STATE EX REL. ALLSTATE v. Madden

I strongly dissent from both the result reached by the majority and the new points of law set forth in syllabus points seven and eight.1 The writ of prohibition granted in this cause, coupled with those new syllabus points drawn in a virtual factual vacuum, constitute nothing more than an advisory opinion on the sensitive subject of the attorney-client privilege and its narrowly-tailored crime-fraud exception. Through its opinion, the majority seeks to guarantee that counsel for the plaintiff in substantially every bad-faith insurance action may embark on a fishing expedition during the…