Privilege and Work Product in Insurance Coverage Disputes

How do the attorney-client privilege, work product protection, and common interest doctrine work in insurance coverage disputes? Insurers and their insureds often rely on third parties like consultants, brokers, and experts in litigation. An insured may be able to use privilege and work product concepts to protect information exchanged with insurance brokers in order to prepare for litigation with its carrier. In contrast, many courts will not extend privilege and work product to protect an insurance carrier’s documents from discovery if the documents were created in the ordinary course of claim handling.