In determining when the work product doctrine is triggered, the Northern District of Illinois recently held that, rather than adopting a bright-line rule, the issue should be decided on a case-by-case basis at the court’s discretion. In Club Gene and Georgetti, LP v. XL Insurance America, Inc., No. 20 C 652, 2021 WL 1239197 (N.D. Ill. Apr. 2, 2021), the insured’s steakhouse was damaged in a fire. When the insured sued for coverage, the insurer refused to produce documents prepared in the course of its investigation of the claim on the basis of the work product doctrine. The issue of contention was: at what point in an insurer’s claim investigation can the insurer claim that litigation was reasonably anticipated? In…
