Opinion ID: 1708811
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Extraordinary Circumstances Warranting Deposition of Attorney of Record

Text: Because Mrs. Smith may elect to introduce evidence of her privileged communications with her attorney and thereby waive her privilege as to all such relevant communications on the same subject, we must decide whether, in the event of waiver, the defendants may depose Mrs. Smith's attorney with respect to such communications and other matters. Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure article 1452(B) provides that [n]o attorney of record ... shall be deposed except under extraordinary circumstances and then only by order of the district court after contradictory hearing. This provision was added by Act 761 of 1981, the sole purpose of which was to enact a blanket prohibition against depositions of attorneys of record, except under extraordinary circumstances shown to the district court during a contradictory hearing. We believe that the legislation was enacted in response to criticism of the expanding practice of taking the deposition of opposing counsel as being detrimental to the legal profession and the judicial system. See, e.g., Shelton v. American Motors Corp., 805 F.2d 1323, 1327 (8th Cir.1986); Fireman's Fund Ins. v. Superior Court, 140 Cal.Rptr. 677, 679, 72 Cal.App.3d 786 (Cal.2d Dist.Ct.App.1977). Cf. Upjohn, 449 U.S. at 396, 101 S.Ct. at 686, 66 L.Ed.2d at 595 (quoting J. Jackson's concurrence in Hickman v. Taylor, 329 U.S. 495, 516, 67 S.Ct. 385, 396, 91 L.Ed. 451, 465 (1947): `Discovery was hardly intended to enable a learned profession to perform its functions ... on wit borrowed from the adversary.') The Louisiana rule is diametrically different from the federal rule and the rules followed by other states. Rule 30(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides in part that any party may take the testimony of any person, including a party, by deposition upon oral examination. (emphasis added) This language has been construed to include an attorney for a party to the action. 4A J. Moore, J. Lucas & D. Epstein, Moore's Federal Practice § 30.51 (2d ed. 1984); 8 Wright & Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure, § 2102, at 369-70 (West 1970). An attorney for a party may be examined, subject to objections of privilege, in the absence of a showing of extraordinary circumstances warranting a protective order. Salter v. Upjohn Co., 593 F.2d 649, 651 (5th Cir.1979); In re Arthur Treachers Franchise Litigation, 92 F.R.D. 429, 437 (E.D.Pa.1981); Daniels v. Hadley Men. Hosp., 68 F.R.D. 583, 588 (D.D.C.1975). A similar rule prevails in other states as well. See, e.g., Ex Parte Scott, 414 So.2d 939, 941-42 (Ala.1982). Accordingly, the rule followed in the federal courts and the other states is opposite in character to the Louisiana statutory rule under which an attorney of a party may not be deposed, even with respect to non-privileged material, absent extraordinary circumstances shown contradictorily. Applying La.C.Civ.P. art. 1452(B) to the present case, we conclude that defendants made a showing of extraordinary circumstances warranting the taking of the plaintiff attorney's deposition as to attorney-client communications on the same subject as any communications with respect to which Mrs. Smith may elect to waive her attorney-client privilege. But we further conclude that defendants failed to show extraordinary circumstances entitling them to depose the attorney on any other subject. Moreover, the defendant's success or failure in showing extraordinary circumstances in each instance is so clear that an exhaustive interpretation of this term is not necessary or appropriate in this case. In the event Mrs. Smith elects to use part or all of her communications with her attorney to prove her lack of knowledge of malpractice at the trial of the prescription exception, the special unfairness which justifies a waiver of her attorney-client privilege with respect to these communications creates extraordinary circumstances warranting the taking of her attorney's deposition. If Mrs. Smith were allowed to use only a part of these communications as evidence and suppress the remainder, an unfair risk of a decision based on garbled or distorted information would be created. Therefore, to overcome the unfairness of such a potential misuse of the privileged material, the defendants must be permitted to explore the communications fully at the trial of the exception and to depose the attorney with respect to them in preparation for that trial. On the other hand, a different result will prevail if Mrs. Smith elects not to use any privileged communication at the trial of the exception or the merits and so stipulates. In such a case she is entitled under her legislatively established privilege to suppress attorney-client communications even though they may constitute relevant evidence, because she has not misused the privilege by unfairly creating the risk that distorted information will be used against her opponents. While it probably would be more convenient for the defendants to secure the results of Mrs. Smith's attorney's investigation by taking his deposition, such considerations of convenience do not overcome the policies served by the attorney-client privilege. Upjohn, 449 U.S. at 396, 101 S.Ct. at 686, 66 L.Ed.2d at 595. Defendants have failed to make a showing of extraordinary circumstances warranting the deposition of the attorney upon any material other than the attorney-client communications to which Mrs. Smith may waive her attorney-client privilege. As for the material other than attorney-client communications, Mrs. Smith and her attorney have not claimed any privilege or immunity. Therefore, with regard to this material there does not exist the potential for special unfairness which is associated with a partial disclosure of privileged matter, viz., the risk of truth garbling or distortion caused by a privilege-holder's selective presentation and suppression of parts of the privileged material. Consequently, with respect to this material, the defendants have access to virtually unlimited means of discovery and are not confronted with any extraordinary problems in gathering evidence, settlement evaluation or trial preparation. The fact that examination of the plaintiff's attorney might provide an additional or easier discovery method does not create an extraordinary circumstance justifying an exception to the legislative policy disfavoring depositions of attorneys of record. If there should be a rare situation not involving potential misuse of privileged material that justifies the deposition of a party's attorney this case is not of that type.