Marigliano v. Krumholtz

In Marigliano v. Krumholtz (159 Misc. 2d 596 [Sup Ct Queens Co 1993]), the court required disclosure of notes or memoranda of surveillance tapes subject to redaction "of any information contained in the memoranda that constitutes attorney's work product, such as technical notes or confidential communications between attorney and client, as privileged items" (Id. at 599). The court reasoned that disclosure was required by the statute because "it is only by examining the memorandum of a tape that an adversary will be able to discover whether the tape has been distorted or manipulated. Though the discovered tape itself may be revealing, it is possible that a review of it may not reveal a subtle distortion. Nuances can conceal easily the true facts. For example, camera angles, lighting and splicing, among other techniques can cause a film or video to be distorted. True images do not always appear paramount on surveillance tapes . . . But, by examining the memorandum itself, a hidden manipulation may become apparent from the contents of the document. Therefore, a sense of fairness requires any memoranda be disclosed as part of discovery prior to trial, or at trial as in the case before the court." (Id. at 600)