fiduciaries

[MARCSAJC at AOL.COM]

Yesterdays New York Times reported on a case in which a woman who had sought
counsel from her rabbi  (as had her husband) sued the rabbi who had revealed
some confessions she had made to the husband. The rabbi insisted that hew had
a religious duty to disclose because the wife had allegedly confessed to
actions which could have led the husband inadvertently into sin.
I New York law gives the priest-penitent privilege to the penitent; if the
clergy is merely a fiduciary, it is plain the rabbi loses; but if the rabbi
has independent rights, this becomes a very difficult case. There is some
question as to whether the wife had an expectation of privacy,because the
rabbi claims to have been acting as a go-between,but the court's opinion does
not reflect this factual dispute.
Marc Stern