Commonwealth Edison Co. v. Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co.

32 F.R.D. 473, 7 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 561, 1962 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5418, 1963 Trade Cas. (CCH) 70,730
District Court, N.D. Illinois·Decided December 18, 1962·No. Civ. A. No. 61 C 1277 and related cases·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

BOLDT, District Judge.

During the taking of the deposition of Brenan R. Sellers at Chicago before the undersigned Deposition Judge November 13-14, 1962, as a part of the National Deposition Program in the above captioned cases, application was made for production of and release to plaintiffs’ attorneys of the transcript of the Philadelphia Grand Jury testimony of the deponent. The application was reaffirmed by formal motion to which defendant has responded by written objections and memorandum.

On the showing made therefor, request was made to Chief Judge Clary, E. D. Pa., for delivery of such transcript to the undersigned Deposition Judge pursuant to the opinion and order of Judge Clary entered October 23, 1962.1 City of Philadelphia v. Westinghouse Electric Corp., [475]*475et al., 210 F.Supp. 486, and related cases (E.D.Pa., October 23, 1962). Such request was granted by order of Judge Clary and the transcript transmitted to the undersigned in whose possession it has remained to the present time.

A close and careful examination of deponent’s Grand Jury testimony shows' disclosure therein of many facts of vital importance to essential issues in the above captioned litigation which were not recalled or were denied by deponent in his deposition testimony. These disclosures are so interwoven with other testimony as to make segregation highly impracticable, if not impossible. There is no indication that any portion of deponent’s Grand Jury testimony need be withheld from release as being “merely for discovery” purposes or prejudicial to Grand Jury security.

In my considered judgment all conditions for release of Grand Jury testimony specified in Judge Clary’s opinion and order above referred to are fully met as to deponent Sellers’ testimony and I find that a particular compelling need for disclosure thereof has been shown and that the ends of justice clearly require it. Judge Clary’s carefully considered opinion stated more stringent requirements for release of Grand Jury testimony than might have been required as is indicated by the memorandum hereto attached and made a part hereof.

The Deposition Judges’ extreme concern for and caution as to legitimate Grand Jury secrecy and security are demonstrated by the denial of all previous requests for release of the Grand Jury testimony of a deponent in this series of national depositions, i. e., Judge Clary as to deponent Allen, Judge Kirkpatrick as to deponent Lewis, and the undersigned Judge as to deponent Burke.

Accordingly, notice is hereby given to all counsel of record at the taking of the Sellers deposition that on the 31st day of December, 1962, the undersigned will cause a copy of Sellers’ Grand Jury testimony to be delivered to lead counsel for plaintiffs. The transcript will be so provided solely for the personal perusal of counsel attending the taking of the Sellers deposition and will be used only for such further interrogation of deponent Sellers as may be authorized. No part of the transcript shall be copied or reproduced in any form, and the whole thereof shall be returned to the undersigned Judge when its use for the purpose stated has been completed.

In my opinion this order involves a controlling question of law as to which there is substantial grounds for difference of opinion and that an immediate appeal from the order may materially advance the ultimate termination of the litigation.

MEMORANDUM

Although the Supreme Court has not passed upon a release of Grand Jury testimony under the circumstances presented by the instant application, the principles which sustain such a release appear to be fully recognized in the two most recent Supreme Court pronouncements on this general subject, United States v. Procter & Gamble Co., 356 U.S. 677, 78 S.Ct. 983, 2 L.Ed.2d 1077 (1958) and Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. v. United States, 360 U.S. 395, 79 S.Ct. 1237, 3 L.Ed.2d 1323 (1959). The opinions in those cases confirm the long-understood rule that the policy favoring secrecy for Grand Jury proceedings will give way in instances of “compelling necessity” where a “particularized need” is shown and the secrecy of the proceedings can be lifted “discretely and limitedly,” United States v. Procter & Gamble, supra, 356 U.S. at 682-683, 78 S.Ct. at 986-987, 2 L.Ed.2d 1077; Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. v. United States, supra, 360 U.S. at 399, 79 S.Ct. at 1240-1241, 3 L.Ed.2d 1323, and that the determination of such circumstances is largely “committed to the discretion of the trial judge,” Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. v. United States, supra, at 399, 79 S.Ct. at 1240-1241, 3 L.Ed.2d 1323. In both those cases disclosure was denied but [476]*476the denial was under circumstances which, by contrast, serve to emphasize the sufficiency, under the standards indicated by the Court, of the cause for disclosure found here.

In the Pittsburgh Plate Glass ease, the Court upheld the refusal of the trial judge to order disclosure in response to a request which “did not invoke the discretion of the trial judge, but asserted a supposed absolute right” to production of the Grand Jury testimony. 360 U.S. 395, 401, 79 S.Ct. 1237, 1241-1242, 3 L.Ed.2d 1323. There was no attempt to show a particularized need. The point at issue was simply whether, by analogy to Jencks v. United States, 353 U.S. 657, 77 S.Ct. 1007, 1 L.Ed.2d 1103 (1957), the defendant was entitled as of right to inspection of a trial witness’s grand jury testimony, a claim which the trial court and the Supreme Court rejected. In reaching that conclusion the Court made clear that need for disclosure may be established without a preliminary showing of contradiction between the witness’s trial testimony and his grand jury testimony, and the Court reserved the possibility that a trial judge may be obligated, upon a proper request, to examine grand jury testimony to see whether such contradiction exists. 360 U.S. 395, 400-401, 79 S.Ct. 1237, 1241-1242, 3 L.Ed.2d 1323. The implication is clear that had the trial judge, upon a proper request, exercised his discretion in favor of making an in camera inspection of the transcript, and upon such inspection found contradictions in the testimony, it would have been at least permissible and possibly required for him to order disclosure of the Grand Jury testimony. It is that situation which now confronts this Court.

The Procter & Gamble case resembles the present one in that there disclosure of Grand Jury testimony was sought in connection with pre-trial discovery rather than for the purpose of cross-examination at trial. There, however, as in the Pittsburgh Plate Glass case, the demand was rejected because of its excessive breadth and because no “particularized” showing of need was made. What was sought was production of the entire transcript of the Grand Jury investigation. The need shown was merely that, as the Court said, “discovery through depositions, which might involve delay and substantial costs, would be avoided.” 356 U.S. 677, 682, 78 S.Ct. 983, 986, 2 L.Ed.2d 1077.

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Commonwealth Edison Co. v. Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co., 32 F.R.D. 473, 7 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 561, 1962 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5418, 1963 Trade Cas. (CCH) 70,730 (N.D. Ill. 1962).

32 F.R.D. 473 (Commonwealth Edison Co. v. Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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