R. STEVEN WHALEN, Magistrate Judge.
Before the Court is Plaintiffs' Motion for Order Compelling Discovery, in the Continuation of the Deposition of Witness Steve Ziarno, and for Order Imposing Sanctions [Doc. #109]. The Court has had the benefit of extensive briefing and argument by the parties, and has conducted an in camera review of documents that Defendants have withheld on the basis of attorney-client and/or work product privilege. The Court being fully informed, the Plaintiffs' motion is
The issues in this motion revolve around the deposition of Steve Ziarno, who conducted an investigation into the events involving the death of Justin Pope. The outstanding issues are set forth in the Joint Statement of Unresolved Issues [Doc. #138].
The first and second items in the Joint Statement involves the Plaintiffs' request for "all documents requested in the Ziarno deposition notices." I find that Defendants' privilege log and supplemental privilege logs are timely, and I will therefore consider the claims of attorney-client and work product privilege on their merits. Defendants have submitted the documents to the Court for in camera review.
In Reed v. Baxter, 134 F.3d 351, 355-56 (6
The attorney work product doctrine applies to material that is prepared in anticipation of litigation. "[There are] two categories of work product: fact work product, which is discoverable upon a showing of substantial need and undue hardship, and opinion work product, which is virtually undiscoverable." U.S. Fire Ins. Co. v. City of Warren, 2012 WL 2190747, *3 (E.D.Mich. 2012) (citing Director, Office of Thrift Supervision v. Vinson & Elkins, LLP, 124 F.3d 1304, 1307 (D.C.Cir.1997), and Eagle Compressors, Inc. v. HEC Liquidating Corp., 206 F.R.D. 474, 478 (N.D.Ill.2002)).
The majority of the documents on the privilege logs are communications directed to Dyncorp's counsel, and are privileged. The following documents, however, constitute factual (and hence discoverable) material, and/or material that was not communicated to counsel. These documents, identified by Bates numbers, must be produced:
There seems to be some confusion as to whether Mr. Ziarno's "investigative file" exists as a discrete, unified document (Item 3), and Defendants assert that there is no "full investigative report" (Item 3). As to the latter, Defendants "a correspondence with `findings' prepared by Steven Ziarno voluntarily prior to the January 7, 2015 facilitation. . . ."
If these documents exist, they will be produced. If they do not exist as unitary documents, but if there are heretofore unproduced and non-privileged documents prepared by Mr. Ziarno related to his investigation, those documents will be produced. If there are no non-privileged and responsive documents that have not already been produced, Defendants' counsel will so notify Plaintiffs' counsel.
Plaintiffs seek to re-depose Patrick Dobson, Michael Kehoe, Michael Boffo, Ashauna Millard, Michael Warren, and Austin Stoffel, citing "Defendants' delinquent and dilatory production of documents." While I have ordered the production of a number of documents to which Defendants' claimed privilege, those documents are not of a character that would justify the time and expense of re-deposing witnesses. The Plaintiffs' request is denied. Likewise there is no basis to order the re-deposition of Steven Ziarno.
Plaintiffs ask that the Court order Defendants (or Defendants' counsel) to "[p]roceed in all future depositions in accordance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure." Seriously? Everyone is required to follow the Rules, which speak for themselves, and there is no need for a prospective order from this Court.
The requests for sanctions are denied.
For these reasons and under these terms, Plaintiffs' motion [Doc. #109] is