In Re Grand Jury Subpoena Duces Tecum, Etc.

203 F. Supp. 575, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3993, 1961 Trade Cas. (CCH) 70,149
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedNovember 6, 1961
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 203 F. Supp. 575 (In Re Grand Jury Subpoena Duces Tecum, Etc.) 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.

Bluebook
In Re Grand Jury Subpoena Duces Tecum, Etc., 203 F. Supp. 575, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3993, 1961 Trade Cas. (CCH) 70,149 (S.D.N.Y. 1961).

Opinion

HERLANDS, District Judge.

The petitioner, Local 627, Provision Salesmen and Distributors Union, A.F.L.C.I.O., has moved to quash or modify a subpoena duces tecum addressed to it by a federal grand jury investigating alleged violations of the federal antitrust laws. The grand jury is seeking to determine whether there were unlawful agreements among manufacturers, jobbers, retailers and unions, including Local 627, in the processed meat industry, to fix prices, allocate customers, maintain boycotts and to enforce these restraints (Government’s supplemental affidavit, para. 1).

The Local asserts four grounds for its motion: (1) the items sought by the subpoena duces tecum are not relevant to the subject of the grand jury investigation; (2) the subpoena duces tecum demands records covering a period of eighteen years, an unreasonably long period of time; (3) the demand for the production of records is not sufficiently specific and, therefore, places the Local in danger of being held in contempt; and (4) the Local argues that, because it allowed Government agents to examine some of its files for a period of six weeks and then delivered many documents to the grand jury, the subpoena is oppressive and constitutes an unreasonable search and seizure.

A subpoena duces tecum may be so sweeping that it violates the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition of unreasonable searches. F. T. C. v. American Tobacco Co., 264 U.S. 298, 44 S.Ct. 336, 68 L.Ed. 696 (1924); Hale v. Henkel, 201 U.S. 43, 76, 26 S.Ct. 370, 50 L.Ed. 652 (1906); McMann v. S. E. C., 87 F.2d 377, 379, 109 A.L.R. 1445 (2d Cir. 1937), cert. denied sub nom. McMann v. Engel, 301 U.S. 684, 57 S.Ct. 785, 81 L.Ed. 1342 (1937). If a subpoena duces tecum does constitute a violation of the Fourth Amendment, the courts may quash or modify it. To avoid such judicial action, the subpoena must be reasonable. Oklahoma Press Publishing Co. v. Walling, 327 U.S. 186, 208, 66 S.Ct. 494, 90 L.Ed. 614 (1946); Hale v. Henkel, 201 U.S. 43, 76, 26 S.Ct. 370, 50 L.Ed. 652 (1906).

*578 The courts have found that reasonableness, in this context, has three components. The subpoena duces tecum may command only the production of things relevant to the investigation being pursued. Oklahoma Press Publishing Co. v. Walling, 327 U.S. 186, 208-209, 66 S.Ct. 494, 90 L.Ed. 614 (1946); Brown v. United States, 276 U.S. 134, 143, 48 S.Ct. 288, 72 L.Ed. 500 (1928); F. T. C. v. American Tobacco Co., 264 U.S. 298, 306-307, 44 S.Ct. 336, 68 L.Ed. 696 (1923); Hale v. Henkel, 201 U.S. 43, 77, 26 S.Ct. 370, 50 L.Ed. 652 (1960). The subpoena must specify the things to be produced with reasonable particularity. Brown v. United States, 276 U.S. 134, 143, 44 S.Ct. 336, 68 L.Ed. 696 (1928); Hale v. Henkel, 201 U.S. 43, 77, 26 S.Ct. 370, 50 L.Ed. 652 (1906). The subpoena may order the production of records covering only a reasonable period of time. Brown v. United States, 276 U.S. 134, 143, 44 S.Ct. 336, 68 L.Ed. 696 (1928); Schwimmer v. United States, 232 F.2d 855, 863 (8th Cir. 1956), cert. denied, 352 U.S. 833, 77 S.Ct. 48, 1 L.Ed.2d 52 (1956); United States v. Medical Society, 26 F.Supp. 55, 57 (D.D.C.1938); In re Eastman Kodak, 7 F.R.D. 760, 763, 765 (W.D.N.Y.1947).

The requirement of relevance is satisfied by a showing that there is a relation between the documents which must be produced and the purpose of the inquiry. Application of Certain Chinese Family Benevolent and District Ass’ns, 19 F.R.D. 97, 101 (N.D.Cal.1956).

What is required by way of particularity in describing the things which must be produced is “specification of the documents to be produced adequate, but not excessive, for the purposes of the relevant inquiry.” Oklahoma Press Publishing Co. v. Walling, 327 U.S. 186, 209, 66 S.Ct. 494 (1946). A subpoena apparently meets this standard if it distinguishes between relevant and irrelevant material. Some cases have applied the additional requirement that the subpoena must specify the documents to be produced, or the subjects to which they relate, with enough precision to make compliance with the subpoena possible. Brown v. United States, 276 U.S. 134, 143, 48 S.Ct. 288, 72 L.Ed. 500 (1928); In re Eastman Kodak, 7 F.R.D. 760, 763 (W.D.N.Y.1947); In re Motions to Quash Subpoenas, 30 F.Supp. 527, 531 (S.D.Cal.1939).

The facts of each case determine whether the period of time covered by the records sought is reásonable. The period of time with which the records deal should bear some relation to the subject of the investigation. Hale v. Henkel, 201 U.S. 43, 76-77, 26 S.Ct. 370, 50 L.Ed. 652 (1906) [subpoena requiring company to produce records from the date of its organization held bad]; Application of Certain Chinese Family Benevolent and District Ass’ns, 19 F.R.D. 97, 98, 101 (N.D.Cal.1956) [subpoena requiring associations to produce records for the entire period of the associations’ existence quashed].

In Application of Linen Supply Companies, 15 F.R.D. 115, 119 (S.D.N.Y. 1953), the court said that the following factors might affect the reasonableness of the period covered: “the type and extent of the investigation; the materiality of the subject matter to the type of investigation ; the particularity with which the documents are described; the good faith of the party demanding the broad coverage; [and] a showing of the need for such extended coverajge.”

The subpoena need not be limited to calling for records from a period within the statute of limitations. The grand jury should be able to determine whether there were illegal activities which were begun before the statutory period and continued within it. Application of Linen Supply Companies, 15 F.R.D. 115, 119 (S.D.N.Y.1953); In re United Shoe Machinery Corp., 73 F.Supp. 207, 211 (D.Mass.1947).

However, as the period of time covered by the subpoena lengthens, the *579 particularity with which the documents are described must increase. Application of Linen Supply Companies, 15 F.R.D. 115, 118 (S.D.N.Y.1953); In re United Shoe Machinery Corp., 73 F.Supp. 207, 211 (D.Mass.1947).

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203 F. Supp. 575, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3993, 1961 Trade Cas. (CCH) 70,149, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-grand-jury-subpoena-duces-tecum-etc-nysd-1961.