Wrongful Death Suit Against Ex-Partner Creates Document Dilemma for Arent Fox
Arent Fox doesn’t have any direct role in a $20 million wrongful death lawsuit filed against former partner Joseph Price by the widow of an attorney found slain at the Washington, D.C., townhome Price shared with two other men.
But the civil litigation has created a document dilemma for the law firm. Lawyers for the plaintiff, Katherine Wone, are trying to get e-mail and other documents that Price created while at Arent Fox, contending that they would shed significant light on the case. Price, meanwhile, is seeking to avoid discovery, contending that the material is private and protected by attorney-client and spousal privilege, reports the National Law Journal in an article reprinted in New York Lawyer (reg. req.).
No matter what Arent Fox firm does, there is a risk that it will be further embroiled in litigation over the 800 or so messages created between August 2006, when Wone was found stabbed to death, and November 2008. If simply it turns over the e-mail, Price might well file a privacy lawsuit. And if it doesn’t, Wone’s widow presumably will continue to fight for it.
“Any law firm under these circumstances would be consulting with in-house or outside counsel not just for an ethics opinion but a risk opinion—how dangerous is it to do one thing or another,” says Michael Frisch, an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown University Law Center.
Although, in theory, Price might not have had a reasonable expectation of privacy using his employer’s e-mail system to communicate with his defense counsel and domestic partner, among others, experts say this issue may turn on how often, in fact, his employer actually did review his e-mail, if at all, the NLJ reports.
Price is also asserting a privilege for e-mails that he sent to himself, contending that they are attorney work product because he, as a lawyer, is participating in his own defense.
Katherine Wone, who is represented by Covington & Burling, for which her husband once worked, and Regan Zambri & Long in Washington, D.C., is seeking a District of Columbia Superior Court order enforcing a document subpoena and compelling production of the disputed material.
The defense team for Price includes Cozen O’Connor; Schertler & Onorato; and Wiltshire & Grannis.
Arent Fox has not intervened in the matter and declined a request to comment by the legal publication.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Trial Begins for Arent Fox Ex-Partner Accused in Cover-Up in Lawyer’s Murder at His Home”
ABAJournal.com: “Ex-Arent Fox Partner Acquitted in Obstruction Case Over Claimed Cover-Up in Lawyer’s Murder”
