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THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
ROCKINGHAM COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT
Hampton Police Association, Inc.
v.
Town of Hampton
Docket No: 09-E-0424
ORDER ON DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR
PARTIAL RECONSIDERATION
By Order dated January 19, 2010 this Court required the defendant to provide certain information concerning its employment of outside counsel relative to a dispute between the parties. The Town has filed a Motion for Partial Reconsideration asking the Court to permit it to give the requested information to the plaintiff without any details of how the claimed legal services were rendered. The defendant argued that such information would be protected under our attorney-client privilege. The plaintiff objects to the motion.
The defendant submitted to the Court for an in camera review the detailed billing statements of outside counsel. The Court has examined them and finds they are the general types of information that it believes are not privileged. They do not divulge party strategy etc. They merely show how the taxpayers' funds were spent. However to give the plaintiff what the Town believes all that it is entitled to is to keep the plaintiff in the dark and invite abuse. Providing only a date and period of time for work done does not allow a taxpayer to judge the reasonableness of the expenditure which he or she is being asked to pay. Accordingly attached to the within Order are the billing records that the Court authorizes the plaintiff to receive. The defendant's Motion for Partial Reconsideration is denied.
So Ordered.