US Fidelity & Guar. v. LIBERTY SURPLUS INS.

630 F. Supp. 2d 1332
District Court, M.D. Florida·Decided October 12, 2007·No. 6:06-mj-01180·Published

Opinion

630 F.Supp.2d 1332 (2007)

UNITED STATES FIDELITY & GUARANTY COMPANY, Plaintiff,
v.
LIBERTY SURPLUS INSURANCE CORPORATION and United States Fire Insurance Company, Defendants.
Liberty Surplus Insurance Corporation, Third Party Plaintiff,
v.
Allen Ironworks, Inc., Aeicor Metal Products, Inc., Mendoza Painting LLC, Mel Hayes Painting, Inc., Moss Waterproofing & Painting Co., Inc., Farris Gypsum Floors of Florida Inc., St. Paul Travelers, Commercial Union Insurance Company, Amerisure Insurance Company and Auto-Owners Insurance Company, Third Party Defendants.

Case No. 6:06-cv-1180-Orl-31UAM.

United States District Court, M.D. Florida, Orlando Division.

October 12, 2007.

*1334 Alberta L. Adams, E.A. "Seth" Mills, Jr., Mills Paskert & Divers, PA, Tampa, FL, for Plaintiff.

Heather E. Simpson, Carroll, McNulty & Kull, LLC, Basking Ridge, NJ, Joseph R. Miele, Adorno & Yoss, LLP, Michael A. Packer, Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin, Fort Lauderdale, FL, for Defendants.

Andrew James Lewis, Jean Frances Niven, Dorothy Venable DiFiore, Haas, Dutton, Blackburn, Lewis, Guerra & Wainoris, PL, Tampa, FL, for Defendants and Third Party Plaintiff.

Benjamin W. Newman, Bobo, Ciotoli, Bocchino, Newman & Corsini, PA, Orlando, FL, for Third Party Plaintiff.

Anthony A.B. Dogali, Jacqueline Taylor, Forizs & Dogali, PL, Tampa, FL, J. Brock McClane, Michael A. Tessitore, McClane Tessitore, Wayne Tosko, Vasquez & Tosko, LLP, Orlando, FL. Susan M. Hogan, Kramon & Graham, P.A., Baltimore, MD, Krystina N. Jiron, Rebecca Ann Brownell, Atkinson & Brownell, PA, Miami, FL, Adam G. Adams, III, Jacksonville, FL, Allen C. Sang, Carman, Beauchamp & Sang, PA, Winter Park, FL, for Third Party Defendants.

ORDER

DONALD P. DIETRICH, United States Magistrate Judge.

This cause came on for consideration without oral argument on the following motion:

MOTION: MOTION FOR THE RETURN OR DESTRUCTION OF INADVERTENTLY DISCLOSED PRIVILEGED DOCUMENTS (Doc. No. 176)

FILED: July 12, 2007.
THEREON it is ORDERED that the motion is DENIED.

I. STATEMENT OF FACTS

On May 14, 2007, Plaintiff, United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company ("USFG") propounded its request for production of documents to Defendant Liberty Surplus Insurance Corp. ("Liberty"). On May 17, 2007, Liberty's counsel, Dorothy Venable DiFiore, requested a thirty day extension of time "to respond to the discovery." Doc. 204-2 at 1. USFG agreed to extend Liberty's deadline to July 1, 2007. Id. DiFiore stated that she thought the extension "would be more than adequate." Id.

Subsequent to securing the extension of time, DiFiore claims that she had multiple *1335 e-mail communications with USFG's counsel, Alberta ("Ali") Adams, in which she discussed "issues of privileged communications regarding claims handling matters and privileges related to the contents of the claims file...." Doc. 204-3 at ¶ 9. DiFiore has not produced any of these communications for the Court's review. USFG, however, produced to the Court an e-mail dated June 22, 2007, from DiFiore to Adams in which DiFiore states Liberty will produce some of the materials from the claims file as they are not privileged, and that she will provide a privilege log "in the next few days" as to the documents withheld from production. Doc. 229-2. DiFiore further claims that she had a telephone conversation with Adams on June 27, 2007, in which she discussed the issue of privileges related to claims file material and claims handling activities, although she is unable to state the "exact content" of that conversation. Doc. 204-3 at ¶¶ 10, 11.

On June 29, 2007, Liberty produced documents in response to USFG's request. Doc. 179 at ¶ 18. The documents were accompanied by a letter stating what was being produced. Doc. 179 at ¶ 19. The production, however, was not accompanied by the written response required by Fed. R.Civ.P. 34(b), or a privilege log. Liberty served a privilege log on July 3, 2007. Doc. 178 ¶ 17. Liberty served the written response required by Fed.R.Civ.P. 34(b) on July 6, 2007. Doc. 180 at 5.

After receiving the privilege log, on July 5, 2007, USFG informed Liberty that it appeared that Liberty had produced documents that were listed on the log. Doc. 178 at ¶ 5. Liberty's counsel immediately asserted that any production of any of the documents on the privilege log was unintentional. Doc. 178 at ¶ 20. The following day, Liberty's counsel met with USFG's counsel and specifically identified the erroneously produced documents. Doc. 178 at ¶ 22. USFG has sequestered those documents from the others and has not reviewed the documents. On July 12, 2007, Liberty filed its motion for the return or destruction of the inadvertently disclosed privileged documents.

II. THE LAW

A. Attorney-Client Privilege

Pursuant to Fed.R.Evid. 501, "the privilege of a witness, person ... shall be determined in accordance with State law." Precedential authority in the Eleventh Circuit has interpreted Fed.R.Evid. 501 to require application of the law of the "forum state" when assessing the availability of a privilege in a diversity case. Miller v. Transamerican Press, Inc., 621 F.2d 721, 724 (5th Cir.1980).

Liberty initially stated that it was unclear whether Massachusetts law, Florida law or federal law governed the analysis of attorney-client privilege in this case. Doc. 176 at 9 n. 3. When the Court ordered supplemental briefing to address inter alia what is the applicable law for determining privilege, Liberty argued that the underlying contract is governed by Massachusetts law and, therefore, Massachusetts' privilege law should be used. Doc. 204 at 7-9. USFG contends that Florida substantive law applies and that Florida's law applies to determine attorney-client privilege. Doc. 229 at 8-9.

While USFG contests whether certain documents are privileged under the attorney work product doctrine, USFG does not make the same argument regarding the attorney-client privilege. Doc. 180 at 7-10. As the Court understands USFG's arguments, USFG does not claim that the documents are not subject to the attorney-client privileged, but rather claims that the privilege has been waived. Doc. 180 at 10-15. USFG argues that the law of waiver *1336 of privilege is the same under both Massachusetts and Florida law. Doc. 229 at 9.

The Court finds that in cases involving inadvertent disclosure of privileged communications, both Florida and Massachusetts apply standards that require the Court to assess the reasonableness of precautions taken to preserve the privilege. See, In the Matter of the Reorganization of Elec. Mut. Liab. Ins. Co. Ltd. (Bermuda), 425 Mass.419, 422, 681 N.E.2d 838, 841 (Mass.1997); Abamar Housing & Dev. v. Lisa Daly Lady Decor, Inc., 698 So.2d 276, 278-79 (Fla.3d App. Dist.1997).[1]

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