Zimmerman

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 8 MARC ZIMMERMAN, Case No. 21-cv-03346-YGR (TSH)

Plaintiff,

DISCOVERY ORDER

v. Re: Dkt. No. 48 THE GUARDIAN LIFE INSURANCE

COMPANY OF AMERICA,

13 Defendant. 14 The parties have a discovery dispute. ECF No. 48. “The dispute is this: Defendant Guardian has withheld certain communications between its claims department and in-house counsel on the grounds of the attorney-client privilege. Such communications, however, fall within the fiduciary exception to the attorney-client privilege applicable to ERISA claims. Because Plaintiff’s action includes both ERISA claims and bifurcated state-law claims, however, Guardian will not produce the communications absent agreement by Plaintiff that the communications will not be used in connection with Plaintiff’s state-law claims.” Id. This problem – that the privileged status of a particular document might be different for different claims in the case – comes up all the time in federal litigation. Indeed, it…