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Civil Procedure

Jul. 14, 2026

The limits of inadvertent disclosure

The Fourth District draws a clearer line on inadvertent disclosures, holding that only obviously privileged or work product materials--not all documents produced by mistake--must be returned.

Sanford Jay Rosen

Of Counsel and Founding Partner Emeritus
Rosen, Bien, Galvan & Grunfeld LLP

101 Mission Street, 6th Floor
San Francisco , CA 94105

Phone: (415) 433-6830

Fax: (415) 433-7104

Email: srosen@rbgg.com

Yale Law School; New Haven CT

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Ernest Galvan

Partner
Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP

PO Box 390
San Francisco , CA 94104

Fax: (415) 433-7104

See more...

The limits of inadvertent disclosure
Shutterstock

How far does the duty to return inadvertently produced documents extend? Does it require returning unprivileged and non-work product material that was part of an inadvertent production? No, answered the Fourth District Court of Appeal in Popa v. Simpson (June 23, 2026) 2026 WL 1802196, 2026 Daily Journal D.A.R. 5141.

In 1992, the American Bar Associati...

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