Jeffrey Jay Rutgard, Plaintiff, v. Richard Haynes, Defendant., 185 F.R.D. 596

Summary

Plaintiff claimed that defendant attorney's negligence in an antitrust action on behalf of plaintiff resulted in damages to plaintiff of legal fees and settlement payments to defend against a subsequent malicious prosecution suit. Plaintiff's allegations placed in issue the adequacy of representation by plaintiff's attorney and the reasonableness of his fees in the malicious prosecution action. Defendant could defend against plaintiff's allegations by presenting evidence that the damages were not caused by defendant, but by some aspect of plaintiff's attorney's representation. The only source through which defendant could learn the information sought was through the production of plaintiff's attorney's files. Plaintiff had waived the attorney-client privilege between himself and his attorney by indicating the intent to use his attorney as a witness, but only those documents relating to the defense by plaintiff's attorney of the malicious prosecution suit were to be produced. The files ...