Rule 511. Waiver by Voluntary Disclosure
(a) General Rule.
A person upon whom these rules confer a privilege against disclosure waives the privilege if:
(1) the person or a predecessor of the person while holder of the privilege voluntarily discloses or consents to disclosure of any significant part of the privileged matter unless such disclosure itself is privileged; or (2) the person or a representative of the person calls a person to whom privileged communications have been made to testify as to the person’s character or character trait insofar as such communications are relevant to such character or character trait.
(b) Lawyer-Client Privilege and Work Product; Limitations on Waiver. Notwithstanding paragraph (a), the following provisions apply, in the circumstances set out, to disclosure of a communication or information covered by the lawyer-client privilege or work-product protection.
(1) Disclosure Made in a Federal or State Proceeding or to a Federal or State Office or Agency; Scope of a Waiver. When the disclosure is made in a federal proceeding or state proceeding of any state or to a federal office or agency or state office or agency of any state and waives the lawyer-client privilege or work-product protection, the waiver extends to an undisclosed communication or information only if: (A) the waiver is intentional;
(B) the disclosed and undisclosed communications or information concern the same subject matter; and
(C) they ought in fairness to be considered together.
(2) Inadvertent Disclosure in State Civil Proceedings. When made in a Texas state proceeding, an inadvertent disclosure does not operate as a waiver if the holder followed the procedures of Rule of Civil Procedure 193.3(d).
(3) Controlling Effect of a Court Order. A disclosure made in litigation pending before a federal court or a state court of any state that has entered an order that the privilege or protection is not waived by disclosure connected with the litigation pending before that court is also not a waiver in a Texas state proceeding.
(4) Controlling Effect of a Party Agreement. An agreement on the effect of disclosure in a state proceeding of any state is binding only on the parties to the agreement, unless it is incorporated into a court order.
History: Added Feb. 25, 1998, eff. March 1, 1998; amended effective April 1, 2015
Notes and Comments
Comment to 2015 Restyling: The amendments to Rule 511 are designed to align Texas law with federal law on waiver of privilege by voluntary disclosure. Subsection (a) sets forth the general rule. Subsection (b) incorporates the provisions of Federal Rule of Evidence502. Like the federal rule, subsection (b) only addresses disclosure of communications or information covered by the lawyer-client privilege or work-product protection. These amendments do not affect the law governing waiver of other privileges or protections.