In an insurance coverage case arising out of the sinking and salvage of a dry dock, the insured sought the production of documents concerning reinsurance purchased by its insurer, from the procurement of the reinsurance through the claim submitted to the reinsurer. The insurer resisted production based upon two grounds: (1) relevance; and (2) the common interest privilege, claiming that it and its reinsurer had “a joint legal interest in the outcome of the litigation ….” The insured contended that the reinsurance documents were discoverable and potentially relevant in that the insurer had contended that the insured had fraudulently failed to disclose certain information to it about the dry dock, and the facts considered by the reinsurer in pricing the reinsurance might reveal that the information allegedly not disclosed was in fact known to the insurer. Accepting this argument, the court found the reinsurance file, including information concerning reserves, to be relevant and discoverable.
The court held that the common interest doctrine requires a two-part showing: (1) a common legal, rather than solely commercial, interest; and (2) an exchange of privileged information made in the course of formulating a common legal strategy, with an understanding that the communication would be in furtherance of a shared legal interest. The first element requires an oral or written agreement “embodying a cooperative and common enterprise towards an identical legal strategy.” Finding that the mere status of insurer-reinsurer did not establish these elements, and the fact of the reinsurer merely turning its file over to the insurer was insufficient, the court analyzed the facts and determined that neither of these two elements of the common interest privilege had been satisfied. Accordingly, it ordered the production of the reinsurance information. In a separate order, the court deferred other discovery issues not related to reinsurance to a later hearing. Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company v. Great American Insurance Company of New York, Case No. 10-1653 (USDC SDNY July 3, 2012).
This post written by Rollie Goss.
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