6th Circuit Rejects "Taint Team" For Privilege Screens On Grand Jury Subpoenas

On July, 13, 2006, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit addressed the issue of who has the right to conduct a privilege screen of documents subject to a grand jury subpoena directed to an entity that possesses the documents but has not yet produced them to the government. The court held that a third party’s interest in protecting its privilege in the documents outweighed the government interest in using a taint team. However, the court mandated the appointment of a Special Master to conduct the initial segregation of documents.