Owens v. Foundation for Ocean Research

This petition questions a trial court ruling permitting discovery of matters alleged to be protected by the attorney-client privilege. Petitioner is the plaintiff in a malpractice lawsuit against one of her former attorneys. She has been required by the trial court to disclose the content of communications between herself and attorneys consulted after the alleged 1971 malpractice. This discovery is said to be justified by waiver of the privilege when petitioner filed the lawsuit and asserted grounds for avoidance of the statute of limitations defense. We reaffirm our holding in Lohman v. Superior Court (1978) 81 Cal. App. 3d 90 [146 Cal. Rptr. 171], that the attorney-client privilege is not waived by plaintiff in this situation placing in issue the content of a confidential communication. We therefore issue writ of prohibition to prevent the trial court from enforcing its discovery order.