A solicitor is assisting a pedestrian who sustained injuries in an accident caused by a driver. To understand how the accident occurred, the solicitor contacts an expert witness who prepares a report. The report may be subject to certain privileges, and it is crucial to determine which ones apply to it.
Can you clarify which privilege, if any, the report falls under?
A solicitor is assisting a pedestrian who sustained injuries in an accident caused by a driver. To understand how the accident occurred, the solicitor contacts an expert witness who prepares a report. The report may be subject to certain privileges, and it is crucial to determine which ones apply to it.
Can you clarify which privilege, if any, the report falls under?
Litigation privilege.
(B) Litigation privilege pertains to communications with third parties, such as experts and barristers, which are made with the purpose of preparing for a trial. In this case, the report was created to assist the pedestrian's solicitor in preparing for trial. However, it's important to note that if the pedestrian wishes to present the report as evidence during the trial, they must share it with the other party, and the privilege will no longer apply.
Option (A) is incorrect because legal advice privilege pertains to communications with a client, and thus, it doesn't apply to the report. Similarly, option (C) is incorrect because, without prejudice, a privilege only applies to settlement negotiations, which is not the case here.
Option (D) is also incorrect because common interest privilege applies only when there are multiple defendants or claimants, and the correspondence and report were not exchanged between co-parties.
(E) is incorrect. Litigation privilege will only be lost if the pedestrian relies on the report.