Fireman's Fund Insurance v. Superior Court

The petitioners, Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company and National Surety Corporation (hereinafter, collectively, Fireman’s Fund), seek a writ of mandate vacating the trial court’s order of November 18, 2010, which required an attorney, who was a member of a law firm that had formerly represented Fireman’s Fund in this litigation, to answer at her deposition five questions to which objections of attorney-client privilege and/or work product privilege had been asserted. In overruling these objections, the trial court generally held that (1) the attorney-client privilege applies only to communications directly between an attorney and his or her client, but does not extend to communications among and between multiple counsel (or other reasonably necessary parties) who are representing the client and (2) the absolute work product privilege applies only to an attorney’s work product that has been reduced to written form.

As we explain, the trial court’s ruling improperly restricted the scope of these two privileges. We will therefore grant the petition and remand with directions.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Front Gate Plaza, LLC (hereinafter Front Gate), owns and operates…