Opinion ID: 2013964
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Waiver of Reporter's Privilege

Text: The College alternatively argues if the privilege applies, the Courier newspaper waived their reporters' privilege by filing the open meetings action. The College is correct to assert a party may waive the reporter's privilege. However, only the holder of the privilege may waive it. In the case before us the Courier, not the editors, filed the open meetings action. The editors are not a party to this case. The Courier is not the holder of the reporters' privilege, but the privilege is strictly held by the editors and is subject to waiver only by their actions. See United States v. Cuthbertson, 630 F.2d 139, 147 (3d Cir.1980); Los Angeles Mem'l Coliseum Comm. v. Nat'l Football League, 89 F.R.D. 489, 494 (C.D.Cal.1981); Diaz v. Eighth Judicial Dist. Ct. ex rel. County of Clark, 993 P.2d 50, 57 (Nev.2000); State v. Ventura, 101 Ohio Misc.2d 15, 20, 720 N.E.2d 1024, 1028 (Ohio Com.Pl.1999). As such, the Courier did not waive the editors' privilege by filing suit against the College. Even if we concluded the editors were parties to this action, their mere status as litigants is not sufficient to constitute a waiver of the privilege. Rather, a party must do something to waive the privilege. For example, a waiver of the privilege has most often been found where the plaintiff put the sought-after information into issue in the litigation and then attempted to prevent its disclosure by invoking the shield of privilege. See, e.g., In re Marriage of Hutchinson, 588 N.W.2d 442, 447 (Iowa 1999) (physician-patient privilege yields where the patient has brought mental or physical condition of patient into issue as basis for claim or as a defense); Squealer Feeds v. Pickering, 530 N.W.2d 678, 684 (Iowa 1995); State v. Bastedo, 253 Iowa 103, 112, 111 N.W.2d 255, 260 (1961) (waiver of attorney-client privilege where client sues attorney for breach of duty, fraud, or other improper or unprofessional conduct). In civil cases where a reporter asserting the privilege is a party to the lawsuit and his action, motivations or thought processes are integral elements of the claims, disclosure is often compelled. Lamberto, 326 N.W.2d at 307. The privilege may also be waived if the holder voluntarily discloses or consents to disclosure of any significant part of the matter or communication. Squealer Feeds, 530 N.W.2d at 684. None of the above situations apply in this case. The editors are not parties to this action and their talking to people at the meetings is not an issue in the litigation concerning the meetings. In fact, to ensure their actions would not constitute a waiver, the Courier and its editors have emphasized the material obtained from the informants will not be used in litigation. The College has not articulated that in order to determine what happened at the closed-session meetings it is imperative that it know who the informants are. Rather, who spoke with the editors and what each said is not an issue in the underlying open meetings action. Because we have concluded the reporter's privilege applies in this case and has not been waived, we now turn to the final issue. We must determine whether the College has met its burden to subordinate the editors' First Amendment privilege to the interests in obtaining evidence.