A paralegal’s mistake of sending a banker’s box full of privileged documents to opposing counsel waived the attorney-client privilege over the documents, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled Jan. 18 (Amgen Inc. v. Hoechst Marion Roussel Inc., D. Mass., No. 97-10814-WGY, 1/18/00).
A court must consider a number of circumstances related to unexpected disclosures before determining whether the privilege was waived, the court said. These factors include the extent of the precautions taken to prevent a mistaken disclosure, the amount of time it took to realize the error, the extent of the disclosure, and the overriding interests of fairness.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]
