Court: No Cause of Action for “Breach of Attorney Client Privilege”

In Clark v. Allen & Overy LLP, 2019 NY Slip Op 30146(U) ,Index No. 453138/2017 (Sup. Ct. NY Cty. Jan. 16, 2019) – an employment discrimination case including allegations of retaliatory discharge and sexual harassment (among many others) – the court dismissed, inter alia, dismissed plaintiff’s “breach of attorney client privilege” claim.

Plaintiff claimed that “while working with [defendant] her calls and emails were being monitored, including communication with an attorney regarding her sexual harassment complaint” and that “her right to attorney client privilege was breached because [defendant] purportedly read those emails.”

Judge Bluth dismissed that claim “because New York courts do not recognize a claim for breach of
attorney-client privilege for a third person’s intrusion into the communication between the attorney and the client[.]”

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