Valutron

This is a legal malpractice action against a law firm, defendant Pennie & Edmonds (P&E), which represented plaintiffs in an unsuccessful patent infringement lawsuit which they brought against National Cash Register Co. ("NCR"). The lawsuit was dismissed on the ground of laches. In this action, plaintiffs claim that P&E failed to warn or advise them of the potential laches problem and that in the absence of this advice, the infringement action was commenced later than it could and should have been, thereby resulting in the dismissal. P&E, however, has argued that plaintiffs already knew about the potential laches problem because they had received advice and counsel on that issue from other attorneys prior to and after retaining P&E. It asserts that by bringing this action claiming they were not properly advised by defendants that their infringement suit had to be commenced by a certain time, plaintiffs have put their knowledge of the laches problem at issue. As a consequence, defendants claim that they are entitled to discovery concerning plaintiffs knowledge about this issue. Specifically, defendants have demanded copies of all handwritten notes which relate to meetings and communications plaintiffs had with other patent lawyers and any correspondence between plaintiffs and any other patent lawyers concerning the infringement action against NCR and the defense of laches. Defendants have also demanded that plaintiffs answer questions at a deposition about any advice they received from other attorneys as to the doctrine of laches. Plaintiffs have refused to provide any of the demanded discovery on the ground that the information sought is protected by the attorney-client privilege.