WILKES-BARRE
- Judge Peter Paul Olszewski signed an order Wednesday denying
the request of General Motors Corp. to compel the return of
inadvertently disclosed documents given to the Powell Law
Firm.
Attorney
Robert Powell and his associates are representing the families
of Michael P. Arcure and Orval J. Murphy, of Freeland, who
died June 19, 1999, with Barry Mulhall in a fiery head-on
collision on Airport Road in Hazle Township.
Two
lawsuits filed against GM allege the victims survived the
crash, but were burned to death because of a faulty fuel system
installed in the 1985 Chevrolet Blazer Mulhall was driving
when it was struck by a Chevrolet Silverado pick-up truck
operated by drunk driver Harry Biddings III, of Berwick.
During
a hearing on Tuesday, a GM lawyer argued that controversial
and long-hidden "fire baby" documents, which reveal the vehicle
manufacturer knew since 1973 of a risk of gas tank explosions
caused by their design and installation in GM vehicles, were
protected by attorney-client privilege.
She
said inclusion of documents in boxes of discovery material
provided to Powell was a clerical mistake.
Attorney
Robert Powell argued the blunder occurred because GM lawyers
didn't read and review every document before turning them
over and that, "if produced, its fair game."
GM
claimed attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine
in attempting to limit Powell's discovery requests.
Olszewski
appointed attorney Scott Gartley as special discovery master
to review disputed documents and to recommend whether either
privilege applied to them.
Gartley
determined privilege applied to many documents and said GM
shouldn't be required to produce them. However, he said it
was equally apparent in many instances that privilege was
in applicable.
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Gartley
said the work product doctrine precluded discovery of very few
documents "because the mental impressions, conclusions and opinions
for which protection is sought relate to different litigation
and not to the litigation involving Arcure and Murphy."
In
ordering counsel for GM to produce many of the controversial
documents, Olszewski accepted and adopted Gartley's report and
recommendations "in their entirety."
The
judge instructed counsel for GM to provide the original and
redacted versions of documents listed in Gartley's report, along
with privilege affidavits.
Olszewski
warned that "meritless assertions of privilege, overreaching
or failing to redact documents in strict conformance with the
law as set forth in the master's report and recommendations
will result in production of the original, unredacted document."
The
judge approved the payment of a $26,925 fee to Gartley and apportioned
85 percent, or $22,886.25 to General Motors, and 15 percent,
or $4,038.75 to the plaintiffs.
Tuesday,
Olszewski gave GM 20 days to produce fuel-study documents requested
by Powell.
Biddings,
27, pleaded guilty to three counts of homicide by vehicle while
drunk and was sentenced to spend 11 to 22 years in prison. He
was made an additional defendant to the lawsuits at GM's request.
Other
defendants are David Pavelko, of Beaver Meadows and Dave's Auto
Sales, who sold the Blazer to Mulhall, and Salvatore Cost of
Beech Lake in Wayne County, who was the original recipient of
the vehicle from GM.
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