Lists of People with Claims or Pertinent Knowledge: Work Product-Protected or Not??
By Thomas Spahn & McGuire Woods
Federal Civil Practice,
May 2025
In Civil Rights Dep’t v. Grimmway Enterprises, Inc., a California court addressed how the work product doctrine applies to lists of individuals in discovery. The court allowed the plaintiff agency to reference the defendant’s own business records (under Rule 33(d)) instead of providing a curated list of affected employees. It rejected the employer’s demand for a subjective list of key individuals, citing work product protection. The case illustrates that while litigants must identify people with relevant information, they aren’t required to reveal which individuals they view as most important to their case.
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