In first-party insurance scenarios, an insured seeks coverage
directly from its insurance company for its losses (in contrast to
third-party insurance, in which an insured seeks its insurance
company's help defending and paying for claims against the
insured). Both types of insurance scenarios frequently involve work
product protection issues.
In Club Gene & Georgetti, LP v. XL Insurance America,
Inc., No. 20 C 652, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64759 (N.D. Ill.
Apr. 2, 2021), the court assessed when an insurance company facing
a first-party claim from an insured reasonably anticipated
litigation with that insured (and therefore could claim work
product protection). Not surprisingly, this question frequently
arises after an event like the one the court addressed in this case
- in which "[t]he plaintiff's steakhouse was damaged in a
fire . . . of unknown origin"]. Id. at *3, *6, The
court applied the majority rule in first-party insurance cases:
"drawing a line at the point
