County of San Diego v. Superior Court

Petitioners, County of San Diego (County) and James A. Forde (Director of San Diego County Department of Health Services), seek prohibition to stay discovery orders of the superior court issued in response to a petition for writ of mandate brought by Tri-City Hospital District (TriCity). Tri-City and others challenged County’s failure to designate Tri-City as a level II trauma center in the County’s regional plan for selection and monitoring of trauma centers, authorized by the state Emergency Medical Services System and the Prehospital Emergency Medical Care Personnel Act (EMS Act), Health and Safety Code section 1797 et seq.

In superior court, Tri-City sought to discover documents connected with the review process. The County refused to produce, claiming privilege because of the alleged agreement of all parties to confidentiality, and the statutory privilege of Evidence Code sections 1040 and 1157.7. The court ordered production of records of actual deliberations of the proposal review committee (Committee), including any notes or summaries made in the course of investigation of Tri-City, and the ratings given to Tri-City by the individual Committee members. The court…