Tucker v. Scrushy

Summary

The Supreme Court of Alabama granted a petition for a writ of mandamus directing the Jefferson Circuit Court to vacate an order quashing a subpoena served on Parkman, Adams & White, LLC. The court held that Parkman failed to establish that records concerning payments for Richard Scrushy's legal services were privileged, irrelevant, or unduly burdensome to produce. The requested discovery was relevant to the petitioners' efforts to locate assets and collect a judgment against Scrushy.

Holdings

1. The party asserting attorney-client privilege bears the burden of establishing facts showing that the privilege attaches. Parkman failed to carry that burden, and the trial court exceeded its discretion by treating the requested records as privileged.
2. Records showing who paid for Scrushy's legal services, the amounts paid, and related trust-account information were relevant and discoverable because they could reasonably lead to evidence identifying assets available to satisfy the judgment.
3. A conclusory assertion that a subpoena is unduly burdensome, without evidence or explanation showing why production would be burdensome, is insufficient to support quashing the subpoena.
4. The petitioners established a clear legal right to discovery and the absence of an adequate remedy by ordinary appeal; therefore, mandamus was appropriate to compel the trial court to vacate its order quashing the Parkman subpoena.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Parkman met its burden to establish that the requested financial and payment records were protected by the attorney-client or attorney-work-product privilege.
2. Whether records concerning payments for Scrushy's legal services were relevant and discoverable in aid of enforcing the petitioners' judgment.
3. Whether Parkman established that producing the requested records would be unduly burdensome.
4. Whether the petitioners were entitled to mandamus relief from the order quashing the subpoena.

Disposition

writ_granted