New Jersey Attorney Law Review Blog

In an extremely important case that we have followed closely over the past year, the New Jersey Supreme Court recently confirmed that the attorney-client privilege protects an employee's e-mails sent to her attorney through her private Yahoo account while accessing her work computer.  Stengart v. Loving Care Agency, Inc. (A-16-09) (March 30, 2010). We first reported on this case in March 2009 , when the trial judge found in favor of the employer by holding that the employee's e-mails to her attorney were discoverable in her wrongful discharge case against her employer. On appeal, in July 2009 , the New Jersey Appellate Division reversed the trial court, finding that the employee had a reasonable expectation of privacy when she used her private Yahoo e-mail account to communicate with her attorney, notwithstanding that she used her company's computer to access her Yahoo account. The New Jersey Supreme Court, an ardent advocate of protecting its citizens...