Coito

Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorney General, James M. Schiavenza, Assistant Attorney General, Steven M. Gevercer and Peter A. Meshot, Deputy Attorneys General, for Real Party in Interest.

We consider the question whether the statement of a witness, taken in writing or otherwise recorded verbatim, by an attorney or the attorney's representative, is entitled to the protection of the California work product privilege. We will follow the weight of authority and find such statements not protected and therefore available through discovery. The superior court here followed contrary language from Nacht & Lewis Architects, Inc. v. Superior Court (1996) 47 Cal.App.4th 214 [ 54 Cal.Rptr.2d 575 ] ( Nacht & Lewis ). We will grant the requested writ of mandate and direct the superior court to enter an order granting the discovery at issue.

Jeremy Wilson, the 13-year-old son of petitioner Debra Coito, died in a drowning incident in the Tuolumne River in Modesto, California, on March 9, 2007. Petitioner filed her complaint for wrongful death thereafter. She named various defendants, including the State of California. The Department of Water Resources is the agency defending for the…