Krisa v. Equitable Life Assurance Society

Facts

Defendant denied Plaintiff’s claim of disability benefits under an insurance policy. Plaintiff brought suit and requested the Court to order Defendant to turn over documents generated by or provided to Defendant’s expert witnesses pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (FRCP) Rule 26(b)(4). Defendant claimed the documents were protected work product and at an oral hearing the trial judge ordered an in camera inspection of the documents. The documents were mostly draft reports from three expert witnesses: (i) Davison, an attorney; (ii) Geisser, a forensic accountant and (iii) Blum, a doctor. Defendant claimed all of Davison’s documents to be work product. Defendant only claimed the work product privilege on some of Geisser’s documents and asserted the rest were transmittal letters, outside the scope of discovery permitted by FRCP Rule 26(a)(2)(B). Defendant claimed that 18 documents withheld from Dr. Blum’s production were also transmittal letters outside the scope of deli very permitted by FRCP Rule 26(a)(2)(B).