Atlanta-based paper company Georgia-Pacific must turn over internal communications related to studies it commissioned into the safety of its products for in camera review in the ongoing asbestos litigation against the company, a New York state appeals court ruled Thursday, holding that the documents may be subject to the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege.
A unanimous panel of the New York Appellate Division, First Department, ruled in Weitz & Luxenberg v. Georgia-Pacific, 40000/88, that Georgia-Pacific must also turn over the raw data underlying those studies. The court held that it would not be fair for Georgia-Pacific to commission studies and then use them as scientific evidence in its defense unless the plaintiffs have a chance to evaluate the data themselves.
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