Insurance Companies and the Attorney-Client Privilege in Arizona
Introduction - Your company is under investigation by the government. As part of the investigation, the government subpoenaed an employee for testimony. The employee retained a lawyer (separate from your company’s outside...more
Parties to a lawsuit often find themselves on the "same side of the courtroom" as other entities or individuals. In these instances, where a party is one of multiple (or many) co-plaintiffs or co-defendants, it is often...more
The frighteningly unpredictable "at issue" waiver doctrine can strip away attorney-client privilege protection when the client seeks some legal advantage by putting "at issue" its knowledge, ignorance, conduct, etc. This type...more
The attorney-client privilege protects communications for the purpose of obtaining legal advice between attorney and client. It applies not only to communications with outside counsel but also with in-house attorneys who are...more
Corporate stock and asset sale transactions necessarily implicate ownership of: (1) ordinary day-to-day privileged communications about environmental matters, labor matters, etc., and (2) privileged communications about the...more
The Pagliara divorce has given us much to talk about. In “Sex, Lies, (Drugs) and Videotape … and Malicious Prosecution”, we discussed the dismissal of Husband’s malicious prosecution claims against Wife’s former divorce...more
In Raffeisen Bank International AG v Asia Coal Energy Ventures Ltd & Ashurst LLP, the Court of Appeal distinguished the case of Conlon v Conlons Ltd, and provided a helpful analysis of the circumstances in which instructions...more
The NC Business Court delivered a full Opinion last week on attorney-client privilege in Technetics Group Daytona, Inc. v. N2 Biomedical, LLC, 2018 NCBC 115. It’s on the subject of the scope of attorney-client privilege...more
While most parties and their counsel are vigilant in keeping their communications confidential, so as to avoid any chance that the attorney-client privilege can be invaded, there are some situations in which a party makes a...more
Under certain circumstances, a public relations firm’s services become integral to the litigation process, securing attorney-client privileges between lawyers, clients, and the PR firm itself. But privileges aren’t always...more
It always comes when you least expect it – a government inquiry to investigate your business. While it may instill a sense of panic, there are steps you can take to make sure you’re in the best position possible when the...more
On December 7, 2017, an Illinois appellate court held that co-defendants in a case who agree to share information pursuant to their common interest in defeating their litigation opponent do not waive either the...more
Clients' agents/consultants are nearly always outside privilege protection. This generally means that their documents do not deserve privilege protection; their presence during otherwise privileged communications aborts that...more
On June 9, 2016, the New York Court of Appeals issued its decision in Ambac Assurance Corp. v. Countrywide Home Loans Inc. and held that the common interest doctrine protects only communications among deal parties that are...more
On June 6, 2017, the First Department had an opportunity to apply—and reaffirm—last month’s decision in Peerenboom v. Marvel Entm’t, LLC, where the Court held that use of a company email system for personal purposes “does...more
In civil litigation, parties frequently communicate with consultants, tax advisors, friends, family, and others concerning the subject matter of the litigation, and such communications raise issues regarding the possible...more
Attorney invoices may be protected in their entirety by the attorney-client privilege during ongoing litigation. After litigation has concluded, however, those same invoices may be discoverable. So concludes the California...more
On June 9, 2016, the New York Court of Appeals issued a stark reminder to transactional lawyers: no matter how much “common interest” two parties may have with respect to a transaction, the common interest doctrine may not...more
Recently, the California Court of Appeal decided County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors v. Superior Court, 235 Cal. App. 4th 1154 (2015), a case considering whether the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department could be...more
A recent decision by the Massachusetts Land Court provides helpful guidance to clients who frequently rely on independent contractors such as brokers, project managers and public relations consultants to interface with their...more
Most people communicating with their lawyer rightfully believe their discussions are privileged and cannot be disclosed to others without permission. However, when litigation ensues, because the attorney-client privilege...more
Our team at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck recently alerted you to the risk of corporate executives using business email accounts for personal purposes. Click here to read the first alert. In light of developing case law in...more