In re Crestcare Nursing & Rehab. Ctr., 2006 Tex. App. LEXIS 1436 (Tex. App. 2006)

Plaintiff served a request to produce for the nursing home’s personnel files. The nursing home objected, contending they included confidential information and introduced the administrator’s affidavit to that effect, arguing that the trial court must conduct an in camera examination of the documents before they were produced. The trial court indicated it would inspect specific representative documents if provided by the nursing home, but that it would not inspect the documents en masse. The nursing home declined the court’s invitation, arguing that all of the documents were confidential and therefore privileged. On appeal, the nursing home argued that the court had a duty to inspect all documents in camera before ordering them produced. The court of appeals rejected the nursing home’s argument; the affidavit provided by the administrator was conclusory and did not include facts that suggest any of the described information was within a constitutionally protected zone of privacy. Accordingly, the trial court did not abuse his discretion in refusing to conduct an in camera inspection of the filed. Decided: February 22, 2006.