Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission v. Fields

In Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission v. Fields, 206 Ariz. 130, 75 P.3d 1088 (App. 2003), the Court determined that the legislative privilege, like the work-product immunity, may be waived by designating a consulting expert as a testifying expert. The Court reasoned that the three factors compelling a waiver of work-product immunity when a consulting expert is designated as a testifying expert equally applied to the legislative privilege: (1) Arizona's "long-favored practice of allowing full cross-examination of expert witnesses"; (2) the intent of Rule 26(b)(4) governing discovery of expert opinions, which favors "wide-open discovery of experts"; (3) the court's preference for a "bright-line" rule for discovery aimed at experts who are employed jointly as consultants and testifying experts rather than a rule resulting in expensive and time-consuming discovery disputes. Id. at 143-144, PP43-45, 75 P.3d at 1101-02.