Friday, February 8, 2013

DiMichel v. South Buffalo Railway Company case brief

DiMichel v. South Buffalo Ry. Co.
80 N.Y.2d 184

SYNOPSIS: Appellant railroad companies sought review of the orders of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the Fourth Judicial Department (New York) regarding surveillance tapes in a person injury lawsuit.

FACTS: 
-The railroad companies sought a determination as to whether the surveillance films it had prepared in a personal injury action were discoverable by the former employees before trial. 
-The railroad companies contended that only by permitting it to spring these films on the former employee at trial would the truthseeking function of cross examination have been safeguarded. 
-The court was of the belief that surveillance evidence constituted material obtained in preparation for litigation thus its protected status was overcome by a plaintiff's substantial need to verify the accuracy of the potentially devastating films prior to trial. 
-The court determined that authentication of surveillance films could have been a slow and painstaking process, and because of the potentially devastating effects of such evidence, it would have been improper to curtail a plaintiff's efforts to do so.

HOLDING:
-The court held that the surveillance tapes should have been turned over only after the former employees had been deposed.

RULES:
Surveillance films should be treated as material prepared in anticipation of litigation, and as such, are subject to a qualified privilege that can be overcome only by a factual showing of substantial need and undue hardship.

CONCLUSION: The court held that the order of the appellate division should have been affirmed in the first case, and in the other case the order should have been reversed and a new trial granted.

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