Cases

In a 4-3 decision in Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors v. Superior Court (ACLU) the California Supreme Court agreed with GMSR’s client in holding that everything in attorney invoices in pending cases, including aggregate amounts charged to a client, are protected by the attorney client privilege and therefore need not be produced in response to a request under the California Public Records Act.  The court noted that once litigation had concluded, some information in such invoices might not be protected by the privilege.  The dissenting justices agreed that invoices in pending cases are shielded by the privilege, but would have extended the absolute privilege to all invoices, without regard to whether litigation remained pending.

Case Briefs

• Supreme Court Opinion - View Document
• County's Answer to Brief on the Merits - View Document