Opinion ID: 1708811
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Application of Waiver Doctrine to Mrs. Smith's Pleading and Pretrial Deposition

Text: In Mrs. Smith's petition she alleged that [o]n August 10, 1984, petitioner was informed for the first time that original defendants' legal malpractice caused damages to decedent's succession.... However, Mrs. Smith did not waive her attorney-client privilege by her pleading because she did not thereby commit herself to a course of action that would require the disclosure of a privileged communication. It was possible, insofar as the facts set forth in her petition require, for her to carry the burden of proving that she did not and could not reasonably have known of the legal malpractice cause of action prior to the stated date without necessarily disclosing the privileged communications between herself and her attorney. On the other hand, in her pretrial deposition Mrs. Smith testified that in August of 1984 her present attorney, John White, informed her for the first time that the defendants had maladministered her husband's succession. She further testified that she had no knowledge of the defendants' alleged malpractice before this date and had not received information indicating maladministration from any other source. Thus, Mrs. Smith indicated an intention to use the disclosed communication with her attorney at the trial of the exception of prescription to explain her failure to file suit within the prescriptive period. Accordingly, her deposition testimony may constitute a pretrial partial disclosure of a privileged communication amounting to a waiver of her privilege as to relevant communications with her attorney on the same subject. As privilege-holder, however, Mrs. Smith has the option of avoiding compelled discovery of the communications by stipulating that she will not introduce that or any communication on the same subject into evidence at trial of the exception or the merits.