Hickman v. Taylor
Encyclopedia
Hickman v. Taylor, 329 U.S. 495
(1947), is a United States Supreme Court
case in which the Court recognized the work-product doctrine, which holds that information
obtained or produced by or for attorneys
in anticipation of litigation may be protected from discovery
under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
. The Court's decision in the case was unanimous.
Defendant
Respondent
, killing five of nine crew members, including Petitioner's decedent.
on November 26, 1943, naming as defendants the two tug owners, individually and as partners, and the railroad. Petitioner sought to compel production of signed statements and memoranda. Respondent granted names of those who had provided statements, but refused to produce documents. The court ordered his imprisonment, but stayed the order pending appeal. Respondent appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and the production order was reversed.
obtained in preparation for litigation. Respondent argued that the interrogatory constituted "an attempt to obtain indirectly counsel's private files" and therefore production of documents would amount to revealing the litigation strategy of counsel. Petitioner countered that the deposition-discovery provisions of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were designed to enable the parties to discover true facts and compel their disclosure wherever they may be found. Because discovery is to be granted liberally, the privilege limitation must be interpreted narrowly, as prohibiting discovery in these circumstances would aid corporate defendants against individual plaintiffs by allowing corporate defendants to retain a lawyer immediately, making all subsequently collected information unavailable to plaintiff. Individuals, on the other hand, might have to wait for some time before retaining a lawyer, making information collected before the retention of counsel available to the corporate defendant.
work-product doctrine discovery of written materials obtained or prepared by an adversary's counsel with an eye toward litigation may not be had unless party seeking discovery can establish that relevant and non-privileged facts remain hidden in an attorney's file and where production of those facts is essential to the preparation of one's case, and in light of this the district court erred in requiring the production of documents obtained or prepared by retained counsel in anticipation of litigation absent necessity or other circumstances. Petitioner's argument that protection of trial preparation materials unduly benefits corporate defendants against individual plaintiffs is not persuasive as discovery may work to the disadvantage as well as to the advantage of individual plaintiffs and while discovery should be granted liberally there are limits such as a prohibition on discovery of bad faith discovery requests or attempts to obtain privileged material and furthermore defendant's argument that such material is protected by attorney-client privilege
is faulty because statements, memoranda, and mental impressions do not fall under such privilege because those materials do not document interaction with the client. Petitioner having been granted the list of those interviewed has full ability to consult those individuals itself or to consult the public records available on the subject and had not showed any prejudicial effect of denying discovery and it is essential that counsel who historically are officers of the court be able to work with a certain degree of privacy free from unnecessary intrusion by opposing parties and their counsel and consequently the "work product" of the attorney inevitably reflects the mental impressions of the attorney such that if discovery were granted much less would be written and much more would be forgotten consequently leading to inefficiency, unfairness, and sharp practices which would inevitably develop in the giving of legal advice in turn damaging the legal profession and the interests of justice and discovery in cases of necessity may be permissible when information is embedded in the attorney work product but only when alternate methods of acquiring the method are unavailable whereas in this case there is no showing of necessity or unavailability of the information elsewhere.
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(1947), is a United States Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
case in which the Court recognized the work-product doctrine, which holds that information
Information
Information in its most restricted technical sense is a message or collection of messages that consists of an ordered sequence of symbols, or it is the meaning that can be interpreted from such a message or collection of messages. Information can be recorded or transmitted. It can be recorded as...
obtained or produced by or for attorneys
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
in anticipation of litigation may be protected from discovery
Discovery (law)
In U.S.law, discovery is the pre-trial phase in a lawsuit in which each party, through the law of civil procedure, can obtain evidence from the opposing party by means of discovery devices including requests for answers to interrogatories, requests for production of documents, requests for...
under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure govern civil procedure in United States district courts. The FRCP are promulgated by the United States Supreme Court pursuant to the Rules Enabling Act, and then the United States Congress has 7 months to veto the rules promulgated or they become part of the...
. The Court's decision in the case was unanimous.
Parties
Plaintiff/Petitioner- Hickman, representative of one of five deceased employees on the John M. Taylor tugboatTugboatA tugboat is a boat that maneuvers vessels by pushing or towing them. Tugs move vessels that either should not move themselves, such as ships in a crowded harbor or a narrow canal,or those that cannot move by themselves, such as barges, disabled ships, or oil platforms. Tugboats are powerful for...
, owned and operated by Defendant. - Abraham E. Freedman, attorney for Petitioner.
Defendant
- Taylor & Anderson Towing & Lighterage Co., et al., company owning tugboat in question.
Respondent
- William I. Radner, of Washington, D.C., and Samuel B. Fortenbaugh, Jr., of Philadelphia, Pa., for the defendants.
State of law
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26, a relatively recent innovation at the time this case was originally filed, granted mandatory discovery of certain documents and materials when requested. (The modern Rule 26(b)(3), protecting trial preparation materials, did not become effective until 1970.)Facts of case
Defendant's tugboat sank in Delaware RiverDelaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
, killing five of nine crew members, including Petitioner's decedent.
