Recent Federal Rules changes wisely prioritize early discussions about document productions and privilege logs. Regardless of the timing, such issues increasingly include the ever-growing volume of email communications and AI’s use in privilege reviews and analyses of the adversary’s privilege log.
But the rubber still hits the road with the presiding court’s privilege log requirements. In Wallace v. Rocking Horse Child’s Health Center, Case No. 3:24-cv-00304, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 139418 (S.D. Ohio June 23, 2026), the court pointed to an earlier decision requiring the parties’ privilege logs to include standard information (date, to, from, general subject matter, protection claim), but also some oddly specific categories: “the date the document was prepared” and “the date of the document, if different from the date it was prepared”; “the identities of who prepared the document”; and “the purpose of preparing the document.” Id. at *6.
In commercial litigation, log disputes usually work themselves out. But in some litigation (such as pattern product liability or environmental litigation), aggressive plaintiffs who have few, if any, documents sometimes can make life difficult for corporate defendants. Next week’s Privilege Point will address another privilege log decision issued six days later.