Black Rock Truck Group, Inc. v. Tarasiewicz
- Philip Halpern
- 7:19-cv-02367
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Black Rock Truck Group v. Tarasiewicz, Magistrate Judge Davison denied defendants’ request to disclose a privileged email.
Black Rock Truck Group, Inc. and the defendants, because the ruling protected the entire disputed email from disclosure and allowed Black Rock to pursue its clawback.
What happened
Black Rock Truck Group, Inc. v. Tarasiewicz concerned parts of a January 29, 2019 email from Black Rock’s president to other company executives. Black Rock had accidentally produced the email and sought to retrieve it under an agreement allowing mistaken disclosures to be clawed back.
The defendants already knew the full email and agreed that most of it was protected by attorney-client privilege, but they disputed protection for certain passages. After reviewing the email privately and considering the parties’ written arguments, the court found that the entire email was privileged.
Magistrate Judge Davison denied the defendants’ request to force disclosure or prevent Black Rock from retrieving the email. The court also ordered the Clerk to close docket entry 140.
The detailed version
- Black Rock Truck Group, Inc. v. Tarasiewicz · No. 7:19-cv-02367
- Philip Halpern
- Nov. 12, 2020
Background
This order addresses Black Rock’s claim that portions of a January 29, 2019 email were protected by the attorney-client privilege. The email was sent by Black Rock’s president to other Black Rock executives in response to the question, “What was feedback from attorneys here[?]” Black Rock had inadvertently disclosed the email in its production and sought to withdraw it under a clawback agreement.
The parties submitted letter-briefs, which were sealed because they discussed privileged communications. Defense counsel also submitted the relevant email chain to the court for private review, highlighting the disputed passages. Defense counsel knew the contents of the entire email and conceded that the email was privileged except for the contested portions.
Legal standard and analysis
The court stated that attorney-client privilege protects communications among corporate employees that reflect legal advice given by counsel to the corporation. After considering the parties’ arguments and reviewing the email privately, the court concluded that the entire email, including the contested passages, was privileged.
Ruling
The court denied defendants’ application to compel disclosure of the email or, more accurately, to resist Black Rock’s clawback. The Clerk was directed to close docket entry 140.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.