Meza

In personal injury actions involving numerous defendants, separate counsel frequently represent the defendants because their interests are not precisely the same. The defendants, however, often share many common interests, including determining the nature and scope of the plaintiffs injuries and the amount of the plaintiffs damages. Furthermore, the defendants may be able to decrease litigation costs by cooperating and sharing information with each other. Attorneys for the defendants therefore sometimes engage in discussions regarding their respective clients’ common interests. The primary issue in this case is whether attorneys waive the attorney work product privilege by engaging in such discussions.

This issue arose when defendant and respondent Lucent Polymers, Inc. (Lucent), moved to disqualify the Metzger Law Group (the Metzger firm) from representing plaintiff and appellant Teresa Meza. Lucent and other joining defendants argued that the Metzger firm should be disqualified because it hired Brett Drouet, an attorney who previously represented one of the defendants and who participated in meetings in which defense counsel disclosed privileged work product.

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