The court vacated a district court order that would have required FirstEnergy Corporation to produce, in civil litigation, privileged and work-product-protected documents related to two internal investigations.
On October 3, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reaffirmed that the attorney-client privilege and work-product protections cover documents and communications concerning corporate internal investigations - even when companies later use those documents or related findings to make business decisions.1 In doing so, the court vacated a district court order that would have required FirstEnergy Corporation to produce, in civil litigation, privileged and work-product-protected documents related to two internal investigations.
FirstEnergy, a public utility company headquartered in Ohio, became embroiled in a high-profile public-corruption scheme involving substantial alleged payments to state officials in exchange for favorable legislative efforts. In response, FirstEnergy and an independent committee of its board retained separate outside counsel to conduct internal investigations. FirstEnergy then faced civil litigation related to the same underlying facts.
Reprinted courtesy of Jason Spitalnick, Snell & Wilmer, Taryn J. Gallup, Snell & Wilmer and Kourtney George, Snell & Wilmer
Mr. Spitalnick may be contacted at jspitalnick@swlaw.com
Ms. Gallup may be contacted at tgallup@swlaw.com
Ms. George may be contacted at kegeorge@swlaw.com