Opinion ID: 4347805
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: Dr. Bergano made a request under VFOIA for the City to disclose “[a]ll invoices, bills or statements including, but not limited to, all legal fees and expert invoices relating to all of the [City’s] expenses related to the litigation of Dr. Allan L. Bergano, D.D.S. and Dr. Allan L. Bergano, D.D.S., P.C. v. City of Virginia Beach . . . known as Case No.: 2:15cv520.” In response, the City provided approximately 63 pages of invoices and payment documentation from its outside counsel and approximately 16 pages of invoices and payment documentation for its expert witnesses. The City redacted most of the details, leaving only the date, name of the attorney, time billed, and the attorneys’ hourly rates, as shown in the illustration below. 2 To justify these substantial redactions, the City invoked the exceptions to disclosure under Code §§ 2.2-3705.1(2) and -3705.1(3), which shield from disclosure records that fall under the attorney-client privilege and the work-product doctrine. Dr. Bergano then filed a petition for a writ of mandamus seeking to compel the City to disclose its records. The City again invoked the attorney-client privilege and the work-product doctrine. At oral argument before the circuit court, an attorney for the City explained that, with litigation pending, the City was concerned about waiving attorney-client privilege or the protections of the work-product doctrine and felt compelled for that reason to err on the side of limiting disclosure. After reviewing the documents in camera, the court concluded that the records were exempt from disclosure under VFOIA. This appeal followed.