Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. v. Underwriters Laboratories, Inc.

81 F.R.D. 8, 26 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 787, 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16734
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedJuly 7, 1978
DocketNo. 74 C 3697
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 81 F.R.D. 8 (Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. v. Underwriters Laboratories, Inc.) 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
Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. v. Underwriters Laboratories, Inc., 81 F.R.D. 8, 26 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 787, 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16734 (N.D. Ill. 1978).

Opinion

ROSZKOWSKI, District Judge.

-I. ALLIED’S MOTION TO COMPEL PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS

Defendant-Counterplaintiff, Allied Tube and Conduit Corporation (“Allied”), seeks an order from this Court compelling plaintiff, Wheeling-Pittsburgh Corporation (“Wheeling-Pittsburgh”), to produce certain documents for inspection and photocopying pursuant to Rule 34, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Wheeling-Pittsburgh resists production of said documents on the ground that they are protected from discovery by the attorney-client privilege. For the reasons stated herein, we grant Allied’s request and direct Wheeling-Pittsburgh to make available for inspection and/or photocopying the subject documents.

On May 1, 1978, defendants, Allied and Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. (“UL”), commenced the deposition of Albert C. Flanders, who for about thirty years prior to March 1978, was employed by Wheeling-Pittsburgh in various capacities having to do with metallurgical engineering and quality control. Immediately prior to his leaving plaintiff’s employ, Mr. Flanders, with the permission of one of plaintiff’s employees, borrowed three company files. Two files contained technical and chronological documents pertaining to relevant events. The third file, captioned “Communications with Counsel”, contained communications between representatives of the plaintiff, including Mr. Flanders when he was employed by plaintiff, and its counsel, and notes referring to such conversations.

Throughout his deposition hearing, Mr. Flanders, pursuant to instructions from counsel, refused to answer questions directed toward the specific contents of the documents contained- in the “privileged” file. Mr. Flanders’ refusal was based upon counsels’ belief that such information was protected from discovery by the attorney-client privilege. At some point during Mr. Flanders’ deposition hearing, Allied’s counsel orally requested the production of the subject file; such request was promptly denied.

In disposing of the motion presently before us, we will assume that at one time the subject documents were in fact protected from discovery by the attorney-client privilege. However, we find that Mr. Flanders’ use of said documents to refresh his recollection immediately prior to his deposition hearing, served as an effective waiver of any such privilege. Consequently, said documents are discoverable pursuant to Rule 612, Federal Rules of Evidence.

Although counsel for Wheeling-Pittsburgh argue that Mr. Flanders did not in fact review these documents for the pur[10]*10pose of his deposition, the facts lead us to a different conclusion. Just two days before his departure from Wheeling-Pittsburgh, Mr. Flanders visited plaintiff’s Benwood, West Virginia office and admittedly borrowed files which he determined “would serve the purpose of a review.” He retained possession of these files for approximately six weeks. It was not until the day before and the morning of his scheduled deposition that Mr. Flanders returned the files directly to counsel for Wheeling-Pittsburgh. Under these circumstances, it seems clear to this Court that Mr. Flanders retained plaintiff’s files for the purpose of reviewing relevant material prior to his scheduled deposition.

Rule 612, Federal Rules of Evidence, provides in part:

. if a witness uses a writing to refresh his memory for the purpose of testifying, either—
(1) while testifying, or
(2) before testifying, if the court in its discretion determines it is necessary in the interest of justice, an adverse party is entitled to have the writing produced at the hearing, to inspect it, to cross-examine the witness thereon, and to introduce in evidence those portions which relate to the testimony of the witness. .

As enacted, Rule 612 codifies settled doctrine in regard to writings used to refresh recollection of a witness while he is testifying. Its treatment of writings used for recollection prior to taking the stand, however, represents an appreciable departure from previous practice. See, Goldman v. United States, 316 U.S. 129, 62 S.Ct. 993, 86 L.Ed. 1322 (1942); Needelman v. United States, 261 F.2d 802 (5th Cir. 1958), cert, dismissed, 362 U.S. 600, 80 S.Ct. 960, 4 L.Ed.2d 980, rehearing denied, 363 U.S. 858, 80 S.Ct. 1606, 4 L.Ed.2d 1739, annot., 82 A.L.R.2d 473, 562 and 7 A.L.R.3d 181, 247. Congress made this innovative aspect of Rule 612 applicable only if the court in its discretion decides production is warranted “in the interests of justice.”

Rule 30(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that examination and cross-examination of witnesses at a deposition may proceed as permitted at trial under the provisions of the Federal Rules of Evidence. In Prucha v. M & N Modern Hydraulic Press Co., 76 F.R.D. 207 (W.D.Wis.1977), the court ordered plaintiff to produce for inspection and copying the statements relied upon by him to refresh his memory in preparation for his deposition hearing. In support of its decision, the court cited Rule 612(2) of the Federal Rules of Evidence as authorizing full disclosure. It is not clear from the court’s opinion in Prucha whether plaintiff was resisting production of the statements based upon the attorney-client privilege.

In Bailey v. Meister Brau, Inc., 57 F.R.D. 11 (N.D.Ill.1972), a case whose factual background is more closely analogous to the one presently before us, the court held that the attorney-client privilege was waived by plaintiff’s use of documents to refresh his recollection at his deposition. The court reasoned that to rule otherwise would ignore “the unfair disadvantage which could be placed upon the cross-examiner by the simple expedient of using only privileged writings to refresh recollection. This factor, coupled with the intent to relinquish the privilege shown by their use for this purpose, convinces the Court that plaintiff should be held to have waived the attorney-client privilege as to the documents in question.”

We find the above discussion in Bailey concerning waiver of attorney-client privilege to be particularly germane to the issue presently confronting us. Under Rule 612 an adverse party is entitled to production of a writing used for refreshing one’s recollection for use on cross-examination so that he may search out any discrepancies between the writing and the testimony. If the paramount purpose of federal discovery rules is the ascertainment of the truth, the fact that a document was used to refresh one’s recollection prior to his testimony instead of during his testimony is of little significance. Compare, LaChemise Lacoste v. Alligator Company, Inc., 60 F.R.D. 164 (D.Del.1973). Here, as in Bailey,

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Bluebook (online)
81 F.R.D. 8, 26 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 787, 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16734, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wheeling-pittsburgh-steel-corp-v-underwriters-laboratories-inc-ilnd-1978.