1. Civil

Two of the reported Idaho decisions (Caldero and Sierra Life) involved civil cases. However, both were civil cases in which the reporter was a defendant. Both cases found that no reporter's privilege existed, but each decision also emphasized the fact that the discovery was directed at proof needed by the plaintiff in order to prosecute the plaintiff's case. And, at least in the case of Caldero, the precedential value is questionable, because of the disavowal of the Caldero decision in the Wright case.

Additionally, because of the repeated emphasis of the Idaho courts on a case-by-case balancing test, civil cases have the potential for coming out more favorably on balance because of the lesser "compelling and overriding interest" in the information ordinarily found in a civil case as compared to a criminal case, where a defendant's liberty interest is often at stake. The decision in Wright also made special mention of the fact that the balancing test might well be differently resolved in a civil setting, as opposed to a criminal case. Wright, 108 Idaho at 422, 700 P.2d at 44.