Mason et al v. Health Management Associates, Inc. et al

Filing 332

ORDER that this matter is before the Court on Plaintiffs Motion to Compel In Camera Review and Defendants Notice of Submission of Documents for In Camera Review. (Doc. Nos. 299, 324). For the reasons stated herein, the Court will not compel the production of the submitted documents. Signed by District Judge Kenneth D. Bell on 12/21/2022. (brl)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA
CHARLOTTE DIVISION
CIVIL ACTION NO. 3:10-CV-00472-KDB
THOMAS L. MASON, ET AL.,
Plaintiffs,
v.

ORDER

HEALTH MANAGEMENT
ASSOCIATES, LLC, ET AL.,
Defendants.

THIS MATTER is before the Court on Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel In Camera Review
and Defendants’ Notice of Submission of Documents for In Camera Review. (Doc. Nos. 299,
324). The Court has carefully reviewed the submitted documents and has held a telephonic
conference on December 21, 2022, to question Defense counsel about the submitted documents.
For the reasons briefly discussed below, the Court will not compel the production of the submitted
documents.
The Court granted Plaintiffs’ Motion for in camera review at Plaintiffs’ request to verify
the privileged nature of the documents as represented by Defendants. After its thorough review,
which included the substance of documents that may not even have been in dispute, the Court has
determined that the documents submitted need not be produced because they are both or either
irrelevant and/or privileged.
Specifically, the Defendants submitted various compliance reports, which contained both
privileged and non-privileged entries. (See Docs. 2217, 5529, 8446, 8847). While the privileged
portions of these reports could be redacted with some effort, the Court finds that both the privileged

1
Case 3:10-cv-00472-KDB Document 332 Filed 12/21/22 Page 1 of 2

and non-privileged entries in the reports are irrelevant to this matter, and the Court will not compel
the disclosure of irrelevant documents. Besides these reports, the other documents submitted to
the Court contain communications by counsel or communications sent either to or from counsel
about employment matters at the various hospitals HMA operated. As such, these documents are
clearly privileged and also almost entirely irrelevant. (See Docs. 2235, 2296, 3935, 8143, 8146,
8877). In sum, the Court finds that Plaintiffs either are not entitled to the submitted documents or
don’t need them (or both). Therefore, the Court will not compel the production of any of the
submitted documents.
SO ORDERED

Signed: December 21,
2022

2
Case 3:10-cv-00472-KDB Document 332 Filed 12/21/22 Page 2 of 2