Larry Katz et al. v. The Hartford Financial Group, Inc. et al. (2013)

ORDER REGARDING IN CAMERA REVIEW

The Court has reviewed the letter dated July 19, 2013, from Robinson & Cole and the documents enclosed received on July 24, 2013.   The documents include the defendants' privilege log, redacted documents and unredacted portions of defendants' documents.   The Court notes that of the documents there are some missing as follows:  0017, 0019, 0021, 0022 and 0024.

There are three areas claimed by the defendants as being not discoverable.

1. Attorney–Client Communication (payment of legal fees) on pages 21, 22, 24.   These normally would not be discoverable.   However, the documents were not submitted to this Court so the Court will have to assume that they are in fact attorney-client privilege and not discoverable.

2. Page 315, which was not produced, is not discoverable if, in fact, it contains names of other insureds' as noted in the privilege log.

3. The following documents are discoverable:

1.  Those documents showing the posted reserves.   There is no evidence that the posted reserves were made for or requested by the defendants' attorneys.   They are, therefore, not work product.

2. The portions of the documents which have listed unredacted as confidential because it contains sensitive medical history regarding mental health.   This should be communicated to plaintiffs' attorney only, but the Court knows of no privilege that attaches to sensitive medical history.

Accordingly, it is ordered that the defendants provide the documents showing the medical history of the plaintiff, Larry Katz, and the documents showing the reserves.¹

Rittenband, JTR

FOOTNOTES

FN1. Since this is a claim of unfair insurance practices, the reserves and the knowledge that the defendants have as to Larry Katz's mental health are relevant.   Certainly, there is no reason to conceal the mental health of Larry Katz to his attorneys..  FN1. Since this is a claim of unfair insurance practices, the reserves and the knowledge that the defendants have as to Larry Katz's mental health are relevant.   Certainly, there is no reason to conceal the mental health of Larry Katz to his attorneys.

Rittenband, Richard M., J.T.R.