Opinion ID: 2581569
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Who May Succeed to the Attorney-client Privilege?

Text: We now consider whether the Evidence Code permits HLC to succeed to Crosby's attorney-client privilege. We begin with a review of the relevant Evidence Code provisions. Section 953 states without qualification that the holder of a deceased client's attorney-client privilege is the client's personal representative. (§ 953, subd. (c).) Section 954 specifies that, except as otherwise provided by statute, the privilege may be claimed only by a holder of the privilege ( id., subd. (a)), by a person whom the holder authorizes to claim the privilege ( id., subd. (b)), or by the person who was the attorney at the time of the confidential communication, so long as a privilege holder exists and has not authorized disclosure ( id., subd. (c)). Taken together, these two sections unambiguously provide that only a personal representative may claim the attorney-client privilege in the case of a deceased client. In a comment to section 954, the Commission states: the privilege ceases to exist when the client's estate is finally distributed and his personal representative is discharged. (Com. com., 29B pt. 3 West's Ann. Evid.Code, supra, foll. § 954, p. 232.) According to the comment, the Commission proposed this limitation after carefully weighing competing policy concerns: Although there is good reason for maintaining the privilege while the estate is being administered  particularly if the estate is involved in litigation  there is little reason to preserve secrecy at the expense of excluding relevant evidence after the estate is wound up and the representative is discharged. ( Ibid. ) Here, the Commission's comments confirm the plain meaning of the statutory provisions: the attorney-client privilege of a natural person transfers to the personal representative after the client's death, and the privilege thereafter terminates when there is no personal representative to claim it. These statutory provisions dictate the outcome in the matter before us. When Crosby died, his privilege transferred to his personal representative, i.e., the executor of his estate. But once Crosby's estate was finally distributed and his personal representative discharged, the privilege terminated because there was no longer any privilege holder statutorily authorized to assert it. (§ 953, subd. (c); Com. com., 29B pt. 3 West's Ann. Evid. Code, supra, foll. § 954, pp. 231-232.) Accordingly, HLC's privilege claim is without merit. In arguing to the contrary, HLC contends that, even assuming Crosby individually held the attorney-client privilege with respect to the withheld documents, an estate also qualifies as an organization within the meaning of section 953, subdivision (d), so as to render it capable of holding and then validly transferring the decedent's privilege, along with his assets, to a successor. HLC finds it significant that an estate is considered an organization for purposes of the California Uniform Commercial Code (Cal.U.Com.Code, § 1201, subd. (28); see also id., § 9503; Cal.U. Com.Code com. 2, 23B pt. 2 West's Ann.U. Com.Code (2002 ed.) foll. § 9503, pp. 534-535 [financing statement requirements for perfecting a security interest or agricultural lien]) and other California statutes (Gov.Code, § 6161, subd. (f) [State Payment Card Act]). HLC reasons that, because it acquired all of the estate's rights to Crosby's recordings pursuant to a limited partnership agreement, HLC validly holds the privilege under section 953, subdivision (d), as a successor to the estate. [9] We are not convinced. As discussed, the Evidence Code addresses the matter of estates in section 953, subdivision (c), which expressly limits the holder of the attorney-client privilege in cases of a deceased client to the personal representative. (See also Com. com., 29B pt. 3 West's Ann. Evid.Code, supra, foll. § 954, p. 232 [addressing termination of a deceased client's privilege].) Estates are not listed and do not logically belong in section 953, subdivision (d), where provision is made for the privilege to survive when the client is not a natural person and no longer exists. Were we to adopt HLC's position, the attorney-client privilege of natural persons would survive distribution of their estates and would extend to persons and entities beyond their personal representatives. Regardless whether other statutory schemes categorize estates as organizations for other distinct legislative purposes, our doing so here would nullify section 953's specific limitation on who may hold the privilege if the client is dead. (§ 953, subd. (c).) It also would defeat the legislative mandate calling for the privilege to terminate when a client has died, the personal representative has been discharged, and there is no longer anyone to hold the privilege. ( Ibid.; § 954, subd. (a); see Com. com., 29B pt. 3 West's Ann. Evid.Code, supra, foll. § 954, pp. 231-232.) We therefore decline HLC's invitation to construe the term organization, as it appears in section 953, subdivision (d), to include an estate. HLC additionally contends its position is supported by Probate Code section 9760, which authorizes a personal representative to continue the operation of a decedent's wholly or partly owned unincorporated nonpartnership business, subject to certain restrictions, if it is to the advantage of the estate and in the best interest of the interested persons. (Prob.Code, § 9760, subd. (b).) We do not agree. The authority conferred in Probate Code section 9760 complements section 953, subdivision (c)'s grant of authority to the personal representative to assert or waive the attorney-client privilege while the decedent's estate is being administered. (See Com. com., 29B pt. 3 West's Ann. Evid. Code, supra, foll. § 953, p. 230 [commenting that section 953 represents a change in California law, which formerly recognized the privilege even when it would be clearly to the interest of the estate of the deceased client to waive it].) If anything, the fact that the Evidence Code recognizes no exception to termination of a decedent's privilege when the personal representative is discharged, even though the Probate Code specifically authorizes a personal representative to operate the decedent's unincorporated nonpartnership business, undermines the position that termination of a decedent's privilege depends on the personal representative's activities in administering an estate. Finally, HLC argues that [f]ailing to find that Enterprises is the holder of the privilege may lead to the unfair and anomalous result of allowing MCA to view documents that were clearly attorney-client privileged when made, while MCA withholds as privileged its documents relating to the same agreements at issue. The argument fails to persuade. It is well settled that [t]he privileges set out in the Evidence Code are legislative creations; the courts of this state have no power to expand them or to recognize implied exceptions. ( Wells Fargo Bank v. Superior Court (2000) 22 Cal.4th 201, 206, 91 Cal. Rptr.2d 716, 990 P.2d 591, and cases cited.) This rule precludes judicial expansion of the attorney-client privilege in cases where, as here, contracts between an individual and a corporate entity give rise to disputes between those asserting rights under such contracts.