Federal Housing Finance Agency v. JPMorgan Chase & Co.

978 F. Supp. 2d 267, 2013 WL 5660247, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 150137
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedOctober 16, 2013
DocketNos. 11 Civ. 6188(DLC), 11 Civ. 6189(DLC), 11 Civ. 6190(DLC), 11 Civ. 6192(DLC), 11 Civ. 6193(DLC), 11 Civ. 6195(DLC), 11 Civ. 6198(DLC), 11 Civ. 6200(DLC), 11 Civ. 6201(DLC), 11 Civ. 6202(DLC), 11 Civ. 6203(DLC), 11 Civ. 6739(DLC), 11 Civ. 7010(DLC)
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 978 F. Supp. 2d 267 (Federal Housing Finance Agency v. JPMorgan Chase & Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Federal Housing Finance Agency v. JPMorgan Chase & Co., 978 F. Supp. 2d 267, 2013 WL 5660247, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 150137 (S.D.N.Y. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION & ORDER

DENISE COTE, District Judge.

On August 30, 2013, the defendants filed this motion to compel FHFA to produce documents it is currently withholding from discovery on the basis of the bank examination and deliberative process privileges. For the following reasons, the bank examination privilege applies to FHFA. The defendants’ request for a blanket order that all withheld documents be produced is consequently denied. With respect to any specific documents that the defendants believe do not meet the requirements of either the bank examination privilege or the deliberative process privilege, the parties must follow the procedure set out at a conference of February 21, 2013, whereby examples of such documents may be submitted for in camera review. The parties shall also follow this procedure with respect to any documents over which the defendants claim good cause to override either privilege.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff Federal Housing Finance Agency (“FHFA”), as conservator of the Federal National Mortgage Association (“Fannie Mae”) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (“Freddie Mac”) (collectively, the “GSEs”), filed seventeen actions in this district against various financial institutions (“defendants”) involved in the packaging, marketing, and sale of residential mortgage-backed securities purchased by the GSEs between 2005 and 2007. Discovery between the parties is ongoing. In the course of this discovery, FHFA is withholding or redacting approximately 22,010 documents on the basis of either the bank examination privilege or the deliberative process privilege.1 FHFA is withholding 11,843 documents on the basis of [272]*272the bank examination privilege alone, 2,311 on the basis of the deliberative process privilege alone, and 4,260 on the basis of both privileges. The defendants have filed a motion to compel production of these documents. The motion was fully submitted on September 25, 2013.

DISCUSSION

The defendants’ motion to compel is governed by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(1). That rule provides that “[parties may obtain discovery regarding any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any party’s claim or defense,” and that with respect to privileged materials, “[f|or good cause, the court may order discovery of any matter relevant to the subject matter involved in the action.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b)(1).

I. The Bank Examination Privilege

The parties do not cite, and the Court has not found, any authority — controlling or otherwise — speaking directly to the question of whether FHFA may assert the bank examination privilege. Unsurprisingly, both sides offer grave admonitions against the Court being the very first to decide this question against them.

The defendants argue that the bank examination privilege cannot apply to FHFA because the GSEs are not banks and FHFA is not a bank regulator. They also argue that FHFA’s relationship with the GSEs it regulates is significantly different from the relationship between bank regulators and banks in a way that “militate[s] strongly against” applying the bank examination privilege here. And they contend that FHFA’s own actions in selectively releasing documents purportedly subject to the privilege undermines its argument that the privilege is necessary to protect the free-flow of information between FHFA and the GSEs.

FHFA emphasizes that its authority over the GSEs includes the exact powers of bank examiners. It asserts that the defendants’ argument that “GSEs are not banks” is semantic and not substantive. And it contends that the GSEs it regulates engage in banking related activities such that the rationale animating the banking examination privilege applies equally to FHFA’s communications with the GSEs it regulates. For the following reasons, FHFA is correct.

Recognition of a common law privilege in federal court is governed by Federal Rule of Evidence 501, which provides that

The common law — as interpreted by United States courts in the light of reason and experience — governs a claim of privilege unless any of the following provides otherwise: the United States Constitution; a federal statute; or rules prescribed by the Supreme Court.

Fed.R.Evid. 501; The New York Times Co. v. Gonzales, 459 F.3d 160, 169 (2d Cir.2006); see also, e.g., In re Franklin Nat. Bank Sec. Litig., 478 F.Supp. 577, 580 (E.D.N.Y.1979) (hereinafter “Franklin ”) (relying on Rule 501 as authority for determination of civil discovery documentary privilege question). “The authors of the Rule borrowed this phrase [“in light of reason and experience”] from [the Supreme Court’s] opinion in Wolfle v. United States, 291 U.S. 7, 12, 54 S.Ct. 279, 78 L.Ed. 617 (1934), which in turn referred to the oft-repeated observation that ‘the common law is not immutable but flexible, and by its own principles adapts itself to varying conditions.’ ” Jaffee v. Redmond, 518 U.S. 1, 8, 116 S.Ct. 1923, 135 L.Ed.2d 337 (1996). As the Second Circuit has noted, courts in this Circuit have “[u]s[ed] the method of analysis set out in [Jaffee ]” as the framework for determining whether a common law privilege should be extended [273]*273to a new factual situation under Federal Rule of Evidence 501. The New York Times Co., 459 F.Sd at 169.2 Thus, the task of a court in this Circuit in determining whether a common law privilege applies to a new situation is to look to the “principles” animating the recognition of the privilege and to determine whether those principles are sufficiently implicated to justify recognizing the privilege. “Privileges should be narrowly construed and expansions cautiously extended.” United States v. Weissman, 195 F.3d 96, 100 (2d Cir.1999).

Under this standard, to determine whether the bank examination privilege applies to FHFA’s communications with the GSEs it regulates it is necessary to understand the reason for the bank examination privilege. The bank examination privilege is a common-law privilege. Courts have justified the privilege because of the distinctively continuous and informal process of bank regulation, which especially requires candor from regulated entities. See, e.g., Wultz v. Bank of China Ltd., — F.R.D. -, -, 11 CIV. 1266(SAS), 2013 WL 1453258, at *3 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 9, 2013). (“[the bank examination privilege] arises out of the practical need for openness and honesty between bank examiners and the banks they regulate.” (citation omitted)). The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has described the bank examination privilege at length in process terms, finding that it is:

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978 F. Supp. 2d 267, 2013 WL 5660247, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 150137, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/federal-housing-finance-agency-v-jpmorgan-chase-co-nysd-2013.