Opinion ID: 2363701
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: Determination of Privileges and Other Objections

Text: The Berst court directed that once a determination of relevance is made, if there is an objection that the documents are confidential or privileged, it must be determined whether the objection is valid. Berst v. Chipman, 232 Kan. 180, 187, 653 P.2d 107 (1982). It follows that other objections should be addressed as well. In various arguments made to the district court, KaMMCO referred to privileges or claims of confidentiality that can be categorized as potentially falling under K.S.A.2009 Supp. 60-226(b) (work product), K.S.A.2009 Supp. 60-226(c)(7) (trade secret or other confidential research, development, or commercial information), K.S.A. 60-426 (attorney-client privilege), K.S.A.2009 Supp. 60-427 (physician-patient privilege), K.S.A.2009 Supp. 65-4915 (peer review privilege), and common-law qualified privileges. Thus, at least in a general sense, KaMMCO raised claims of confidentiality or privilege. Because of these asserted privileges, KaMMCO argues that if the district court believed the discovery was relevant it should have considered the claims of privilege before ordering KaMMCO to respond. KaMMCO cites to the holding in Berst, stating that the court has a duty to conduct an in camera inspection. Berst, 232 Kan. at 187, 653 P.2d 107. Allen notes, however, that subsequent to Berst, this court recognized that there are steps short of in camera inspection that can be used to consider claims of privilege, including the use of privilege logs. Cypress Media, Inc. v. City of Overland Park, 268 Kan. 407, 426, 997 P.2d 681 (2000). Here, the request for a subpoena cited Cypress Media and provided that [i]f any materials are claimed to be privileged, please provide a privilege log which identifies the material claimed to be privileged and specifies the basis for each privilege claimed. KaMMCO did not provide such a log. Further, as Allen notes, in various filings in the district court and in KaMMCO's arguments, KaMMCO spoke in generalities, never linking a specific privilege to specific documents that would be produced. Given that, Allen argues the district court did not have an obligation to consider whether the documents were privileged. Allen's argument gains some support from K.S.A.2009 Supp. 60-245(d)(2), which provides that if information subject to a subpoena is withheld on a claim of privilege the claim shall be made expressly and shall be supported by a description of the nature of the documents, communications or things not produced that is sufficient to enable the demanding party to contest the claim. Further support is found in the rule that the party (or nonparty, as in the present case) objecting to discovery must provide precise reasons for the objection to discovery. See Cypress Media, 268 Kan. at 425, 997 P.2d 681 (citing National Union Fire Ins. Co. v. Midland Bancor, Inc., 159 F.R.D. 562, 567 [D.Kan.1994]). The district court, however, did not make a finding that KaMMCO had failed to preserve its claimed privileges or that the privileges did not apply. Rather, the district court refused to rule on the privilege issues, indicating KaMMCO's objections were premature. KaMMCO argues this ruling is contrary to the direction in Berst and Jones. Further, although in its brief KaMMCO does not specifically address its reasons for failing to provide a privilege log, it does assert that KaMMCO has no means of responding to some of the [discovery] requests without significant burden. And in one of the hearings before the district court, KaMMCO expressed difficulty in logging privileged materials or information due to the broad nature of Allen's discovery requests and contended it would be an undue burden if it was required to present specific privilege logs as to individual documents that are not within the permitted scope of discovery. Additionally, KaMMCO argues a privilege log would contain the proprietary information it seeks to protect. Further, before us at least, KaMMCO suggests that many of its privilege arguments can be addressed by category, e.g., all risk management surveys are peer review materials. In summary, KaMMCO asserts that the district court needed to make some preliminary determinations before requiring KaMMCO to undertake the burden of creating a privilege log. This argument ties into the third directive of the Berst court, suggesting that a district court faced with claims of privilege and undue burden should consider various factors that influence whether a protective order should issue pursuant to K.S.A.2009 Supp. 60-226(c).