The applicant, Carolyn Liddy, brought a motion under Rule 30.10 for production of documents from a non-party lawyer, Jeffrey Streisfield, her former counsel in an underlying negligence action.
The documents sought included files received from previous counsel, work product, and invoices, which were deemed relevant to the current action concerning legal costs incurred to "repair" previous work.
Streisfield asserted a lawyer's lien over the documents due to unpaid accounts.
The court found that Liddy failed to establish that it would be unfair to proceed to trial without the documents, as her inability to obtain them appeared to stem from her unwillingness to pay Streisfield's outstanding account, and she had not brought a necessary motion under Rule 15.03(4) to determine the lien's existence and terms.
The motion for production was dismissed.
