Legal Battle With Ex-CEO At Barnes & Noble Is A Study In Privilege

The CEO of Barnes & Noble was accused of sexual harassment by an executive assistant, triggering an investigation under the aegis of the company’s general counsel. The CEO was then fired, without severance pay, and rancorous litigation ensued. When the then-former CEO demanded to see notes and documents from the GC’s investigation, the court ruled against him, in a case that provides an excellent overview of a number of privilege-related issues, writes Todd Presnell in his Presnell on Privileges blog. It’s a decision, he says, “brimming with privilege nuggets.”