Judge orders Long Island water districts to turn over engineering documents in toxic chemical case

Brooklyn, NY – A federal magistrate judge has ruled that several Long Island water districts must produce documents they tried to shield under attorney-client privilege in a sprawling contamination lawsuit against Dow Chemical and others.

Dispute over outside engineers’ role

The Albertson Water District and seven neighboring districts sued Dow, Vulcan, and Vibrantz, alleging their chemicals tainted public drinking water. During discovery, defendants sought communications between the districts’ attorneys and their outside engineering consultants, H2M Architects & Engineers and D&B Engineers & Architects.

Plaintiffs argued the engineers were “de facto employees,” making their communications privileged under the “functional equivalent” doctrine. They also invoked a “common interest privile