1. Home
  2. |Insights
  3. |Protecting Work Product: When the Threat of Litigation Is Too Remote for Privilege

Protecting Work Product: When the Threat of Litigation Is Too Remote for Privilege

Client Alert | 1 min read | 02.06.20

In Ingham Regional Medical Center v. U.S. (Jan. 6, 2020), the Court of Federal Claims compelled production of certain government investigatory documents that the Court found were not privileged work product prepared “in anticipation of litigation.” The Medical Center sued to recover payments for outpatient healthcare services performed in connection with DoD’s TRICARE program after initial settlement discussions had failed. During discovery, the government inadvertently produced several documents that assessed the accuracy of its previous payments to the Medical Center, including documents that had been repeatedly logged as privileged. Although the government claimed that the documents were prepared in anticipation of litigation, the court held that the documents did not constitute protected work product because they were produced in furtherance of a business purpose (i.e., payment investigation) well before a genuine threat of litigation arose. The court equated the government’s function in assessing the hospital’s claims for alleged underpayments to that of an insurer who investigates a claim before making a final determination. Therefore, since the threat of litigation was too remote, the court found that the work product had been prepared for a possible negotiated business settlement between the parties, rather than for litigation. Contractors and others engaged in litigation with the government should keep “ordinary course of business” arguments in mind as a basis to challenge government privilege assertions.

Insights

Client Alert | 3 min read | 03.28.24

UK Government Seeks to Loosen Third Party Litigation Funding Regulation

On 19 March 2024, the Government followed through on a promise from the Ministry of Justice to introduce draft legislation to reverse the effect of  R (on the application of PACCAR Inc & Ors) v Competition Appeal Tribunal & Ors [2023] UKSC 28.  The effect of this ruling was discussed in our prior alert and follow on commentary discussing its effect on group competition litigation and initial government reform proposals. Should the bill pass, agreements to provide third party funding to litigation or advocacy services in England will no longer be required to comply with the Damages-Based Agreements Regulations 2013 (“DBA Regulations”) to be enforceable....