State Ex Rel. Peabody Coal Co. v. Clark

ROBERTSON, Judge.

Relator, Peabody Coal Company brings this original action in prohibition to prevent discovery of certain documents it alleges are protected by the attorney-client privilege. The underlying suit is a civil proceeding. Respondent, the Honorable Thomas C. Clark, Circuit Judge for the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit, ordered Peabody to produce the documents under the crime-fraud exception to the attorney-client privilege. We granted our preliminary writ in prohibition to determine whether respondent exceeded his authority in applying the crime-fraud exception in this civil case. For…