[QUOTE=brownie55]
What does “legally privileged” mean?
[/QUOTE]
IANAL but what I meant was that information shared between an attorney and a client is legally protected confidential information–it can’t be subpoenaed, for example, and an attorney cannot be required to testify against a client. I would also include in that category information shared between corporate insiders that is material to the stock price.
For example, if you received an email from a person to his attorney that said, “I know you want to me to plead not guilty but I have nightmares every night because I killed him!”, and then offered it to prosecutors, you might have a problem.
Or if you got an email between corporate officers talking about offering above-market price to acquire a company and then you bought stock in the acquisition target, you might have a problem.
[QUOTE=CookingWithGas]
For example, if you received an email from a person to his attorney that said, “I know you want to me to plead not guilty but I have nightmares every night because I killed him!”, and then offered it to prosecutors, you might have a problem.
Or if you got an email between corporate officers talking about offering above-market price to acquire a company and then you bought stock in the acquisition target, you might have a problem.
[/QUOTE]
The first, perhaps, though I don’t know if privilege counts if someone blabs to an outsider.
The second is evidence of a crime. Of course you can report it. The information is not privileged in any way and no disclaimer can prohibit reporting a crime.
I’ve noticed that Google Mail for corporations has a gentler version of the disclaimer, sort of, “If you got this in error, please don’t pass it along to anyone else, and please notify the sender of the error.”
[QUOTE=RealityChuck]
The first, perhaps, though I don’t know if privilege counts if someone blabs to an outsider.
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The accused is unintentionally blabbing–he just typed in the wrong email address. He meant to send it to his attorney. It might still be considered a privileged communication (but I don’t know the law on this).
I am a little confused by this response. The second example is in no way whatsoever a crime and did not refer to reporting a crime. These are two corporate officers discussing a legitimate business deal, and one of them typed your email address by accident. The only crime would be if *you * used this insider information to profit from it, or passed it to someone else who did.
[QUOTE=CookingWithGas]
For example, if you received an email from a person to his attorney that said, “I know you want to me to plead not guilty but I have nightmares every night because I killed him!”, and then offered it to prosecutors, you might have a problem.
[/QUOTE]
What if I received exactly that email, printed it out, then sold it to the tabloids, who then printed it. Could I be charged with a crime? The tabloid? 