Did Scott have a right to privacy in emails he sent to his lawyer using the BI system?

Beth Israel Medical Center (BI)’s email policy stated: All information and documents created, received, saved, or sent on the Medical Center’s computer or communications systems are the property of the Medical Center. Employees have no personal privacy right in any material created, received, saved, or sent using Medical Center communication or computer systems. The Medical Center reserves the right to access and disclose such material at any time without prior notice.
Dr. Norman Scott was head of the orthopedics department at BI. His contract with the hospital provided for $14 million in severance pay if he was fired without cause. BI did fire him, and the question was whether it was for cause or not. In preparation for a lawsuit against BI, Scott used the hospital’s computer system to send emails to his lawyer. Each of these emails included the following notice:
This message is intended only for the use of the Addressee and may contain information that is privileged and confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please erase all copies of the message and its attachments and notify us immediately.
BI obtained copies of all of Scott’s emails. It notified him that it had copies of the emails to his lawyer. No one at BI had read the emails yet, but they intended to do so. Communications between a client and lawyer are generally protected, but a client waives this privilege if he publicly discloses the information. When Scott requested that the emails be returned to him unread, BI refused. Scott filed a motion seeking the return of the documents.