Prior to the test, only communications that fell into one of narrow set of privilege classes could gain protection from being submitted in a court of law.

They lived together for a time in a platonic relationship – he had even put her in his will – until he began to make advances to her, at which point she moved home with her mother.

At trial the conversation between Greunke, the counsellor, and pastor was admitted and proved sufficient to convict Gruenke of first-degree murder.

To accommodate this need the court adopted a four-step test proposed by the American jurist John Henry Wigmore to determine whether privilege is required.

In application to the facts of the case, Lamer found that they did not meet the requirements of the Wigmore test and so the communication was not privileged.