Opinion
No. 2022-CC-00620
05-24-2022
Selby Kean THOMPSON v. Robert Mason THOMPSON, III
Writ application granted. See per curiam.
PER CURIAM
In this domestic litigation, plaintiff directed a subpoena duces tecum and subpoena for deposition to a third party, TB Services, LLC ("TB Services"). Plaintiff alleged defendant had an interest in TB Services and sought to compel production of certain financial records for the period between 2018 and 2021, including its federal and state income tax returns. TB Services filed a motion to quash and motion for protective order. The family court denied the motion to quash and ordered production of all corporate records listed in the subpoena, although it allowed redaction of social security, tax identification, and financial account numbers. After a divided panel of the court of appeal denied relief, TB Services now applies to this court.
Generally, a showing of relevancy and good cause for production has been required in cases where a party seeks production of records from a non-party. Stolzle v. Safety & Systems Assurance Consultants, Inc ., 02-1197 (La. 5/24/02), 819 So.2d 287, 289. In cases where a party requests sensitive financial information such as tax returns, the court must "make a finding of whether the party requesting these tax returns has demonstrated good cause for their production and whether the information sought could be discovered in a less intrusive manner." In re Marshall Legacy Foundation , 16-0215 (La. 2/12/16), 186 So.3d 1171. Based on our review, we find the family court failed to perform an adequate review of the documents at issue to determine whether there is good cause for their production and whether they are relevant to the litigation.
Accordingly, the writ is granted. The judgment of the family court ordering production of the documents is vacated and set aside. The case is remanded to the family court to conduct an in camera inspection of the documents at issue. If the court determines good cause exists for production, the court's order should be narrowly tailored to redact any confidential or irrelevant materials.