On August 14, 2012, Judge William A. Mayhew of Stanislaw Superior Court issued his Notice of Hearing on Issues Re Remand in the case of Debra Coito v. State of California. The order requested that the following issues to be briefed: (1) Does the absolute privilege apply to all or any part of the recorded witness interviews; (2) Does the Plaintiff conted that they can make a sufficient showing of unfair prejudice or injustice under C.C.P. Section 2018.030(b) such as to allow discovery as to any of the interviews that may be found to be not absolutely privileged; and (3) As to interrogatory 12.3, does the STATE contend that answering said interrogatory would result in opposing counsel taking undue advantage of the attorney for the STATE’s industry of efforts or that answering said interrogatory would reveal the attorney of the STATE’s tactics, impressions or evaluation of the case?
Continue Reading COITO v. SUPERIOR COURT–Is It Heading Back to the Supreme Court?

The long awaited California Supreme Court decision on whether or not witnesses statements are protected by the work product privilege and thus not discoverable even in responding to a Form Interrogatory is in. The Supreme Court issued its opinion in Debra Coito v. Superior Court of Stanislaus County, S181812, Ct. App. F057690 this morning at 10:00 a.m. “… witness statements procured by an attorney are not automatically entitled as a matter of law to absolute work product protection.”
Continue Reading Witness Statements Can Be Discoverable!!

The absence of a reasonable expectation of confidentiality in the content of an independent witness’ signed or recorded verbatim statement precludes a finding of work-product protection. That is what Petitioner Debra Coito’s Answering Brief on the Merits states in the case of Coito v. Superior Court (2010)182 Cal. App. 4th 758(pdf) which is currently pending in the California Supreme Court.
Continue Reading Reasonable Expectation of Confidentiality is the “Dispositive Question” for Determining the Existence of Work-Product Protection