On October 30, 2025, the First Department issued a decision in AT&T Mobility Holdings B.V. v. Grupo Salinas Telecom, S.A., 2025 NY Slip Op. 06016, holding that a receiver was entitled to access to the privileged communications of counsel of the entity it controls, explaining:
We agree with the motion court that the receiver has presented a valid basis for reviewing a precisely defined list of materials in defendants’ former counsel’s files, including those subject to attorney-client privilege, relating to (1) its representation of defendants in this action, but not other actions; (2) assets within the receivership order, including the shares subject to the turnover order; (3) any additional assets not previously disclosed; (4) defendants’ post-trial transfer of assets; (5) the identity of the entities in control of defendants and their assets; and (6) defendants’ efforts to insulate assets from recovery or otherwise avoid paying the judgment. Generally, a receiver steps into the proverbial shoes” of the entity over which it has been given authority, and, where circumstances warrant, becomes the client of any law firm representing the entity. Whether a party standing in the shoes of the owner acquires the entity’s attorney-client privilege turns on the practical consequences rather than the formalities of the particular transaction.
Here, the practical consequences of granting the receiver access to privileged materials are minimal since defendants are holding companies with no day-to-day operations other than to issue and purchase shares and granting that limited access is consonant with the receiver’s duties to marshal and sell assets to satisfy the judgment. Significantly, the receiver has a fiduciary responsibility not to disclose information except for the limited purpose of satisfying the judgment. Defendants have not provided a basis for casting doubt on the receiver’s fidelity to these duties.
Defendants have not presented any authority for the proposition that only a receiver who has been granted broad management authority should be permitted to access privileged materials for the limited purpose of enforcing the judgments, or that further guardrails, such as preliminary review by a referee, are warranted. A receiver may be permitted to reach a judgment debtor’s materials subject to attorney-client privilege provided the receiver has a valid reason to do so, including, as here, to assist him in taking legal action to recover assets of the judgment debtor.
(Internal quotations and citations omitted).