Opinion ID: 2555874
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Attorneys of Record.

Text: With respect to attorneys of record in a judicial or quasi-judicial proceeding, Maryland caselaw adds the requirement of relevance of the statement to the proceeding before an absolute privilege may apply. In Woodruff v. Trepel, 125 Md.App. 381, 725 A.2d 612 (1999), an attorney in a custody dispute sent a letter to opposing counsel, summarizing a recent conversation. In the letter, the attorney referred to incourt testimony, which alleged that the opposing party had abused his child physically and verbally. See Woodruff, 125 Md. App. at 388, 725 A.2d at 616. The Court of Special Appeals held that absolute privilege immunized the attorney from culpability for defamation for this statement because his letter was rationally related to and reference[d] the underlying [child custody] litigation, in addition to a possible future litigation. Woodruff, 125 Md.App. at 394, 725 A.2d at 619; see also Woodruff, 125 Md.App. at 393, 725 A.2d at 618 (quoting Maulsby v. Reifsnider, 69 Md. 143, 162, 14 A. 505, 510 (1888), for the principle that `if counsel in the trial of a cause maliciously slanders a party . . . in regard to a matter that has no reference or relation to, or connection with, the case before the Court, he is and ought to be answerable in an action by the party injured') (emphasis added); [18] Arundel Corp. v. Green, 75 Md.App. 77, 84-85, 540 A.2d 815, 819 (1988) (holding that an absolute privilege would extend to an attorney's letter sent to a stone supplier's customersas part of his investigation into his clients' potential asbestos claims, resulting from exposure to stone dustif it was made in connection with and ha[d] some relation to the anticipated proceeding). These cases indicate that Maryland courts extend an absolute privilege to an attorney of record, so long as (1) the contemplated or ongoing proceeding meets the Gersh test, (2) the context of the statement evinces that the statement was made during the course of the proceeding, and (3) the statement has some rational, articulable relevance or responsiveness to the proceeding. [19] If so, then extension of the privilege would serve the ultimate goal of information exchange and discovery of the truth. [20]