Settlement agreement was immune from discovery, and shared opinion was protected by the common interest privilege.
Block Drug Co., Inc. v. Sedona Labs., Inc. et al.,No. 06-350-***, April 19, 2007
Thynge, Magistrate Judge. Plaintiff sought production of 2 agreements between Defendants Sedona and Nutri-Health. Certain portions of an agreement of “Confidentiality of Shared Opinion” were ordered produced after in camera review. A settlement agreement was not required to be produced.
After in camera review, the court declined to compel the production of a settlement agreement. While evidence of settlement agreements may be discoverable under Rule 26’s broad provisions, courts in this circuit require a more “particularized showing” that the evidence is relevant, which showing was not made in this case. Defendants were ordered to produce portions of a “Confidentiality of Shared Opinion” agreement which directly evidence that a common interest privilege exists. A waiver of privilege argument based on the fact that the documents were not included on one defendant’s privilege log was rejected where they had been included on the second defendant’s log.
A copy of the full opinion is available here.
