WELLINGTON - Lawyers who arranged to secretly record a conversation with their client's opponent have been ordered to surrender the tapes.
The case breaks new ground in defining what legal professional privilege can apply to and involves one of New Zealand's richest men, Murray Haszard, whose wealth is estimated at $45 million - mainly from the sale of his Ghost disk-cloning software copyright to US utility maker Symantec for $US27.5 million ($59.78 million).
But former employee John Crisford says the software idea was his and he is suing Mr Haszard for $US27.5 million. The case has been delayed two years, partly because of a dispute over what should and should not be disclosed to Mr Haszard after a friend, Linda Harris, secretly taped their conversation.
When the tape and a transcript turned up in a list of documents, Mr Haszard's lawyers asked to see them under disclosure rules.
But Mr Crisford's lawyers refused, saying they were covered by legal professional privilege, keeping discussions between lawyer and client confidential.
In the High Court at Auckland, Justice Potter ruled that the transcript and tape should be disclosed. Mr Crisford appealed to the Court of Appeal.
In his ruling, court president Sir Ivor Richardson said the case had no New Zealand precedents.
Ms Harris could be called at the trial to give evidence on the conversation, so it was not subject to legal privilege, he said.
Sir Ivor awarded costs of $5000 against Mr Crisford.
- NZPA
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