Cloud Computing: Magistrate Judge Rules Unprotected Upload To Cloud Storage Site Waived Attorney-Client Privilege And Work Product Protection

In a motion to disqualify defense counsel in Harleysville Insurance Company v. Holding Funeral Home, an insurance coverage dispute, a Magistrate Judge in the Western District of Virginia held that the plaintiff's insurance investigators' upload (without password protection) of the insured's entire Claims File to Box, a popular cloud storage provider, waived any attorney-client privilege or work-product protection that might have attached to the information.

When an email containing the unique link to the information on the Box site was produced in discovery, defense counsel gained access to the site, reviewed the files, and distributed them to their clients and law-enforcement officials. (Plaintiff's counsel had discovered the gaffe when a later document production by defendants included the Claims File.) Because the link was unique and only shared with insurance investigators, counsel for the insurance company argued that the disclosure was involuntary and, even if