigation or for trial” can be obtained only by interrogatories upon the party who retained the expert who is expected to be called at trial, although the Court is empowered to order further discovery if this information is not sufficient.

As the plaintiff concedes that the documents are relevant and thus otherwise discoverable by the defendants without any further showing under subsection (b) (1), its only basis for objecting to the request is that the two documents were prepared in anticipation of litigation and that Mr. Cartwright is an expert who will be called at trial. Not surprisingly, the defendants contend the contrary. The precise issue which we must resolve, therefore, is whether these two documents were prepared in anticipation of litigation. If they were not, the defendants have satisfied the minimal burden of Rule 26(b) (1); if they were, the defendants have failed to satisfy the heavier burden for documents prepared in anticipation of litigation imposed by subsections (b) (3) and (b) (4) of Rule 26. To resolve this question, it will be necessary to resort to the history behind Rule 26(b) as amended and the particular facts of this case.

The purposes behind Rule 26(b) (3) as amended can be summarized as follows from a reading of the comments thereon by the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules of the Judicial Conference of the United States. See, 48 F.R.D. 487, 499-503. The Committee noted that one of the most vexing problems facing the courts in discovery matters arose out of the request for production of documents prepared in anticipation of trial. The courts had responded with two distinct, but often confused, doctrines. One approach recognized the work-product doctrine announced by the Supreme Court in Hickman v. Taylor, 329 U.S. 495, 67 S.Ct. 385, 91 L.Ed. 451 (1947) and stated that any document falling into the category of work-product would be discoverable only if the denial thereof would unduly prejudice the preparation of the other party’s case. The other approach regarding materials prepared with an eye towards litigation was to require a party to make a showing of “good cause” under old Rule 34 before such materials were ordered to be produced even if the materials did not technically fall under the pristine concept of work-product; the closer the trial preparation documents approached being “true” work-product, the greater the showing of good cause which was required. The problems that these approaches created were confusion and disagreement as to whether “good cause” was synonymous with relevancy, whether the jHickman work-product doctrine covered trial preparation work of non-lawyers or whether it was limited to work actually done by an attorney, and the relationship of the old Rule 34 test and the work-product test of “undue prejudice” for requiring the productions of documents.

Through the amendment to Rule 26, the dilemmas mentioned above were eliminated although one nevertheless remains.

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Bluebook (online)
54 F.R.D. 367, 1972 A.M.C. 871, 15 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1343, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14611, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thomas-organ-co-v-jadranska-slobodna-plovidba-ilnd-1972.