Privilege Lost For “Underlying Documents” When Report Is Made Public

When a school board released a lawyer’s report (apparently for PR purposes) about alleged sexual assaults by members of a high school basketball team, it had no desire to release the interviews and communications that formed the basis for the report. When the alleged victims wanted to see those communications – specifically 130 of the attorney’s emails, including emails with another attorney – the school board claimed privilege. In this case in a federal court in Tennessee, the judge said no, explaining in his opinion why, when the board released the report, “it waived the attorney–client privilege as to the entire scope of the investigation.”