Opinion
No. 07-14085.
May 27, 2008
ORDER
On May 20, 2008, the Court took under advisement that part of Defendant's Motion to Compel Discovery [Docket #9] dealing with a document as to which Plaintiff EEOC claimed deliberative process privilege. The Court ordered Plaintiff to submit the document for an in camera review.
The Court has now reviewed the document in question, and finds that it is protected from discovery by the deliberative process privilege. Under the framework set forth in Schell v. U.S. Department of Health Human Services, 843 F.2d 933, 940 (6th Cir. 2008), the document is both pre-decisional and deliberative. While it does contain some statements that might be characterized as facts, any factual material is inseparably intertwined with opinions and recommendations. "In some circumstances, . . . the disclosure of even purely factual material may so expose the deliberative process within an agency that it must be deemed exempted [from discovery]." Id., quoting Mead Data Central, Inc. v. United States Department of Air Force, 566 F.2d 242, 256 (D.C. Cir. 1977).
Accordingly, Defendant motion to compel discovery of this document [Docket #9] is DENIED.
SO ORDERED.