Urban 8 Fox Lake Corporation v. Nationwide Affordable Housing Fund 4, LLC

District Court, N.D. Illinois·Decided January 13, 2020·No. 1:18-cv-06109·Unknown

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION URBAN 8 FOX LAKE CORPORATION, ) URBAN 8 ZION CORPORATION, ) Plaintiffs, ) No. 18 C 6109 v. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cole NATIONWIDE AFFORDABLE HOUSING FUND 4, LLC, SCDC, LLC, WENTWOOD ) CAPITAL ADVISORS, LP, ) Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER INTRODUCTION As this case proves, exaggerated and improper claims of attorney-client privilege continue to impermissibly affect discovery specifically and the adversarial process generally. See the discussion in Motorola Sols., Inc. vy. Hytera Comme'ns Corp., 2018 WL 1804350, at *1 (N.D. UL. 2018). Unfortunately, such claims are too often indiscriminately applied to “documents that do not truly qualify for protection.” Towne Place Condo. Ass'n v. Philadelphia Indem. Ins. Co., 284 F.Supp.3d 889 (N.D. Ill. 2018). See also Dietz & Watson, Inc. v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 2015 WL 2069280, at *6 (E.D. Pa. 2015); Falin v. Condo. Ass'n of La Mer Estates, Inc., 2012 WL 760831, at *1 (S.D. Fla. 2012); Employer's Reinsurance Corp. v. Clarendon Nat. Ins. Co., 213 F.R.D. 422, 430 (D. Kan. 2003). See Motorola Solutions, Inc. v. Hytera Corp., 2018 WL 1281393 (N.D. IIL 2018). [Dkt. #128]. Often, the excessive and improper claims are later abandoned when a party is challenged and is required to properly support the claims. But that is too little too late, when viewed from the deterrent purposes of sanctions.

ARGUMENT A. The defendants, after a couple of, to say the least, missteps, Urban 8 Fox Lake Corp., supra, 2019 WL 6208107, have finally submitted a collection of fifty-eight documents, along with the required privilege log, and asked that the court conduct an in camera review of those documents to determine whether defendants’ claims that they are protected from discovery by the work product doctrine, the attorney-client privilege, or both, are valid. Plaintiffs have lodged challenges to the defendant withholding a number of documents on a handful of grounds. [Dkt. # 129, at 6-8]. As those are the only ones at issue, they will be the only ones reviewed and assessed. See Exhibits Nos. 5,6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 30, 31, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 42, 43, 44, 45, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 57, 60. After reconsideration of defendants’ previous submissions, and review of the present group of documents along with the current version of the defendants’ privilege log, the defendants’ motion is denied in full. All of the foregoing challenged documents must be produced. We begin with the undisputed aphorism that the attorney-client privilege is one of the oldest and most widely recognized privileges of confidential communication. Swidler & Berlin v. United States, 524 U.S. 399, 403 (1998). It is intended to “encourage full and frank communication between attorneys and their clients and thereby promote broader public interests in the observance of law and administration of justice.” Upjohn Co. v. United States, 449 U.S. 383, 389 (1981). Not ail communications between the attorney and the client are privileged; “the privilege is in derogation of the search for the truth and, therefore, must be strictly confined.” Jn re Grand Jury Proceedings, 220 F.3d 568, 571 (7th Cir.2000). The privilege adheres “only if [the communications] constitute

legal advice, or tend directly or indirectly to reveal the substance of a client confidence.” United States v. Defazio, 899 F.2d 626, 635 (7th Cir.1990). The attorney-client privilege only shields communications that were intended to be confidential, so communications made to an attorney in the presence of a third party or made with the intent that they will be disclosed to a third party are not privileged. United States v. Evans, 113 F.3d 1457, 1462 (7th Cir.1997); United States v. White, 950 F.2d 426, 430 (7th Cir.1991). The Seventh Circuit has articulated the following test for determining whether the attorney-client privilege attaches to a communication: (1) Where legal advice of any kind is sought (2) from a professional legal adviser in his capacity as such, (3) the communications relating to that purpose, (4) made in confidence (5) by the client, (6) are at his instance permanently protected (7) from disclosure by himself or by the legal adviser, (8) except the protection be waived. Evans, 113 F.3d at 1461 (quoting 8 John Henry Wigmore, Evidence in Trials at Common *217 Law § 2292 (1961)). The work product doctrine is broader than the attorney-client privilege and protects from discovery “documents and tangible things that are prepared in anticipation of litigation.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b)(3)(A); United States v. Nobles, 422 U.S. 225, 238 (1975). The work product doctrine shields “material prepared by agents for the attorney as well as those prepared by the attorney himself.” Nobles, 422 U.S. at 238-39. “The mere fact that litigation does eventually ensue does not, by itself, cloak materials . . . with the work product privilege; the privilege is not that broad.” Binks Mfg, Co. v. National Presto Indus., Inc., 709 F.2d 1109, 1118 (7th Cir, 1983); Logan v. Commercial Union Ins. Co,, 96 F.3d 971, 976 (7th Cir. 1996). To identify work product, courts

are directed to determine “whether in light of the factual context the document can fairly be said to have been prepared or obtained because of the prospect of litigation.” Logan, 96 F.3d 971, 976-77

(quoting Binks, 709 F.2d at 1119) (internal quotation marks omitted). Materials created in the ordinary course of business which may have the incidental effect of being helpful in litigation are not privileged under the work product doctrine. Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b)(3) (1970 Committee Notes); RBS Citizens, N.A. v. Husain, 291 F.R.D. 209, 217-18 (N.D. Ill. 2013); Heriot v. Byrne, 257 F.R.D. 645, 663 (N.D.IIL2009). This next bit is important, especially given what we are dealing with, and have been dealing with, in this case. See the discussion in Urban 8 Fox Corporation, 2019 WL 6208107 (N.D.ILL. 2019). It cannot be stressed enough that there is no presumption in favor of finding a document to be immune from discovery under either the attorney-client privilege or the work product doctrine. Both evidentiary privileges operate in derogation of the search for the truth and run counter to the public’s right to every person's evidence. Swidler & Berlin v. United States, 524 U.S. 399, 411 (1998); United States y. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 709 (1974); United States v. BDO Seidman, LLP, 492 F.3d 806, 815 (7th Cir, 2007); In re Grand Jury Proceedings (Thullen), 220 F.3d 568

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