In re Qwest Communications International

450 F.3d 1179 (2006)

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In re Qwest Communications International

United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
450 F.3d 1179 (2006)

Facts

Private parties (plaintiffs) filed civil claims against Qwest Communications International, Inc. (Qwest) (defendant) relating to securities issues. The federal government was also investigating Qwest regarding securities issues. In order to cooperate with the government investigation, Qwest voluntarily gave the government 220,000 pages of attorney-client-privileged documents pursuant to a confidentiality agreement. This agreement allowed the government to use the documents in a variety of contexts to further investigations and legal proceedings, and the agreement did not require the government to distribute or file the documents only under seal or to otherwise shield them during its usage. Qwest chose not to disclose an additional 390,000 pages of attorney-client-privileged documents to the government. The private parties in one civil lawsuit then moved to compel Qwest to give them the same 220,000 pages of disclosed documents. Qwest objected, claiming that the documents were still privileged and confidential. Qwest argued that it had engaged in only a limited, selective waiver of its privilege for the purpose of assisting the government, and that the confidentiality agreement meant that the documents had not lost their confidential nature. Qwest also argued that allowing a selective waiver for governmental investigations was necessary to promote cooperation with those investigations. The district court found that Qwest’s voluntary disclosure had waived any attorney-client privilege for the documents and ordered Qwest to give them to the private parties. At Qwest’s request, the Tenth Circuit agreed to review the issue.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Murphy, J.)

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