It is not unusual for a plaintiff in an insurance bad faith case to request production of the adjuster's personnel file. The insurance company then objects. This was the case in Lombardo v. Government Emp's Ins. Co., No.: 3:16cv392/MCR/EMT, 2017 WL 3113410 (N.D. Fla. Feb. 23, 2017) (Timothy, Chief U.S.M.J.; third-party excess judgment case). What happened next is not usual. But it should be.
What happened next is the Magistrate Judge's approach to plaintiff's motion to compel. First, requesting the adjuster's entire personnel file was not proportional to the needs of the case at bar, the Magistrate Judge wrote. But that part of the adjuster's personnel file relative to "settlement and claims handling/adjustment are relevant to Lombardo's claim and proportional to the needs of this case[.}" The Magistrate Judge therefore recommended that that part of the adjuster's personnel file be produced.
Second, the Magistrate Judge did not allow the insurance company simply to cry 'Privileged!' to prevent any of even this limited discovery. "[I]f GEICO has a legitimate claim of privilege as to any document[,] its production should be accompanied by a properly prepared and detailed privilege log."
Use it or lose it, the saying goes. The saying to derive from this case is more like, 'Prove it or lose it.'
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