Bluebird Partners, L.P. v. Bank of New York

Full title: BLUEBIRD PARTNERS, L.P., Respondent, v. BANK OF NEW YORK et al., Appellants

Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department

Date published: Feb 23, 1999

258 A.D.2d 373 (N.Y. App. Div. 1999)

686 N.Y.S.2d 4

Opinion

February 23, 1999

Appeal from the Supreme Court, New York County (Beatrice Shainswit, J.).

This Court previously held ( 248 A.D.2d 219) that plaintiff had a right to review relevant documents before passing upon defendants' claims for legal expenses. In doing so, we ruled that privileged material should be redacted "under the Referee's careful supervision." ( Supra, at 225.) In the review that followed, the Referee accorded "relevance and reasonableness" a higher priority than "privilege." That was error.

Privileged matter and an attorney's work product are absolutely immune from discovery (CPLR 3101 [b], [c]), regardless of their relevance ( Spectrum Sys. Intl. Corp. v. Chemical Bank, 78 N.Y.2d 371; De La Roche v. De La Roche, 209 A.D.2d 157, 158-159). The Referee's review of proposed redactions should be carried out with that in mind.

Concur — Ellerin, J. P., Nardelli, Wallach and Rubin, JJ.