Court Opinion

ID: 9677271
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 05:48:00.097915+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:54.905063
License: Public Domain

GAULTNEY, Justice,
concurring.
I concur with the Court’s holding. The petition must be granted. I write sepa*210rately because of my concern over the effect the ability to assign a Stowers claim has on the relationship which exists between insured, insurance carrier and the attorney hired by the carrier to represent the interest of the insured. Because I believe assignments of the insured’s claims against the carrier are void as a matter of public policy, I concur with the granting of the mandamus and the Court’s order that discovery of attorney-client privileged information be halted in this case. See generally State Farm Fire and Cas. Co. v. Gandy, 925 S.W.2d 696 (Tex.1996).
The relationship between insured, carrier and attorney has been described as a tripartite relationship, a term suggestive of an uneasy alliance. See State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Traver, 980 S.W.2d 625, 633 (Tex.1998) (Gonzalez, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part in which Abbott, J., joined). The attorney often is faced with competing ethical concerns, created by law which imposes on her an absolute loyalty to the insured and yet subjects her to controls imposed by the earner. Numerous authors have expressed their opinions on how attorneys should handle many diverse questions arising out of this tripartite relationship, particularly when the attorney is presented with conflicting interests between the insured and the carrier. See, e.g., Robert B. Gilbreath, Caught in a Crossfire Preventing and Handling Conflicts of Interest: Guidelines for Texas Insurance Defense Counsel, 27 Tex. Tech. L.Rev. 139 (1996); Douglas R. Richmond, Walking a Tightrope: The Tripartite Relationship Between Insurer and Insured, and Insurance Defense Counsel, 73 Neb. L.Rev. 265 (1994); Charles Silver, Does Insurance Defense Counsel Represent the Company or the Insured?, 72 Tex. L.Rev. 1583 (1994). The competing issues involved in the attorney’s representation are explained in detail in the literature cited, and I need not reiterate the issues. I simply point out that the tripartite relationship is inherently an uneasy alliance in cases where the insured lacks adequate insurance coverage.
Here, the attorney fulfilled her ethical duty to the insured. She prepared and delivered an assignment of his claims against the insurance carrier to the party that had sued the insured. She maintained a separate file for correspondence exchanged solely with the insured. As a reward for her diligence, she now is asked to provide deposition testimony in a lawsuit against the carrier.
My concern goes beyond the current dispute. In future Stowers cases, even if the client objects, the client will be pressured to include a waiver of the attorney-client privilege in the assignment of the Stoioers claim. This will occur because the opposing attorney will insist on the waiver before the judgment creditor will accept the assignment; economic pressure will force the disclosure of information that should be understood to be highly confidential when exchanged between the client and his attorney. Every claim which involves a minimal insurance policy, or which involves the potential for an excess judgment, will be at high risk of disclosure of attorney-client privileged information. What effect will this have on the willingness and ability of a client to communicate with his counsel? How will you handle yourself if everything you say to your lawyer will be subject to disclosure to a party that has sued you, and therefore to someone who has a varying degree of hostility to you? To say the effect is destructive of the attorney-client relationship is too mild. Instead of informing the client of the privileged nature of the communications, the attorney will likely start out the relationship by advising the client that whatever is shared with the attorney may later be *211required to be disclosed. I believe permitting the assignment will “imperil the sanctity of the highly confidential and fiduciary relationship existing between attorney and client.” See Zuniga v. Groce, Locke & Hebdon, 878 S.W.2d 313, 316, n. 4 (Tex. App.—San Antonio 1994, writ ref'd) (quoting Goodley v. Wank & Wank, Inc., 62 Cal.App.3d, 389, 397, 133 Cal.Rptr. 83 (1976)). For this reason, the assignment of the insured’s claims should be held void as a matter of public policy.
The insured would still have a Stowers claim against the carrier, and would still be under economic pressure to pursue the claim. What he will not be under economic pressure to do is waive the attorney-client privilege and permit disclosure of confidential information to the opposing party. The attorney-client relationship will not be further imperiled beyond the pressures currently inherent in the tripartite relationship.
I concur in granting the petition for mandamus because I believe the assignment is void as a matter of public policy, whether or not there is an express waiver of the attorney-client privilege in the assignment.