In a family law proceeding between spouses, the applicant brought a motion seeking removal of the respondent’s solicitor of record and related relief after the respondent obtained and filed an email between the applicant and her counsel.
The email was a solicitor-client communication that had been accessed through the applicant’s personal email account.
The court considered whether the respondent’s counsel acted improperly by reviewing the email and including it in an affidavit.
Applying authorities concerning inadvertent disclosure of privileged communications, the court accepted counsel’s explanation that she questioned her client about the source of the email, believed it had been obtained from a business account, and concluded it did not contain litigation strategy.
The court found no misconduct warranting removal or sanctions against counsel.
