Opinion ID: 835784
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Motions to Compel Production

Text: We address a final preliminary consideration. Petitioners in two of the proceedings, Strunk and Dahlin, twice moved the Special Master to compel the production of documents that they unsuccessfully had sought to obtain in discovery from respondent Public Employees Retirement Board (PERB). PERB had withheld production of those documents on the ground that the documents, which related to advice that the Attorney General had given to PERB concerning the actuarial equivalency factors used to compute retired members' benefits, constituted privileged lawyer-client communications. The Special Master refused to compel production of the documents. Petitioner Dahlin and Strunk petitioners have assigned the rulings of the Special Master as error. We uphold the Special Master's refusal to compel the production of the documents, because, in our view, the documents are not relevant to any claim at issue in these proceedings. Having resolved the preliminary considerations that these matters present, we proceed to an overview of PERS generally and of the parties and their claims and defenses.