St. Alexius Medical Center v. Nesvig

Citations

• 2022 ND 65

Syllabus

This Court's power to issue supervisory writs is discretionary and is used only to rectify errors and prevent injustice where no adequate alternative remedy exists. Peer review records are privileged and not subject to discovery in any civil action. When a party withholds discoverable information because it is privileged, the party must expressly make a claim of privilege and describe the nature of the documents in a manner that, without revealing the information, enables other parties to assess the claim. We look first at the words of the peer review statute, then determine how they apply to the procedure established by N.D.R.Civ.P. 26. District Courts have discretion to conduct an in camera review of documents if a party challenges a claim of privilege identified in an adequate privilege log.