The spousal-communication privilege doesn’t necessarily end with the death of a spouse—but the right to immediately appeal a dispute over that privilege does, the Pennsylvania Superior Court has ruled.

In Smith v. O’Brien, plaintiff Mary Kathleen Smith alleged she was assaulted by defendant Therese O’Brien’s husband numerous times as a child visiting their home. Following a police encounter, in which he was not charged with any crime, O’Brien’s husband told O’Brien “‘why he was speaking to the police,’” but then proceeded to drive away in his car and died in a train crash hours later, according to court documents.

This content has been archived.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

Why am I seeing this?

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]