Howell v. Joffe
United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
483 F. Supp. 2d 659 (N.D. Ill. 2007)
Andrew Howell (plaintiff), alleging he was sexually abused by a priest, received a voicemail from Diocese attorney Ellen Lynch and Diocese representative Monsignor Kagan (defendants) that, due to a failure to properly hang up, went on to record a subsequent conversation between Lynch and Kagan discussing their impressions of Howell's voice and comparing him to other claimants against the Diocese. Howell alleged severe emotional distress from hearing the recording; Lynch and Kagan claimed the conversation was privileged and demanded its return, and Joffe (the priest, defendant) moved for a declaration that the privilege applied, requiring return of recordings and barring Howell's reliance on the conversation.
Whether the attorney-client privilege is waived with regard to a communication by reason of disclosure if the disclosure was inadvertent, reasonable precautions were taken to prevent disclosure, and steps were taken to rectify the error promptly.