Opinion ID: 3011037
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The District Court's Privilege Rulings

Text: Finally, the Insurers object to the District Court's ruling, in its January 21 Order, that the Insurers waived the attorney-client and attorney work product privileges by allegedly placing privileged material directly at issue in this suit. We agree with the Insurers that the District Court erred in so ruling. A party may waive attorney-based privileges by asserting claims or defenses that put his or her attorney's advice in 18 issue in the litigation. Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, Inc. v. Home Indem. Co., 32 F.3d 851, 863 (3d Cir. 1994). A party waives the privilege only when he or she has made the decision and taken the affirmative step in the litigation to place the advice of the attorney in issue. Id. (citing as an example of waiver a defendant who asserts reliance on advice of counsel as a defense); see also Livingstone v. North Belle Vernon Borough, 91 F.3d 515, 537 (3d Cir. 1996) (assertion of defense directly implicating advice of counsel waives attorney-client privilege as to that issue), cert. denied, 520 U.S. 1142 (1997). In this case, the Insurers did not assert any claim or take any affirmative step that placed the advice of counsel at issue. Rather, they argued based on the record and in defense of a laches claim that the delay in filing the interpleader was objectively justified. Neither the fact that the Insurers raised this argument nor the timing of the interpleader action can be interpreted as an affirmative waiver of the attorney-based privileges. We reverse the District Court's contrary ruling.