Zurich American Insurance v. Superior Court

Opinion

EPSTEIN, P. J.

Zurich American Insurance Co. (Zurich) contends the trial court and the discovery referee whose reports it adopted used the wrong standard in overruling its claim of attorney-client privilege in this discovery dispute with Watts Industries, Inc. (Watts). We agree that the challenged orders employed an overly restrictive definition of the attorney-client privilege, and grant relief on that basis. We decline to consider the privacy argument raised by Zurich for the first time in this court.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL SUMMARY

Watts admitted many of the allegations of Zurich’s…