Sanctions Imposed for Failure to Produce E-mail Communications
           In Delta Financial Corp. v. Morrison, 2010 Slip Op. 00216 (2d Dept. Jan. 12, 2010), defendant’s attorney asserted that 55 e-mails were protected from disclosure by the attorney-client privilege, a litigation committee privilege, and/or a common interest privilege. After an exhaustive in camera review of those 55 e-mails, the Supreme Court determined that the attorney failed to satisfy his burden of establishing that the documents contained confidential communications between an attorney and a client during the course of professional employment for the purpose of obtaining legal advice or services and that they were primarily or predominantly of a legal, rather than a business nature. Thus, the court imposed sanctions, pursuant to Title 22 of the New York Compilation of Codes, Rules and Regulations, Section 130-1.1(c)(1).
The Appellate Division determined that the lower court providently exercised its discretion in imposing a sanction against the attorney, because his claim that the 55 e-mails were privileged was completely without merit and could not be supported by any reasonable argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law.
