Ex parte Schoepf

Citations

• 74 Ohio St. (N.S.) 1

Syllabus

<p>Documentary evidence pertinent to the issue must he produced, when — Sections 5241 and 5289, Revised Statutes — Electric car passenger injured in accident — Report to company’s agent hy conductor — Is privileged communication, when — Question of punishment for contempt — Of person refusing to produce document — In taking of deposition — Competency of evidence —Legal proceedings.</p> <p>1. The clause in section 5247, Revised Statutes, “which he may be compelled to produce as evidence,” and as used in In re Rauh, 65 Ohio St., 128,' must be construed with section 5289, Revised Statutes, and is therefore limited to evidence pertinent to the issue, in cases and under circumstances where a party might heretofore have been compelled to produce the same by the ordinary rules of proceeding in chancery.</p> <p>2. The rule in chancery as to compelling the production of documents for the purpose of evidence and inspection was and is that a party is entitled to a discovery of such facts or documents in his adversary’s possession or under his control, as are material and necessary to make out his own case; but that this right does not extend to a discovery of the manner in which the adverse party’s case is to be established, nor to evidence which relates exclusively to the adverse party’s case.</p> <p>3. Where pursuant to a standing rule of the company, a report was made to the company’s claim agent, by the conductor and motorman of an electric car, of an accident in which a passenger was injured and detailing the circumstances of the accident, which report was made for the information of the claim agent for the purpose of settlement or for use of counsel in case of suit against the company and such report remained in the custody of the claim agent until suit was commenced against the company for injury received in such • accident, when it was turned over to, and has ever since remained in the possession of, the company’s counsel, such report is a privileged communication and