A Superior Court judge issued a ruling Thursday resolving a dispute between the R.I. Department of Business Regulation and workers’ compensation insurer The Beacon Mutual Insurance Co. in Warwick regarding what information state regulators can access while conducting a forensic audit.
On March 3, state auditors tried to copy the hard drives of 22 computers used by Beacon employees. Beacon expressed concerns to the court that the hard drives contained confidential medical records of their policy holder’s employees, Beacon employees and information otherwise protected by attorney client privilege.
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The judge sided with Beacon and ordered state regulators to return a tape of Beacon’s e-mails to the insurer.
Kent County Superior Court Judge Melanie Wilk Thunberg ruled: “The court is convinced … that the production of the subpoenaed material would result in the revelation of privileged and confidential information with respect to corporate matters as well as Beacon employees.”
The decision also stated: “This subpoena is overboard, overreaching, unduly burdensome and entirely unreasonable.”
