The opinion
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
JALON R. HALL, Case No. 23-cv-06574-JST (AGT)
Plaintiff,
DISCOVERY ORDER
v.
Re: Dkt. No. 110
GOOGLE LLC, et al.,
Defendants.
In June, the Court reviewed in camera text messages between Jalon Hall and her
father. Her father is an ordained minister, and Hall had invoked the clergy-penitent privilege.
With one exception, the Court held that the messages weren’t protected and ordered Hall to
produce them. Dkt. 105.
More recently, Hall found additional text messages with her father. Dkt. 109 at 2.
Invoking the clergy-penitent privilege again, she redacted portions of these messages and
submitted them to the Court for in camera review. Dkts. 109, 110, 119.
Under federal common law, a clergy-penitent privilege “embrac[es] any confession
by a penitent to a minister in his capacity as such to obtain such spiritual aid as was sought
and held out.” Mockaitis v. Harcleroad, 104 F.3d 1522, 1532 (9th Cir. 1997) (simplified),
overruled on other grounds by City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507 (1997).
Here, in the text-messages at issue (HALLO001068-—73), Hall redacted only messages
in which her father offered spiritual advice or counseling. Given their content, the redacted
messages are plausibly protected by the clergy-penitent privilege. But even if they are not
covered by that privilege, these messages are not relevant to “any party’s claim or defense.”
Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). Hall need not produce unredacted versions of them.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: July 25, 2025
Alex G. Tse
United States Magistrate Judge