PRIVILEGED & CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT / ATTORNEY-CLIENT COMMUNICATION
Howard,
Quick update on where we stand with twelve days until the November 3 deadline.
**1. DOCUMENT REVIEW**
Brindoval Analytics LLC completed search-term culling on October 7. From the approximately 380,000 deduplicated documents in the collection, search-term culling yielded roughly 147,000 documents hitting on at least one agreed-upon search term, all of which were loaded into the TAR workflow.
TAR 1.0 training began October 10 as planned. We have completed three training rounds to date. Daniel Furrow at Brindoval reports the following validation checkpoint metrics:
- **Recall:** 83.7% - **Precision:** 71.2% - **Elusion:** 2.4%
Daniel indicates we have reached statistical stability and recommends proceeding to final review. I agree — recall exceeds our 80% target threshold, and the elusion rate is well within acceptable parameters.
The TAR model has identified approximately **24,600 documents** as "likely responsive." First-pass attorney review is roughly 68% complete. The review team consists of me, Elliot, and two contract reviewers from the C&H document-review team. We expect to complete first-pass review by October 27, which keeps us on track for the production deadline.
**2. PRIVILEGE REVIEW**
Approximately **1,340 documents** have been flagged for privilege review. The bulk are emails involving Patricia Aldridge (SVP & General Counsel, Dunmore Energy Holdings) or outside counsel (including Calderwood & Harkness). I will lead the privilege review pass starting tomorrow, October 23. Elliot is building the privilege log template in parallel.
**Issue I'd like your input on:** We have identified approximately 85 documents in which Terry Kinloch (VP, Government Contracts, Dunmore Fuel Services) forwarded emails from Patricia Aldridge containing legal advice regarding bidding strategy to Sandra Ochoa (Director of Pricing & Analytics) and Nolan Prescott (Regional Sales Manager, SE U.S.). The question is whether forwarding legal-advice communications to non-lawyer business personnel waived the privilege.
My preliminary view is that the privilege is preserved. The forwarding was for the purpose of implementing the legal advice — both Ochoa and Prescott needed the information to follow counsel's direction on bid submission procedures, and the dissemination appears to have been limited to those individuals with a functional need to know. That said, I'd like your view before we take a final position on the log.
**3. HOT DOCUMENTS**
Three documents of concern have come up during review. I want to make sure you see these before Friday.
**(a) DEH-MERID-008417** - Email from Nolan Prescott to Sandra Ochoa, dated March 14, 2022 - Subject line: "Lot A numbers" - Prescott writes: *"Just got off the phone with Connie [Barlow, Galloway VP Sales]. She says they're going to sit this one out on A and focus on C. We should be good at $3.28/gal."* - **Assessment:** This is potentially the most damaging document we have found so far. It directly suggests advance knowledge of a competitor's bidding intentions on a specific Meridian DOT lot. The casual tone and specificity — naming the competitor contact, the lot, and the pricing — will be difficult to contextualize favorably.
**(b) DEH-MERID-011203** - Calendar entry for Terry Kinloch, dated June 6, 2023 - Entry reads: *"Lunch — Rick E., Jonas H. — Capital Grille, Baxter City."* - Rick E. is Rick Ellerbee, CEO of Galloway Petroleum Corp. Jonas H. is Jonas Hartwick, Managing Partner of Ridgeline Energy Partners LLC. - No agenda, notes, or follow-up correspondence located. - **Assessment:** The timing is concerning. The FY 2024 Meridian DOT RFP was issued June 1, 2023, with bids due July 15, 2023. This lunch occurred just five days after RFP issuance and brought together senior personnel from all three respondents. The absence of any documented agenda or follow-up cuts both ways — nothing incriminating on its face, but nothing exculpatory either, and the AG will draw the obvious inference.
**(c) DEH-MERID-014876** - Spreadsheet prepared by Sandra Ochoa, dated November 2021 - Title: "Meridian DOT — Scenario Analysis" - Contains columns labeled "DFS Price," "Est. GPC Price," and "Est. REP Price," with prices across all five geographic lots. - **Assessment:** Competitive-intelligence analysis is not per se unlawful, and companies routinely model competitor pricing based on publicly available data, cost structures, and market experience. The problem is the accuracy of the "estimated" competitor prices — they match the actual submitted bids within $0.01–$0.02 per gallon across nearly every lot. That degree of precision will be very difficult to explain as the product of independent analysis, and the AG will almost certainly treat this as circumstantial evidence of information sharing.
**Disposition:** All three documents have been placed on privilege-review hold pending your review. None appears to be privileged, but I think we should discuss them before including any in the production set and before we talk to Patricia on Friday.
**4. CO-RESPONDENT COORDINATION**
Per the Joint Defense Agreement (dated October 1, 2025), I had a brief call this afternoon with Gregory Whitfield of Whitfield, Strauss & DeVane LLP (counsel for Galloway Petroleum Corp.) and Diane Colby of Archer Colby LLP (counsel for Ridgeline Energy Partners LLC). Key takeaways:
- **Galloway:** Their collection is smaller (~210,000 documents pre-culling). They are slightly behind on review but expect to meet the November 3 deadline. - **Ridgeline:** Smallest collection (~95,000 documents). They are substantially complete with their review. - Neither WSD nor Archer Colby has flagged an intent to seek a further extension of the production deadline. - We agreed to share privilege-log categories (not individual entries) to ensure consistency in privilege assertions across all three respondents. - None of the parties has been approached by the AG's office regarding settlement discussions or cooperation agreements.
**5. BUDGET**
Through October 15, accrued C&H fees are approximately **$487,000**, against the Phase 1 estimate of $650,000–$850,000. Brindoval Analytics invoices to date total **$261,400**, against their $385,000 estimate. We are tracking within budget on both fronts.
**6. OUTSTANDING ITEMS**
- **Protective order:** We are still awaiting the AG's draft protective order, which AAG Alicia Brennan and Senior AAG Derek Montague indicated would be circulated by October 24 (per the October 17 meet-and-confer).
- **Expert economist:** Per your recommendation in the liability exposure memo, I reached out to **Dr. Lawrence Voss** of **Kensington Economic Advisors LLC** in Boston. He is available and provided a preliminary fee estimate of $175,000–$250,000 for an initial analysis of the AG's statistical evidence. I will send you his CV and proposed engagement terms separately.
- **Lender notification:** I confirmed with Deepa Narayan (CFO, DEH) that she sent the required notice to **Craig Underhill** at **Pinnacle National Bank, N.A.** on September 15, 2025, as required under Section 6.01(h) of the $750 million Senior Secured Revolving Credit Agreement (MAE threshold of $25 million). No response from Pinnacle to date.
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Howard, I'd welcome the chance to talk through the hot documents and the privilege-forwarding issue before our call with Patricia on Friday. I'm flexible tomorrow afternoon or Thursday morning if either works for you.
Best, Monica
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**Monica Reyes** Senior Associate
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