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Considine v. Compass Group USA8/7/2001
rty on notice of the claim. Prior to disclosing any other confidential information of the former employer and client, the lawyer must obtain a ruling from a court of competent jurisdiction authorizing the lawyer to reveal confidential information of the former client, and even then may only reveal such confidential information as is necessary to establish the wrongful termination claim. Requesting in camera review of the confidential information the plaintiff intends to proffer to establish the wrongful termination claim would be an appropriate procedure for obtaining the court's ruling. There may be other similarly appropriate procedures. 2000 N.C. Eth. Op. 11 (2001) (emphasis added).
I would follow the standard laid out in Ethics Opinion 11, as well as the standard established by a number of other jurisdictions who have addressed this issue and reverse the trial court's order. See generally, General Dynamics Corp. v. Superior Court, 876 P.2d 487 (Cal. 1994); GTE Products Corp. v. Stewart, 653 N.E.2d 161 (Mass. 1995); Nordling v. Northern State Power Co., 478 N.W.2d 498 (Minn. 1991). Plaintiff should be provided the opportunity to establish the proof necessary to pursue his wrongful discharge claim while plaintiff continues to abide by Ethics rules protecting client confidences.
To decide as the majority has ruled will deny in-house attorney-employees the ability to allege with particularity their wrongful termination of employment claims and will frustrate the possible cessation of employers' conduct which is or may be "injurious to the public or against the public good." While every client, corporate or otherwise, should be able to confer freely and openly with their attorney, clients should not be able to use the shield of attorney-client confidentiality to defend a possibly meritorious wrongful discharge suit by former in-house attorney-employee.
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