(United States Fourth Circuit) - In this consolidated appeal,petitioner Chevron seeks discovery of documents from respondent-attorneys in American courts to obtain evidence that a successful judgment against Chevron in Ecuador was fraudulently obtained. The district court's order requiring respondents to produce the requested documents is affirmed, where: 1) comity is a compelling reason to affirm the application of the Donzinger waiver of privilege in the Maryland proceeding to the documents in respondents' possession; 2) the crime-fraud exception to privilege applied because of respondents' involvement in obtaining the allegedly fraudulent judgment in Ecuador; and 3) various voluntary disclosures defeated the privileges asserted by effecting a subject-matter waiver.
Source: findlaw.com