Regents of the University of California v. Superior Court

Opinion

BENKE, J.

Evidence Code section 912, subdivision (a), provides that the attorney-client privilege is waived when “without coercion” a holder of the privilege has either disclosed or consented to the disclosure of a significant part of an otherwise privileged communication. In this writ proceeding we consider whether disclosure of privileged communications is free of coercion when, as a matter of policy, the federal government advised corporations under criminal and regulatory investigation that they might avoid indictment or regulatory sanctions if they fully cooperated in the…