Plaintiff filed a lawsuit alleging that a pharmaceutical drug manufactured by the defendant caused his cancer. During discovery, plaintiff sought to discover information related to a peer-reviewed article about the drug and the trial court ordered that respondent, the Journal of the American Medical Association, disclose information relating to internal and external communications concerning the decision to halt publication of the article. Respondent appealed the order arguing that the requested communications were covered by the common law peer review privilege and the Illinois reporter’s privilege statute. The appellate court affirmed in part and reversed in part, finding that Illinois does not recognize the common law peer privilege but that publications like JAMA are protected under the Illinois reporter’s privilege statutes and that divestiture did not apply to the facts of the case. (MIKVA and WALKER, concurring)
Illinois Appellate Court
Civil Court
Illinois Reporter's Privilege Statute