THE THIRD CIRCUIT’S APPROACH TO THE IMPACT OF THE DISCLOSURE OF PRIVILEGED MATERIAL AS IT PERTAINS TO DISCOVERY REQUESTS PURSUANT TO LITIGATION IN A FOREIGN TRIBUNAL: IN RE APPLICATION OF CHEVRON CORPORATION, ET. AL. V. JOSEPH C. KOHN, ESQUIRE, ET. AL.

JAMES DORING

In In re Chevron Corp., the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that the disclosure of the outtakes of Crude, a documentary about the ongoing litigation between Chevron and Ecuador, did not waive the attorney-client privilege attached to related, but undisclosed, documents and therefore rejected Chevron’s 28 U.S.C. § 1782 application to compel production.  This case note will examine the history of § 1782, as well as the attorney-client privilege, disclosure, and waiver rules as they apply to the Third Circuit.  In addition, this note will analyze the significance of the holding as it applies to Chevron’s strategies, and it will extrapolate fundamental implications for businesses involved in similar complex litigation.
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