The Southern District of New York recently held that sharing
attorney-client privileged communications with a public relations
firm destroys that privilege.
Universal Standard brought a trademark
infringement and unfair competition suit against Target. During the
course of discovery, documents were produced consisting of emails
between Universal Standard, its outside counsel, and BrandLink, a
public relations firm. When Universal Standard sought to claw back
the documents because they were privileged, Target refused. The
court considered whether the fact that emails between Universal
Standard and its counsel were also shared with BrandLink should
result in a waiver, or whether the communications fall under one of
several possible exceptions to the general rule that
"disclosure to a third party by the party of a communication
with his attorney eliminates whatever privilege the communication
may have originally possessed."
