Attorney-Client Privilege

William J.

Policyholders of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company when it was a mutual insurance company brought suit in April 2000, complaining that they had been misled and shortchanged in the transaction by which the company had demutualized. Nine years after the action was commenced – and five weeks before trial was scheduled to begin – the plaintiffs moved to disqualify the lead counsel for MetLife, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.

The battle over Bank of America’s assertion of the attorney-client privilege in connection with various government investigations into its acquisition of Merrill Lynch and the payment of bonuses has reached a new level: according to an article in the New York Times today, Congressman Edolphus Towns (D-NY) has stated that B of A is “hiding information” and that it cannot use the privilege with Congress.

Good morning!

Our last post last evening discussed New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's letter to counsel for Bank of America and its focus on B of A's claim of attorney-client privilege. (See http://www.financialfraudlaw.com/content/cuomo-weighs-b-aattorney-client-privilege-issue.)

New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo sent a letter today to Bank of America counsel Lewis Liman of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton regarding his “ongoing investigation” of B of A’s merger with Merrill Lynch. Cuomo wrote that his office is “at the stage in our investigation in which we are making charging decisions with respect to Bank of America and its executives.”