The plaintiffs brought a motion for a stay of proceedings and related relief after discovering that the defendant, a former business partner, had been secretly accessing the plaintiff's personal email account for years.
The account contained privileged communications between the plaintiff and his lawyers regarding their ongoing litigation.
The court applied the three-stage test for unauthorized access to privileged materials.
Finding that the defendant failed to rebut the presumption of prejudice and that actual, profound prejudice had occurred, the court concluded the breach was egregious and irremediable.
The court stayed the defendant's actions and ordered the plaintiff's action to proceed undefended.
