Wolpin

ORDER DENYING UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA’S MOTION FOR REVIEW AND RECONSIDERATION OF MAGISTRATE JUDGE’S ORDER FOR PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS

I. Introduction

Plaintiff Roselyn Wolpin has brought a suit in the Southern District of Florida against defendant Philip Morris, Inc., alleging that she has suffered health problems as a result of occupational exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke. As part of that action, defendant Philip Morris sought the production of certain raw data relating to an epidemiological study entitled “Lung Cancer in Nonsmoking Women” (hereinafter “Fontham Study”). The Fontham Study focused on whether passive smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke increase the risk of lung cancer in lifetime nonsmoking women. The conclusions of the Study apparently indicate a potential link between secondhand smoke and lung cancer.

The Fontham Study was conducted by five institutions: one among these was the University of Southern California (USC). Dr. Anna Wu, Ph.D., served as USC’s principal investigator for the Study. On or about October 23,1997 Philip Morris served a subpoena on USC seeking a subset of the raw data collected for the Study that is in the possession of…