Clayton v. AT & T Communications of Southwest, Inc.

630 F. Supp. 2d 1092, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46754
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedJune 3, 2009
DocketMDL Docket No. 06-1791 VRW
StatusPublished

This text of 630 F. Supp. 2d 1092 (Clayton v. AT & T Communications of Southwest, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clayton v. AT & T Communications of Southwest, Inc., 630 F. Supp. 2d 1092, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46754 (N.D. Cal. 2009).

Opinion

ORDER

VAUGHN R. WALKER, Chief Judge.

In 2006, the United States filed lawsuits seeking to enjoin state officials in Maine, New Jersey, Connecticut, Vermont and Missouri from investigating various telecommunication carriers concerning their alleged disclosure of customer telephone records to the National Security Agency (NSA) based on the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution, the foreign affairs power of the federal government and the state secrets privilege. These [1094]*1094cases, together with a subpoena enforcement action brought by the same Missouri officials who are defendants in the United States’ injunction case concerning that state,1 were transferred to this court by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) on February 15, 2007, with cross motions for dismissal and/or summary judgment pending.

The court denied those motions by order dated July 24, 2007 (Doc. # 334); 2007 WL 2127345. The court held that the states’ investigations into wiretapping activities did not violate the doctrine of intergovernmental immunity, were not preempted by federal statutes and did not infringe on the federal government’s power over foreign affairs to a constitutionally impermissible degree. Doc. # 334 at 16-34; 2007 WL 2127345 at *8-*18. As to the government’s argument based on the state secrets privilege (SSP), the court noted that the Ninth Circuit might well provide useful guidance when it ruled on the government’s appeal in Hepting v. AT & T Corp., 439 F.Supp.2d 974 (N.D.Cal.2006), which was then pending before it. Accordingly, the court denied the government’s motion based on the SSP without prejudice to its renewal following the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Hepting. Doc. #334 at 35; 2007 WL 2127345 at *18.

In the interim, two important developments have altered the posture of these cases. Congress enacted, on July 10, 2008, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-261, 122 Stat 2436 (FISAAA), which contains a provision, section 803 (eodified at 50 U.S.C. § 1885b), that the United States contends requires dismissal of all six of these actions. Then, the following month, the Ninth Circuit remanded Hepting v. AT & T without rendering a decision “in light of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008.” 539 F.3d 1157 (9th Cir.2008).

I

The following summary of the six underlying state proceedings sets forth certain salient procedural events specific to each case as reflected in documents filed in this court.

A

The Maine case, United States v. Adams (now Reishus), C 07-1323, began after Maine citizen James Cowrie petitioned the Maine Public Utilities Commission (Me-PUC) to investigate whether Verizon had shared its customers’ records with the NSA. Verizon responded that it could neither admit nor deny involvement in national security matters, but included seven “affirmative assertions of fact,” including the following representations:

1. Verizon was not asked by NSA to provide, nor did Verizon provide, customer phone records from any of its businesses, or any call data from those records.
2. None of these companies — wireless or wireline — provided customer records or call data.
3. Verizon’s wireless and wireline companies did not provide to NSA eus[1095]*1095tomer records or call data, local or otherwise.

See Doc. # 536-2 (Ex. A) at 38. On August 9, 2006, MePUC issued an order reciting the seven representations and noting that “if [they] are in fact true, such statements could satisfy the concerns raised in the complaint.” Id. at 39. The order went on to state, however, that “[i]n order to fulfill our duty to consider whether to open an investigation * * * we find that we require as to each of the seven representations set forth above a sworn affirmation that such representation is true and not misleading in light of the circumstances in which it is made.” Id. MePUC has not asked for any additional information from Verizon. On August 21, 2006, the government sued in the United States District Court for the District of Maine to enjoin the MePUC from pursuing this inquiry. On February 8, 2007, Judge Woodcock preliminarily enjoined MePUC from enforcing the order. See United States v. Adams, 473 F.Supp.2d 108 (D.Me.2007).

The New Jersey case, United States v. Rabner (now Farber), C 07-1324, was filed in response to the New Jersey Attorney General’s issuance of subpoenas duces tecum to the telecommunication carriers named in the complaint (Civil Docket No C 07-1324, Doc. # 1-1 (Complaint)), of which the following document requests are, according to the United States, representative:

1. All names and complete addresses of Persons including, but not limited to, all affiliates, subsidiaries and entities, that provided Telephone Call History Data to the NSA. * * *
2. All Executive Orders issued by the President of the United States and provided to Verizon Concerning [sic] any demand or request to provide Telephone Call History Data to the NSA.
3. All orders, subpoenas and warrants issued by or on behalf of any unit or officer of the Executive Branch of the Federal Government and provided to Verizon Concerning [sic] any demand or request to provide Telephone Call History Data to the NSA.
4. All orders, subpoenas and warrants issued by or on behalf of any Federal or State judicial authority and provided to Verizon Concerning [sic] any demand or request to provide Telephone Call History Data to the NSA.

Doc. # 536-2 (Ex. A) at 12.

United States v. Palermino, C 07-1324, was filed in response to an investigation by the Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control (CtDPUC), prompted by a complaint filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut (ACLU), into whether the local carriers violated Connecticut law. Quoted below are three of the approximately thirty interrogatories the ACLU propounded to AT & T in the Connecticut proceeding:

ACLU-5 Has AT & T at any time during the Relevant Period disclosed customer information and/or records to private parties, government entities and/or law enforcement personnel when not compelled to do so by subpoena, warrant, court order or a request under 18 U.S.C. § 2709 (“National Security Letter” or “NSL”)?
ACLU-5b If your response to ACLU-5 is yes, provide full details of each occasion on which AT & T disclosed customer information and/or records to private parties, government entities and/or law enforcement personnel when not compelled to do so by subpoena, warrant, court order or NSL, including the date of each request, the [1096]*1096information sought, the information provided, and the date on which the information was provided.
ACLU-9 Has AT & T at any time during the Relevant Period disclosed customer information and/or records to law enforcement or government personnel in response to an NSL?

Doc. # 536-2 (Ex. A) at 31-32.

United States v. Volz,

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Related

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission v. Mississippi
456 U.S. 742 (Supreme Court, 1982)
New York v. United States
505 U.S. 144 (Supreme Court, 1992)
Printz v. United States
521 U.S. 898 (Supreme Court, 1997)
United States v. Adams
473 F. Supp. 2d 108 (D. Maine, 2007)
Hepting v. AT & T Corp.
439 F. Supp. 2d 974 (N.D. California, 2006)

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Bluebook (online)
630 F. Supp. 2d 1092, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46754, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clayton-v-at-t-communications-of-southwest-inc-cand-2009.