League of California Cities Emails to City Attorney Members (Part II)
To clarify yesterday's e-alert, we provide further detail regarding our summary of League of California Cities v. Superior Court (2015) 241 Cal.App.4th 976, which was issued on November 20th. The Court granted the petition for writ of mandate filed by the League and vacated the trial court's ruling that emails between the League legal staff and certain city attorney members of the League be released. The Court found that factual questions exist as to whether the emails are attorney-client communications and remanded the matter for an in-camera review of the subject emails to determine whether they are protected by the attorney-client privilege and thus exempt from disclosure under the Public Records Act. The Court also directed the trial court to examine the emails to determine whether they contain attorney work product. The deadline for seeking depublication of this opinion has not yet passed.
