A trial court abused its discretion when it imposed the “harsh sanction” of disqualifying a lawyer in a divorce proceeding for failing to promptly inform opposing counsel about attorney-client privileged documents her client obtained from her husband’s e-mail account, a state appeals panel has ruled.
The Appellate Division, Third Department, said it did not condone Melody Ann MacKenzie’s failure to inform opposing counsel that she had obtained e-mails between the husband, Steven M. Parnes, and Paul Van Ryn, a lawyer who had previously represented both Parneses in unrelated proceedings. The court also did not condone Ms. MacKenzie’s tactic of “surprising” Mr. Parnes at his deposition by questioning him about the privileged communications.