Prior history
A public hearing was held on March 4, 1943, before the United States Steamboat Inspectors, at which the four survivors were examined. This testimony was recorded and made available to all interested parties. Shortly thereafter, Fortenbaugh privately interviewed the survivors and took statements from them with an eye toward the anticipated litigation; the survivors signed these statements on March 29. Fortenbaugh also interviewed other persons believed to have some information relating to the accident and in some cases he made memoranda of what they told him. At the time when Fortenbaugh secured the statements of the survivors, representatives of two of the deceased crew members had been in communication with him. Ultimately claims were presented by representatives of all five of the deceased; four of the claims, however, were settled without litigation. The fifth claimant, petitioner herein, brought suit in a federal court under the Jones ActJones Act
The term Jones Act may refer to one of several federal laws in the United States:*The Jones Act was a 1916 statute sponsored by Representative William Atkinson Jones that provided the Philippine Islands a "more autonomous government" to prepare the territory for independence.*The Jones-Shafroth...
on November 26, 1943, naming as defendants the two tug owners, individually and as partners, and the railroad. Petitioner sought to compel production of signed statements and memoranda. Respondent granted names of those who had provided statements, but refused to produce documents. The court ordered his imprisonment, but stayed the order pending appeal. Respondent appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and the production order was reversed.
Procedural posture
Petitioner seeks reinstatement of order to produce documents and order of imprisonment.Legal analysis
The issue in this case was whether the district court erred in requiring the production of documents obtained or prepared by retained counsel in anticipation of litigation absent necessity or other circumstances. The respondent refused to produce documents on the ground that they were not subject to discovery, and were protected as privileged matterAttorney-client privilege
Attorney–client privilege is a legal concept that protects certain communications between a client and his or her attorney and keeps those communications confidential....
obtained in preparation for litigation. Respondent argued that the interrogatory constituted "an attempt to obtain indirectly counsel's private files" and therefore production of documents would amount to revealing the litigation strategy of counsel. Petitioner countered that the deposition-discovery provisions of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were designed to enable the parties to discover true facts and compel their disclosure wherever they may be found. Because discovery is to be granted liberally, the privilege limitation must be interpreted narrowly, as prohibiting discovery in these circumstances would aid corporate defendants against individual plaintiffs by allowing corporate defendants to retain a lawyer immediately, making all subsequently collected information unavailable to plaintiff. Individuals, on the other hand, might have to wait for some time before retaining a lawyer, making information collected before the retention of counsel available to the corporate defendant.
Discussion
According to the AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
work-product doctrine discovery of written materials obtained or prepared by an adversary's counsel with an eye toward litigation may not be had unless party seeking discovery can establish that relevant and non-privileged facts remain hidden in an attorney's file and where production of those facts is essential to the preparation of one's case, and in light of this the district court erred in requiring the production of documents obtained or prepared by retained counsel in anticipation of litigation absent necessity or other circumstances. Petitioner's argument that protection of trial preparation materials unduly benefits corporate defendants against individual plaintiffs is not persuasive as discovery may work to the disadvantage as well as to the advantage of individual plaintiffs and while discovery should be granted liberally there are limits such as a prohibition on discovery of bad faith discovery requests or attempts to obtain privileged material and furthermore defendant's argument that such material is protected by attorney-client privilege
Attorney-client privilege
Attorney–client privilege is a legal concept that protects certain communications between a client and his or her attorney and keeps those communications confidential....
is faulty because statements, memoranda, and mental impressions do not fall under such privilege because those materials do not document interaction with the client. Petitioner having been granted the list of those interviewed has full ability to consult those individuals itself or to consult the public records available on the subject and had not showed any prejudicial effect of denying discovery and it is essential that counsel who historically are officers of the court be able to work with a certain degree of privacy free from unnecessary intrusion by opposing parties and their counsel and consequently the "work product" of the attorney inevitably reflects the mental impressions of the attorney such that if discovery were granted much less would be written and much more would be forgotten consequently leading to inefficiency, unfairness, and sharp practices which would inevitably develop in the giving of legal advice in turn damaging the legal profession and the interests of justice and discovery in cases of necessity may be permissible when information is embedded in the attorney work product but only when alternate methods of acquiring the method are unavailable whereas in this case there is no showing of necessity or unavailability of the information elsewhere.
Notable concurring and dissenting opinions
Jackson, J., concurring.- Discovery rules may not be formulated in granting special privileges to one class of litigants, plaintiff or defendant, corporate or individual, or otherwise. Discovery is intended to afford fairness in access to information, not to make one's litigation strategy available to one's adversary. While a "battle of wits" results from confidential litigation strategies, litigation without strategy would be far more demeaning to the legal profession and would not work in the interest of justice.