ELR Citation: 43 ELR 20036
No(s). 12-1720 (7th Cir. Feb 20, 2013)

The Seventh Circuit held that memos and emails exchanged between two sections of the DOJ Environment and Natural Resources Division should not be disclosed as part of a FOIA request in an underlying Superfund case. A company challenging the proposed consent decree and seeking contribution from the U.S. government in the underlying CERCLA case claimed that the two sections—the Environmental Enforcement Section and the Environmental Defense Section—should be treated as adversaries. Because communications between two adversaries are not privileged, it claimed that the DOJ forfeited its attorney work-product privilege. But the United States is the only federal party in this case, and it is being represented by a single legal representative, the DOJ. As such, information in the nature of attorney work product exchanged among DOJ lawyers is not information exchanged among adverse parties and is therefore privileged.