Dexia Credit Local v. Rogan

231 F.R.D. 538, 2004 WL 2898044
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedDecember 13, 2004
DocketNo. 02 C 8288
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 231 F.R.D. 538 (Dexia Credit Local v. Rogan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dexia Credit Local v. Rogan, 231 F.R.D. 538, 2004 WL 2898044 (N.D. Ill. 2004).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

SCHENKIER, United States Magistrate Judge.

In March 2004, the plaintiff, Dexia Credit Local, f/k/a Dexia Public Bank and Credit Local de France (“Dexia”), served subpoenas, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 45, seeking production of documents by Fred Cuppy; Boulevard Investors Ltd. and Boulevard Investors LLC (collectively, the “Boulevard entities”); the Trusts of Sara Caitlan Rogan, Robert Cashman Rogan, and Brian Peter Rogan (collectively, the “Belize Trusts”); and Caribe Trustees, Ltd. (“Caribe” or “Caribe Trustees”). Mr. Cuppy, the Boulevard entities, the Belize Trusts and Caribe all objected to the subpoenas, which led to Dexia filing two motions to compel production of docu[540]*540ments: one directed to Mr. Cuppy (the “Cup-py Motion”) (doc. # 113), and the other directed to the Boulevard entities, the Belize Trusts and Caribe Trustees (the “Boulevard Motion”) (doc. # 112). Those motions are before this Court pursuant to the district judge’s October 5, 2004 referral of all discovery motions (doc. # 110).

After full briefing of the motions, for the reasons stated in the record in open court on November 30, 2004, this Court granted the motions to compel, with some modifications to the categories of documents to be produced. That ruling is summarized in a separate order dated December 8, 2004. In this opinion, we write separately to elaborate on the reasons for the Court’s rejection of one argument raised by Mr. Cuppy and Caribe Trustees (sometimes collectively referred to as “the Respondents”) in resisting the subpoenas: that requiring production would cause the Respondents to violate the laws of Belize, and subject them to civil liability under those laws.

I.

In this diversity lawsuit, Dexia alleges that the various defendants perpetrated a multimillion dollar fraud on Edgewater Medical Center that was orchestrated by defendant Peter G. Rogan, who owned Edgewater prior to 1994 and thereafter allegedly controlled its operations and those of the other corporate defendants in the ease. The second amended complaint alleges that Mr. Rogan and other defendants gave Dexia false or misleading information about Edgewater’s financial condition, in order to induce Dexia to issue a letter of credit guaranteeing Edgewater’s obligations on some $56 million in financing bonds, and thereafter fraudulently concealed information about Edgewater’s financial situation from Dexia. The second amended complaint alleges that fraudulent siphoning of funds from Edgewater by Mr. Rogan and others caused Edgewater to default on the bonds, which required Dexia to pay on the letter of credit. The second amended complaint further alleges that certain trusts— including the Belize Trusts — “received substantial portions of the revenues [Edgewater] paid to its Rogan-controlled management companies” (Sec.Am.Compl^ 43).

As best as the Court can tell, much of the discovery that has taken place to date (and many of the disputes flowing from the discovery requests) has centered on Dexia’s attempts to trace the flow of money that Mr. Rogan and other defendants allegedly obtained from Edgewater. Dexia has obtained discovery showing (in its view) suspicious movement of monies into and out of certain irrevocable trusts: the “Florida Trusts,” and the Belize Trusts. Mr. Cuppy is the trustee of the Florida Trusts and has asserted, without contradiction by Dexia, that he has produced some 14,000 pages of documents concerning the Florida Trusts (Combined Resp., at 1).

The Rule 45 subpoenas at issue here seek production of documents from Mr. Cuppy and Caribe that concern, inter alia, the Belize Trusts. Caribe, a Belize corporation, is the trustee of these trusts (Boulevard Mot., Ex. F); Mr. Cuppy, a United States citizen, is the agent and legal representative for Car-ibe (Boulevard Mot. at 5, Ex. K).

Mr. Cuppy and Caribe assert that complying with the subpoenas, insofar as they require production of documents pertaining to the Belize trusts, would be contrary to their obligations under the Belize Trusts Act (“the Trusts Act”). They cite to the provisions of the Trusts Act that provide that a trustee “shall owe a fiduciary duty to the beneficiaries of the trusts” (C & C Resp. at 1, Ex. 1, § 27(3)), and that (a) require a trustee to “keep confidential all information regarding the state and amount of the trust property or the conduct of trust administration,” and (b) state that a trustee is not obliged to disclose documents that reveal “deliberations as to how he should exercise his functions as trustee,” or “the reasons for any decision made in the exercise of those functions,” or “any material upon which such a decision was or might have been based” {Id., § 28(2), (3)). Mr. Cuppy and Caribe also assert that an order of this Court that would require them to violate those provisions of the Trusts Act would, in turn, expose them to civil liability for “any loss or depreciation in value of the trust property resulting from the breach,” [541]*541and “any profit which would have accrued to the trust had there been no breach” (Id., § 50(1)). On these grounds, Mr. Cuppy and Caribe argue that this Court, under principles of comity, should give respect to these requirements of the Trusts Act and refrain from requiring production (C & C Resp. at 2-3 and n. I).1

II.

In assessing Mr. Cuppy’s and Caribe’s “foreign law” objection to production of information concerning the Belize Trusts, we begin by setting forth applicable legal principles. At the threshold of a foreign law defense analysis, a court must determine whether a conflict exists between the laws of the United States and those of a foreign country. See Alfadda v. Fenn, 149 F.R.D. 28, 34 (S.D.N.Y.1993). “[T]he party relying on foreign law bears the burden of demonstrating that such law actually bars the production or testimony at issue.” Id. “[T]o meet that burden, the party resisting discovery must provide the [cjourt with information of sufficient particularity and specificity to allow the Court to determine whether the discovery sought is indeed prohibited by foreign law.” Id.

When a conflict between the law of the United States and a foreign country has been established, a court next must determine: (a) whether the party or non-party from whom the documents are sought is within the Court’s enforcement jurisdiction; and (b) whether the party or non-party has possession, custody or control over the documents requested. See In re Uranium Antitrust Litigation, 480 F.Supp. 1138, 1144 (N.D.Ill.1979). See also Avery Dennison Corp. v. UCB Films PLC, No. 95 C 6351, 1998 WL 293002 (N.D.Ill. May 28, 1998). The cogent explanation of these requirements offered by Judge Marshall 25 years ago in In re Uranium applies with equal force today:

The jurisdiction of American courts is unquestioned when they order their own nationals to produce documents located within this country. But jurisdiction is less certain when American courts order a [party or non-party] to produce documents located abroad, especially when the country in which the documents are situated prohibits their disclosure. As a general rule, a court has the power to order a person subject to its jurisdiction to perform an act in another state. There are two preconditions for the exercise of this power. First, the court must have personal jurisdiction over the person.

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231 F.R.D. 538, 2004 WL 2898044, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dexia-credit-local-v-rogan-ilnd-2004.