The defendant employer appealed an order of a Master requiring production of internal corporate documents and refusing to strike certain documents from the plaintiff’s summary judgment motion record in a certified class action concerning post‑retirement employee benefits.
The court interpreted the certification order and settlement agreement governing the litigation, which restricted discovery and admissible documents to “common documents” shared with class members or historical versions of benefits plan documents.
The Master erred by applying a general relevance test rather than the contractual limitations agreed upon by the parties.
Internal board minutes, memoranda, and corporate financial statements were not “common documents” or historical plan documents because they were not shared with employees as part of the benefits package.
The appeal was allowed, the production order was set aside, and the impugned materials were struck from the motion record.
