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Judge rules in Halcovage’s favor over documents

Schuylkill County Commissioner George F. Halcovage Jr. and his legal team on Monday were granted the right to have three pages of material that were inadvertently disclosed during federal court proceedings “sequestered, returned, or destroyed.”

The materials were accidentally shared during information gathering in a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by four women who work in the courthouse against Halcovage.

“This motion highlights two basic attributes of the litigation process: the protections afforded to the attorney-client privilege and the fallibility of the human condition,” United States Magistrate Judge Martin C. Carlson wrote.

The judge wrote that he could understand how the mistake was made.

Halcovage and several other defendants, all county officials, have produced about 4,000 documents, including some 15,000 emails and other related materials. “Given the volume of this discovery, and the time constraints under which it has been produced, it is hardly surprising that an occasional inadvertent disclosure of information might take place,” Carlson wrote.

The three pages were inadvertently released on Oct. 19, 2022, in the course of a deposition of defendant (former Human Relations Director) Heidi L. Zula.

“The transcript of the deposition clearly shows that defense counsel was caught unawares by the reference to these documents,“ Carlson wrote.

The material “may be cloaked in attorney-client privilege,” he wrote.

“Upon further reflection, some five weeks later on Nov. 30, 2022, defense counsel reiterated their concern that these three pages of material constituted privileged records and sought to clawback these documents.

“The plaintiffs have resisted these clawback requests, insisting that the defense failed to act promptly, as required by Rule 502, before making this clawback demand,” Carlson wrote.

“Upon consideration, we conclude that, while the defense conduct approaches the outer reaches of what may be considered prompt, that they have acted with sufficient alacrity to be entitled to clawback these 3 pages of material,” he wrote.

Further, Carlson wrote, “the volume of the discovery disclosures, the nature of the privilege review, and the very limited scope of the alleged release of privileged information all weigh in favor of the defendants’ request. Further, it is entirely undisputed that the release of these 3 pages of material was inadvertent.”

The four women filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court, Scranton, March 2021, alleging Halcovage sexually harassed them since being elected in 2012.

He has denied the allegations.

An addition was filed in October 2021, contending they were retaliated against for filing the suit by attempts to fire them, demoting them, and suspending them without pay since Sept. 2021.