Stein v. Kohn

Background

On September 1, 2023, counsel for respondent Adeena Kohn provided the Court with records maintained by Dr. Richard Price concerning his treatment of Kohn. The Court reviewed those records privately, a process known as in-camera review.

Potentially Relevant Records

The Court determined that certain information from each appointment, except the initial intake appointment on November 18, 2020, might be relevant to petitioner Raphael Stein’s claim. The potentially relevant material consisted of the first page of each appointment log and later pages containing information under the fields “Chief Complaint,” “History of Present Illness,” and “Progress Note.” The order identified the corresponding PDF pages in Appendix A.

Privilege Briefing

The Court stated that Kohn had the burden of showing that the federal psychotherapist-patient privilege applied. That privilege generally protects certain confidential communications between a patient and a psychotherapist, but the order did not decide whether the privilege applied to the identified records. Instead, it directed Kohn’s counsel to explain whether the excerpts were protected and whether Kohn had waived the privilege as to any portion of them.

The Court also directed the briefing to address whether the privilege applied to records maintained by Frady Binet at Achieve Behavioral Health, as described in a September 8, 2023 joint letter.

Order

Judge Vincent L. Briccetti ordered respondent’s counsel to file a letter of no more than five pages by September 25, 2023. Petitioner’s response, also limited to five pages, was due September 29, 2023. The order required briefing and did not finally resolve the privilege questions.