Attorneys' Billing to Public Entities Is Not Subject to the California Public Records Act

In County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors v. Superior Court (ACLU of Southern California), published April 13, 2015, the Second District Court of Appeal, Division 3, issued a writ of mandate reversing a trial court decision requiring the petitioner county to produce to real party ACLU, under the California Public Records Act, billing invoices from law firms representing the county in lawsuits brought by county jail inmates alleging jail violence.  Some of the invoices did not relate to ongoing litigation, so that exception to the CPRA did not apply.  The appellate court therefore analyzed whether the CPRA exception for privileged documents.  That required the court to address the hitherto undecided question of whether billing invoices were attorney-client communications that were privileged in their entirety.  The court determined that they were; because they were communications provided in the course of the attorney-client relationship, related to ongoing representation, they were protected regardless of their content.  The court declined to address whether the information could be obtained from other, non-privileged sources.