Crowe Countryside Realty Associates, Co. v. Novare Engineers, Inc.

OPINION

Justice SUTTELL, for the Court.

We issued a writ of certiorari in this case to address an important issue under Rule 26(b) of the Superior Court Rules of Civil Procedure concerning the extent to which a party may obtain discovery of written communications between an opposing party’s attorney and its testifying expert witness. In a matter of first impression in Rhode Island, we are called upon to review the interaction of two fundamental principles underlying our adversarial system: the liberal theory of discovery embodied in the Rules of Civil Procedure, and the work-product doctrine.

In…