Editing Alcoholics Anonymous (section)

=== Lawsuits and court rulings ===
{{see also|Rational Recovery#Court-mandated twelve-step program attendance}}

==== Privileged communication ====
In the Fifth Step, AA members typically reveal their own past misconduct to their sponsors. US courts have not extended the status of [[privileged communication]], such as [[physician-patient privilege]] or [[priest–penitent privilege|clergy–penitent privilege]], to communications between an AA member and their sponsor.<ref name="COLEMAN2005">{{cite journal |last=Coleman |first=Phyllis |date=December 2005 |title=Privilege and Confidentiality in 12-Step Self-Help Programs: Believing The Promises Could Be Hazardous to an Addict's Freedom |journal=The Journal of Legal Medicine |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=435–474 |doi=10.1080/01947640500364713 |issn=0194-7648 |oclc=4997813 |pmid=16303734 |s2cid=31742544}}</ref><ref name="HOFFMAN1994">{{cite news |last=Hoffman |first=Jan |date=15 June 1994 |title=Faith in Confidentiality of Therapy Is Shaken |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/15/nyregion/faith-in-confidentiality-of-therapy-is-shaken.html |access-date=23 October 2008 |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>

==== Court rulings on mandatory attendance ====
United States courts have ruled that inmates, parolees, and probationers cannot be ordered to attend AA. Though AA itself was not deemed a religion, it was ruled that it contained ''enough'' religious components (variously described in ''Griffin v. Coughlin'' below as, inter alia, "religion", "religious activity", "religious exercise") to make coerced attendance at AA meetings a violation of the [[Establishment Clause]] of the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]] of the constitution.<ref name="NYCTAP">{{cite web |author=Judge Levine |date=11 June 1996 |title=In the Matter of David Griffin, Appellant, v. Thomas A. Coughlin III, As Commissioner of the New York State Department of Correctional Services, et al., Respondents. |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/nyctap/I96_0137.htm |access-date=17 December 2016 |publisher=Legal Information Institute}}</ref><ref name="HONEYMAR1997">{{cite journal |author=Honeymar |year=1997 |title=Alcoholics Anonymous As a Condition of Drunk Driving Probation: When Does It Amount to Establishment of Religion |journal=Columbia Law Review |volume=97 |issue=2 |pages=437–472 |doi=10.2307/1123367 |jstor=1123367}}</ref> In 2007, the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit|Ninth Circuit of the US Court of Appeals]] stated that a parolee who was ordered to attend AA had standing to sue his parole office.<ref name="EGELKO2007">{{cite news |last=Egelko |first=Bob |date=8 September 2007 |title=Appeals court says requirement to attend AA unconstitutional |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/08/BA99S1AKQ.DTL |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091004010513/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2007%2F09%2F08%2FBA99S1AKQ.DTL |archive-date=4 October 2009 |access-date=8 October 2007 |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle}}</ref><ref name="Inouye-v-Kemna">{{cite court|litigants=Inouye v. Kemna|vol=504|reporter=F.3d|opinion=705|pinpoint=714 <abbr title="note">n</abbr>.9|court=9th Cir.|year=2007|quote=[T]he AA/[[Narcotics Anonymous|NA]] program involved here has such substantial religious components that governmentally compelled participation in it violated the [[Establishment Clause]].|url=http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2007/09/07/0615474.pdf#page=11|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2007/09/07/0615474.pdf#page=11|url-status=live|archive-date=2022-10-09}}</ref>

==== Family lawsuit ====
The family of Karla Mendez, who was murdered in 2011 by a man she met at an AA meeting, filed a civil lawsuit in 2012 against AA asserting AA had a "reckless disregard for, and deliberate indifference...to the safety and security of victims attending AA meetings who are repeatedly preyed upon at those meetings by financial, violent, and sexual predators...".<ref>{{Cite web |last=ProPublica |date=2014-11-29 |title=Twelve Steps to Danger: How Alcoholics Anonymous Can Be a Playground for Violence-Prone Members |url=https://www.propublica.org/article/how-alcoholics-anonymous-can-be-a-playground-for-violence |access-date=2024-03-13 |website=ProPublica |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=29 November 2014 |title=The Sober Truth - CBS News |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/video/the-sober-truth-3/ |access-date=2024-03-13 |website=www.cbsnews.com |language=en-US}}</ref> The lawsuit against AA was dismissed in 2016.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Marino |first=Enzo |date=2016-01-15 |title=Judge Dismisses Alcoholics Anonymous In Saugus Wrongful Death Lawsuit |url=https://www.hometownstation.com/santa-clarita-news/crime/judge-dismisses-alcoholics-anonymous-in-saugus-wrongful-death-lawsuit-166060 |access-date=2024-03-13 |website=KHTS Radio |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Case BC492735 Hector Mendez Et Al Vs Eric Allen Earle Et Al - Trellis: Legal Intelligence + Judicial Analytics |url=https://trellis.law/case/bc492735/hector-mendez-et-al-vs-eric-allen-earle-et-al |access-date=2024-03-13 |website=Trellis.Law |language=en}}</ref>

==== Big Book manuscript case ====
In May 2017, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc. filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of the State of New York seeking the return of the original manuscript of the Big Book from its then-owner. AAWS claimed that the manuscript had been given to them as a gift in 1979.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2017-05-22 |title=Alcoholics Anonymous sues to recover original manuscript |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-alcoholicsanonymous-lawsuit-idUSKBN18I299 |access-date=2023-08-15 |work=Reuters |language=en}}</ref>  This action was criticized by many members of Alcoholics Anonymous since they didn't want their parent organization engaged in lawsuits.<ref>[https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/alcoholics-anonymous-goes-to-court-and-its-members-are-livid Michael Levin "Alcoholics Anonymous goes to court (and its members are livid)" Fox News Opinion, 7 June 2017]</ref>  Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc. asked the court to voluntarily discontinue the action in November 2017.<ref>[https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/fbem/DocumentDisplayServlet?documentId=ORMDO6sUPZm2v_PLUS_KanPVGzQ==&system=prod "PLAINTIFF’S MEMORANDUM OF LAW IN SUPPORT OF ITS MOTION TO VOLUNTARILY DISCONTINUE THIS ACTION PURSUANT TO CPLR 3217(b)" filed 27 November 2017]</ref>