In re Grand Jury Subpoena Dated December 19, 1978 Issued to General Counsel, John Doe, Inc.

81 F.R.D. 691, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14324
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedFebruary 21, 1979
DocketNo. M 11-188
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 81 F.R.D. 691 (In re Grand Jury Subpoena Dated December 19, 1978 Issued to General Counsel, John Doe, Inc.) 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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In re Grand Jury Subpoena Dated December 19, 1978 Issued to General Counsel, John Doe, Inc., 81 F.R.D. 691, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14324 (S.D.N.Y. 1979).

Opinion

PIERCE, District Judge.

OPINION AND ORDER

Petitioner brings this motion pursuant to Rule 17 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure for an order quashing a Grand Jury subpoena issued to its general counsel. For the reasons that follow, the motion is denied.

Facts

For the purposes of this motion, the following allegations of the petitioner are taken as true. John Doe, Inc. (“John Doe”) is a publicly owned corporation engaged in the manufacture and sale of various pharmaceuticals, household products, cosmetics, toiletries, chemicals and environmental control systems. Besides its numerous domestic divisions and subsidiaries, petitioner has one hundred seventeen foreign subsidiaries in one hundred twenty-five countries.

In November, 1975, it was notified by its independent auditors, Price Waterhouse & Co., of possible illegal payments to foreign officials by employees of John Doe’s foreign subsidiaries during the period 1970 through 1974. A preliminary investigation was conducted by John Doe’s management, the results of which induced its board of directors to authorize a broader investigation by its Audit Committee. The firm of Covington & Burling was retained as legal counsel to assist petitioner’s vice-president and general counsel in this second investigation in January, 1976. Price Waterhouse & Co. was also retained as outside accountants to aid in the investigation. As part of this investigation, numerous employees of John Doe were required to complete a questionnaire which had been drafted by Covington & Burling and to submit to interviews conducted by members of that firm.

The objective of this investigation was not merely to ascertain the amount, if any, of illicit foreign payments made during this period, but also for the purpose of preparing an 8-K report which was to be submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission. By submitting such a report, John Doe hoped to participate in the SEC’s Voluntary Disclosure Program and thereby avoid federal securities litigation. A third purpose of the investigation was to prepare for possible government criminal and tax actions as well as shareholder derivative suits. Covington & Burling provided legal advice concerning what should be included in the report and also advice concerning other possible future litigation.

[693]*693The results of this investigation were generally disclosed in an 8-K report filed with the SEC in February, 1976. The SEC subsequently met with John Doe’s representatives who revealed some of the detailed results of the investigation. Petitioner contends that its representatives had expressly refused to reveal those details of the investigation which it now claims to be protected by the attorney-client privilege. However, an SEC representative who was present at that meeting contends that John Doe had agreed to make all of the underlying documentation of the investigations available for the SEC’s inspection, but hesitated to permit photocopying of the documents.

The Grand Jury has undertaken an investigation of possible violations of federal law arising out of foreign payments. It has subpoenaed various documents from petitioner, some of which have been provided. The items subpoenaed are documents relating to both of petitioner’s investigations including: (1) questionnaires completed by petitioner’s employees and others; (2) notes taken at all interviews; (3) memoranda relating to all interviews; (4) all summaries and reports; and (5) all accountant’s work-papers. John Doe has moved to quash the Grand Jury subpoena of these items on the grounds that the attorney-client and work-product 1 privileges protect these items.

Attorney-Client Privilege

The initial issue raised by petitioner’s claim of the attorney-client privilege is whether the privilege, as applied to corporations, is sufficiently broad to include communication between petitioner’s attorneys and the employees who were interviewed or who responded to the questionnaire. If the scope of the privilege is determined to be sufficiently broad so as to protect all of these communications, then the circumstances surrounding these communications must be reviewed to determine whether the prerequisites for attachment of the privilege were present.

A review of the authorities discussing the attorney-client privilege indicates that its purpose is to encourage clients to make full disclosure to their attorneys so as to enable those attorneys to give informed legal advice. Fisher v. United States, 425 U.S. 391, 403, 96 S.Ct. 1569, 48 L.Ed.2d 39 (1976). This privilege is an exception to the general principle that every man’s evidence should be available. In re Horowitz, 482 F.2d 72 (2d Cir.), cert, denied, 414 U.S. 867, 94 S.Ct. 64, 38 L.Ed.2d 86 (1973); 8 Wigmore’s Evidence § 2291 at 554, (McNaughton rev. ed. 1961). Furthermore, public policy favors mutual knowledge of all the relevant facts. Hickman v. Taylor, 329 U.S. 495, 507, 67 S.Ct. 385, 91 L.Ed. 451 (1947). Consequently, this privilege must be “strictly confined within the narrowest possible limits consistent with the logic of its principle.” 8 Wig-more’s Evidence § 2291 at 554 (McNaughton rev. ed. 1961).

The petitioner urges the Court to adopt a board interpretation of this privilege as applied to corporations such that communications between a corporation’s attorney and any of its employees are protected from discovery so long as the subject matter of the communication is related to the scope of the employee’s duties. This viewpoint is shared by a minority of courts. 2 J. Wein-stein & M. Berger, Weinstein’s Evidence ¶ 503(b)[04] at 503-04 (1978); Comment, The Application in the Federal Courts of the Attorney-Client Privilege to the Corporation, 39 Fordham L.Rev. 281 (1970). The principal courts adhering to this rule are those in the Seventh and Eighth circuits. Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. v. Decker, 423 F.2d 487 (7th Cir. 1970), aff’d without opinion by an equally divided court, 400 U.S. 348, 91 S.Ct. 479, 27 L.Ed.2d 433 (1971); Diversified Industries, Inc. v. Meredith, 572 F.2d 596 (8th Cir. 1978) (en banc).

[694]*694The majority of courts have adopted a more restricted standard referred to as the “control group test.” Under this rule, the only protected communications are those between a corporation’s attorney and employees who are in a position of control of or who may substantially participate in any decision the corporation may take upon the legal advice of counsel. City of Philadelphia v. Westinghouse Electric Corp., 210 F.Supp. 483 (E.D.Pa.), mandamus and prohibition denied sub nom., General Electric Co. v. Kirkpatrick, 312 F.2d 742 (3d Cir.

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81 F.R.D. 691, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14324, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-grand-jury-subpoena-dated-december-19-1978-issued-to-general-nysd-1979.