A victim of domestic violence, whether or not a party to the action, has a privilege to refuse to disclose, and to prevent another from disclosing, a confidential communication between the victim and a domestic violence counselor in any proceeding specified in Section 901 if the privilege is claimed by any of the following persons:

(a) The holder of the privilege.

Terms Used In California Evidence Code 1037.5

  • Action: includes a civil action and a criminal action. See California Evidence Code 105
  • confidential communication: means any information, including, but not limited to, written or oral communication, transmitted between the victim and the counselor in the course of their relationship and in confidence by a means which, so far as the victim is aware, discloses the information to no third persons other than those who are present to further the interests of the victim in the consultation or those to whom disclosures are reasonably necessary for the transmission of the information or an accomplishment of the purposes for which the domestic violence counselor is consulted. See California Evidence Code 1037.2
  • domestic violence: means "domestic violence" as defined in §. See California Evidence Code 1037.7
  • domestic violence counselor: means a person who is employed by a domestic violence victim service organization, as defined in this article, whether financially compensated or not, for the purpose of rendering advice or assistance to victims of domestic violence and who has at least 40 hours of training as specified in paragraph (2). See California Evidence Code 1037.1
  • holder of the privilege: means :

    California Evidence Code 1037.4

  • Person: includes a natural person, firm, association, organization, partnership, business trust, corporation, limited liability company, or public entity. See California Evidence Code 175
  • victim: means any person who suffers domestic violence, as defined in Section 1037. See California Evidence Code 1037

(b) A person who is authorized to claim the privilege by the holder of the privilege.

(c) The person who was the domestic violence counselor at the time of the confidential communication. However, that person may not claim the privilege if there is no holder of the privilege in existence or if he or she is otherwise instructed by a person authorized to permit disclosure.

(Amended by Stats. 2007, Ch. 206, Sec. 5. Effective January 1, 2008.)

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