In Rico v. Mitsubishi Motors (2007) 42 Cal.4th 807, the plaintiffs' attorney inadvertently saw defense counsel's notes of an important defense strategy session that defense counsel had brought with him to a deposition. Plaintiffs' counsel immediately perceived their significance and value, knew that defense counsel did not intend to disclose them, and made copies, which were disseminated and later used in deposing defense experts. (Rico, supra, 42 Cal.4th at pp. 811-812.) When defense counsel learned that plaintiffs had somehow obtained the document, he demanded the return of all copies and moved to disqualify the plaintiffs' entire legal team. (Id. at p. 813.) After a hearing, the trial court found that the plaintiffs' attorney had inadvertently obtained the notes. The court further found that the notes were absolutely privileged work product, and plaintiffs' counsel had acted unethically in examining the notes more closely than was necessary to determine that they were highly confidential, failing to notify defense counsel that he had inadvertently obtained the notes, and surreptitiously using them to gain maximum adversarial value. The court concluded that the violation of the work product rule was prejudicial and disqualified the plaintiffs' entire legal team. (Id. at p. 813.)