OneBeacon Not Required to Produce Privileged Communications in Asbestos Coverage Action

CINCINNATI — OneBeacon Insurance Co. is not required to produce otherwise privileged communications that it shared with third parties, including Berkshire Reinsurance Group, an Ohio federal magistrate judge has ruled in an asbestos coverage action initiated by The William Powell Co.

Upon OneBeacon’s motion for reconsideration of a previous discovery ruling, Magistrate Judge Karen Litkovitz of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio held on Sept. 28 that the third parties to whom the documents were shared “fall into one or more protected relationships.”

In its motion to compel, Powell challenged OneBeacon’s privilege log as deficient. Powell …