Title: Buhannic v. Morris Nichols Arsht & Tunnell LLP
Citation: N/A
Docket Number: 433, 2018
State: Delaware
Issuer: Delaware Supreme Court
Date: February 15, 2019

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE 
 
PHILIPPE BUHANNIC and 
PATRICK BUHANNIC,  
 
Defendants Below, 
Appellants, 
 
v. 
 
MORRIS, NICHOLS, ARSHT & 
TUNNELL LLP, 
 
Non-party Below, 
Appellee. 
 
§ 
§   
§  No. 433, 2018 
§   
§  Court Below—Court of Chancery 
§  of the State of Delaware 
§   
§  C.A. No. 10164  
§   
§ 
§ 
§ 
§ 
 Submitted:   December 14, 2018 
 
 
 
 
   Decided:     February 15, 2019 
 
Before STRINE, Chief Justice; VALIHURA and TRAYNOR, Justices. 
 
ORDER 
 
 
 
After careful consideration of the parties’ briefs and the record on appeal, we 
conclude that the judgment below should be affirmed.  In this appeal, the appellants, 
Philippe Buhannic and Patrick Buhannic, argue that the Court of Chancery failed to 
give them access to certain documents that were in the files of their former law firm, 
appellee Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell LLP.   On appeal, Morris Nichols does not 
challenge the production ordered by the Court of Chancery.   Thus, the only issue on 
appeal is whether the Buhannics are correct in contending that the Court of Chancery 
erred by excluding certain documents from the production it ordered.    Because this is 
the only issue on appeal, we do not address whether the Court of Chancery was correct 
2 
 
to order production as broad as it did and to reject Morris Nichols’ arguments in favor 
of the end-product approach, which excludes a lawyer’s internal work product from the 
documents that must be produced to a former client upon request.  Instead, we address 
the only issue presented to us and find that for the reasons the Court of Chancery gave, 
it was proper to deny access to the documents the Buhannics seek on appeal.   
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the judgment of the 
Court of Chancery is AFFIRMED.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
BY THE COURT: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
/s/ Karen L. Valihura 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Justice