Hernandez v. Superior Court
California Court of Appeal
4 Cal. Rptr. 3d 883 (2003)
In a wrongful death suit against Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation (Milwaukee) and others (defendants), a scheduling order required the plaintiffs to respond promptly and fully to discovery and to submit a privilege log identifying any documents withheld on privilege grounds, including each document's author, date, recipients, and the specific privilege claimed. The plaintiffs raised privilege objections to interrogatories asking them to identify documents but refused to identify the documents themselves or provide a privilege log. Milwaukee moved to compel; the trial court granted the motion, ruled all privilege objections waived, and ordered further responses, and the plaintiffs appealed.
Whether the fact that a document containing privileged information exists, and basic identifying details about it, is itself privileged information that a party may withhold in response to an interrogatory.