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MSU claims privilege for thousands of documents in investigation

EAST LANSING, MI (MPRN)--   Michigan State University says it won’t voluntarily turn over thousands of documents requested by the state Attorney General. But a judge might order it to turn over some of them.

The Attorney General’s special prosecutor is investigating MSU for its handling of former sports doctor Larry Nassar. Nasser is in prison for sexually abusing his patients for decades.

The university said it won’t turn over certain documents because of attorney-client privilege.

Christina Grossi is with the Attorney General’s office. She said a judge needs to review every document MSU says is privileged.

“At the end of the day unless someone sits down and reads those emails there will never be able to be an independent determination of whether or not it’s a proper assertion of the privilege,” she said.

MSU’s attorneys said they are still reviewing their privileged documents and finalizing a lot of all documents they say are privileged. Scott Eldridge represents for Michigan State. He said some documents may come off the list and others might be added. But East Lansing District Court Judge Richard Ball said the final log needs to be done soon. Then he will review all the documents marked as privileged and decide what must be turned over to the Attorney General.

“Well I think it’s a bit of an overreach,” said Eldridge. “They’re essentially accusing MSU’s outside legal counsel of cheating on every single privilege entry.”

But overall, general counsel for MSU Bob Young is happy with the judge’s decision. Young said he wants to protect the school’s privilege, which having a judge privately review the documents and then decide does.

“It will absolutely put an end to the AG’s suggestion that we are hiding something from them,” he said.”

The AG’s office says it believes MSU is not properly applying attorney client privilege.