The former in-house lawyer for a defunct business entity can't invoke attorney-client privilege to keep from submitting subpoenaed documents in a suit against it, the state Superior Court has ruled.

In an apparent case of first impression, a three-judge panel ruled against non-party and former in-house general counsel to defendant National Real Estate Information Services, Thomas K. Lammert Jr., who claimed he was exercising his “professional responsibility” to protect privileged communications between him and his former employer.

Senior Judge Eugene B. Strassburger III wrote in the court's opinion that a company maintained the ability to invoke the privilege, “not to the individuals through whom the company acts.”