TAL Properties of Pomona, LLC v. Village of Pomona

Background

On July 8, 2020, the court granted the plaintiffs’ request for permission to file a Second Amended Complaint. A dispute then arose about whether information in paragraph 171 of the proposed complaint was privileged. The court directed the plaintiffs to file the complaint with paragraph 171 redacted while the court decided whether the information was privileged and should be stricken.

The redacted complaint was filed publicly, and an unredacted version was sent to chambers. The defendants submitted a letter on July 15, 2020, and the plaintiffs submitted an opposition on July 22, 2020. The parties also sent additional information by email.

Ruling

The disputed information quoted a June 27, 2018, confidential memorandum sent by Doris Ulman to Brett Yagel, the Village of Pomona’s mayor, and the Village’s Board of Trustees. After reviewing the parties’ submissions and the memorandum, Judge Halpern found that the memorandum was privileged and that the privilege had not been waived.

The court struck paragraph 171 from the Second Amended Complaint and directed the plaintiff to refile the complaint with paragraph 171 removed. The order addressed the privilege issue and the contents of the pleading; it did not decide the underlying claims.