Commercial Litigation and Arbitration

Attorney-Client Privilege and Work Product Protection: Joint Defense / Common Interest Rule — Second Circuit

Mitsui OSK v. Seamaster, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9101 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 18, 2013):

● “ The common interest doctrine does not provide for a privilege in itself; rather, it is an exception to the rules of waiver that apply when otherwise privileged information is shared with individuals who do not facially share in that privilege.”

● Required showing: “(1) a common legal, rather than commercial, interest and (2) that the exchange of the information was made in the course of formulating a common legal strategy, and that the parties understood the communication was in furtherance of the shared legal interest”

● Common interest of insurer and insured in low verdict is not a shared legal interest

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