Secrecy, litigation

[Yuyu12345]

Jurisdiction / State: Not Applicable

Hello,

How the secrets of a company are protected in judicial litigation in general? (whatever the instigator (competition authority, association, government agency, competitor ...))
Is the opposing party access to secrets? Is that public officials have an obligation of confidentiality?
If yes, what happens in case of disclosure of confidential informations by public officials?
Public officials should they be required to have insurance that would pay damages in case of default on their part?.




Thank you very much

.

 

[fredrikklaw]

Secrets?

Well, if by secrets you mean the nuts and bolts of a company and basically all the other bylaws and in-house rules and whatnots which also make it tick, there are none to speak of really when it comes to litigation; except of course things like the ingredients in Coca Cola or the KFC'S Colonel's Secret Recipe which truth be told I much rather not know to begin with.

And those secrets are brought to light, albeit screaming and kicking, by way of the magic of the Discovery Rule and its components such as Interrogatories and Request for Admissions by Plaintiff counsel in (let's say) a Wrongful Death case against Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang Car Co. Because Mr. Squire knows there is a well known (but never admitted) practice within the motor car industry of Bean Counting by which the corporate Bean Counter does a feasibility study to ascertain whether it would be more feasible to do a recall in order to repair a potentially deadly Faulty Fuel Vapor Inhibitors in their cars or settle the lawsuits out of court as they come in or by way of a Class Action.

So, how do you go about obtaining the workings of a most reprehensible, murderous, and savagely guarded secret surpassing in scope anything The Masons and The Illuminates could muster in aggregate? You file various discovery motions.

And at the risk of sounding pedantic; the words "public officials" and "confidential information" are mutually redundant and do not belong in the same sentence for the obvious reason that the public official is there to serve Joe and Jane Public with matters of Public Function which by definition has no right or vestige to secrecy.

This in turn makes redundant any discussion about carrying Mal-performance insurance by a public official or employee whose legendary uncaring and rude attitudes I am loathe to say, stem from the umbrella immunity from suits afforded to them by the sovereign immunity clause of their respective governmental Constitution.

To put it all in one sentence and one perfect perspective a la Jim Croce:
You don't tug on the Superman's Cape, You don't spit into the wind, you don't pull the mask off the Ol' Ranger, and You don't mess around with City Employees with over 90 days of employment.

fredrikklaw