Attorney-Client Privilege
E-Mail to Lawyer Not Privileged Because of Employer Policy
Posted Oct 30, 2007 7:26 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A New York judge has ruled that a hospital’s e-mail policy means messages sent by a physician to his lawyers are not protected by attorney-client privilege.
The policy at Beth Israel Medical Center specified that employees had no personal property right in their messages and the hospital had the right to read and disclose e-mails, the New York Law Journal reports in a story reprinted by New York Lawyer.
Judge Charles Ramos of Manhattan ruled the e-mail sent from a hospital computer could be disclosed in a lawsuit by physician W. Norman Scott that claims he was fired in violation of his contract.
Scott is represented by Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison. The law firm had argued its e-mail confidentiality notice protected the e-mail. But Ramos said the disclaimer “cannot create a right to confidentiality out of whole cloth."
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Comments
Richard
Nov 2, 2007 6:10 AM CST
FYI - re the DoD banner issue
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Gretchen Klebasko
Nov 2, 2007 6:48 AM CST
DNP: Thought you might be interested in this.
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Mark Carlton
Nov 2, 2007 6:56 AM CST
Joe - You may want to tuck this away. Often, during mergers, employees use the company’s computers for a variety of things, like communicating with their lawyers. I have always taken the position those can’t be privileged because the employees are using the company’s computer.
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Bruce
Nov 2, 2007 7:19 AM CST
Does this mean that an employee’s e-mail to his IN-HOUSE attorney is also not privleged when the company has a similar policy?
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Kennedy
Nov 2, 2007 8:30 AM CST
Mark’s comment prompted me to think about what ‘the company’s computer’ is ... I’m assuming the MD used his in-house e-mail account, but would mail sent through a private e-mail account, accessed using a company-supplied PC or mobile device, but not through the company network, still be protected?
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David Hudgens
Nov 2, 2007 9:40 AM CST
Advise your clients to be careful if they are using an employer’s e-mail system for personal legal matters
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judy.daniels@concentra.com; mark.solls@concentra.c
Nov 8, 2007 7:32 PM CST
This is good for the company. We already knew we could access employee’s emails. This case says that employees can’t send privileged emails from Concentra’s system.
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