Anderson vs. Caldwell County Sheriff's Office, et al

Filing 138

ORDER granting Defts' 91 Third Motion to Compel. Signed by Magistrate Judge Dennis Howell on 6/13/11. (ejb)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA
ASHEVILLE DIVISION
1:09cv423
JERRY ANDERSON,

)
)
Plaintiff,
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v.
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CALDWELL COUNTY SHERIFF’S
)
OFFICE, et al.,
)
)
Defendants.
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___________________________________ )

ORDER

Pending before the Court is Defendants’ Third Motion to Compel [# 91].
Defendants move to compel the production of confidential settlement agreements
reached in two state court actions. These state court actions revolved around whether
Plaintiff was entitled to receive a portion of the life insurance proceeds from his wife’s
life insurance policy. Subsequently, the parties to these proceedings entered into
settlement agreements resolving the two state court actions. These settlement
agreements are the subject of this motion to compel.
In response to Defendants’ motion, Plaintiff does not dispute that the
settlement agreements at issue are discoverable. Instead, Plaintiff represents to the
Court that he informed counsel for Defendants that the settlement agreements require
a court order to overcome the confidentiality provision in the agreement. Moreover,
Plaintiff states that he consents to the Court entering an order directing Plaintiff to
disclose the confidential settlement agreements.
Accordingly, the Court GRANTS the Defendants’ Third Motion to
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Compel[#91] and enters the following ORDER:

(1)

The Court GRANTS Defendants’ Third Motion to Compel
[# 91]. The Court DIRECTS Plaintiff to produce to Defendants,
the settlement agreements at issue within ten (10) days of the
entry of this Order. The Court will address the issue of privilege,
including attorney-client privilege and attorney work product, as
to any additional documents related to the settlement in ruling on
Defendants’ First Motion to Compel [# 82].

(2)

The Court finds that an award of costs for bringing this motion is
not warranted under Rule 37(a)(5).

Signed: June 13, 2011

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