Citizens' Trust Co. v. Fidelity Trust Co.

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• recognizing that “investigatory reports and materials are not protected by the attorney- client privilege or the work-product doctrine merely because they are provided to, or prepared by, counsel.”
• finding that defendant’s assertion of affirmative defense waived privilege over documents relating to that defense
• noting that “[d]espite its legal content, human resources work, like other business activities with a regulatory flavor, is part of the day-to-day operation of a business; it is not a privileged legal activity.”
• finding magistrate judge properly exercised her discretion to allow party resisting discovery to use a declaration to satisfy their disclosure obligations under Rule 26(b)(5)(A) because the “rule does not prescribe any particular format for disclosing privilege claims”
• documents relating to employer’s investigation into discrimination complaints not privileged where the “predominant purpose” of the communications “was to provide human resources and thus business advice, not legal advice.”
• documents relating to employer’s investigation into discrimination complaints not privileged where the “predominant purpose” of the communications “was to provide human resources and thus business advice, not legal advice.”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).