In re Grand Jury Subpoena Duces Tecum Served Upon Doe

126 Misc. 2d 1010, 484 N.Y.S.2d 759, 1984 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3779
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 30, 1984
StatusPublished

This text of 126 Misc. 2d 1010 (In re Grand Jury Subpoena Duces Tecum Served Upon Doe) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court 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 Served Upon Doe, 126 Misc. 2d 1010, 484 N.Y.S.2d 759, 1984 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3779 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1984).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

George J. Balbach, J.

Petitioner moves to quash or modify a Grand Jury subpoena duces tecum.

The respondent herein is the Deputy Attorney-General in charge of New York State Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. On May 30, 1984, this State agency issued a Grand Jury subpoena duces tecum to petitioner, seeking production of books, documents and records from his business organization, “Doe” Enterprises. This business organization is a “housekeeping consulting firm” operated by petitioner for the purpose of serving hospitals and nursing homes in this State.

In addition, the respondent also served petitioner with a personal subpoena which is not challenged in this action.

[1011]*1011The Attorney-General now alleges that an examination of the petitioner’s records is necessary to determine whether public or private funds have been used for “kick-back” purposes in the health care industry.

In particular, the Deputy Attorney-General seeks the following:

(1) All consulting contracts and agreements with Professional Services, Inc., health related facilities, nursing homes, and hospitals.

(2) All correspondence and documentation between (“Doe” Enterprises) and the Health Department.

(3) All correspondence and documentation between “Doe” Enterprises and Professional Services, Inc.

(4) Cash disbursement journal.

(5) Cash receipts journal.

(6) Bank statements, deposit slips and canceled checks.

(7) Billings to Professional Services and supporting documentation.

(8) Vendor invoices and other supporting documents relating to purchases.

(9) Accounts payable subsidiary ledger, payroll records, W-2 statements, 1099 and 941 forms.

(10) All correspondence and documents relating to finders fees, consulting fees and referral fees and commissions relating to the obtaining and the renewal of contracts and agreements with health care facilities, including nursing homes and hospitals.

Petitioner now moves to quash or modify the duces tecum subpoena on the grounds that:

(1) It is overbroad and seeks material which is not relevant to the State’s investigation.

(2) Such subpoena violates his 5th Amendment rights from self-incrimination.

I

Overbroad

Petitioner’s first challenge centers on the scope of the subpoena. It is his contention that the subpoena is overbroad and oppressive. It is argued that since the petitioner does business with nonhealth organizations as well as the nursing home industry, the records of other business transactions would not be relevant to the State.

[1012]*1012The general rule dealing with a Grand Jury subpoena is that an application to quash will be granted only if the records are so irrelevant that the subject of the inquiry has “to make it obvious that the production would be futile” for the purpose of investigation (Matter of Manning v Valente, 272 App Div 358, 361, affd 297 NY 681). The burden of proving relevancy is upon the party seeking to quash the Grand Jury subpoena duces tecum (Virag v Hynes, 54 NY2d 437).

The documents sought in this case are the records of the “Doe” Enterprises for a period of five years — from 1979 to 1984. While this request may be broad, it is based upon the good-faith belief that at least some of these documents would have a valid bearing on the State’s current investigation and, hence, it does not constitute a blind fishing expedition. The documents on their face are relevant. In this connection, it might be noted that the Valente (supra) rule does not preclude the petitioner from ever challenging relevancy. “In a situation where a witness or his attorney harbors a reasonable suspicion that a line of questioning has no bearing on the subject of the investigation, the witness can invoke the assistance of the court to insure the questions’ relevancy.” (Matter of Additional Jan. 1979 Grand Jury v Doe, 50 NY2d 14, 21.)

Based on the above, the petitioner has not established that the material sought is overbroad or irrelevant and the application to quash is denied on those grounds.

II

THE 5TH AMENDMENT ARGUMENT

The next, and more serious challenge, is that the production of the records would violate petitioner’s 5th Amendment rights to be free from compulsory self-incrimination. While it is acknowledged that the custodian of business records of a corporation may not refuse to produce documents on the ground of infringement of 5th Amendment rights, petitioner maintains that his business enterprise is a sole proprietorship and wholly owned and operated by him individually; consequently, the contents of the records should be privileged; it is further maintained that the mere act of producing the records would have incriminating effects.

The State acknowledges some merit to this incrimination argument and refutes it by pointing out that the petitioner has been issued a personal subpoena. This subpoena will grant him immunity pursuant to CPL article 190 when he testifies in any respect. In effect, the Attorney-General maintains that since [1013]*1013“[a] witness who gives evidence in a grand jury proceeding” (CPL 190.40 [2]) automatically receives immunity, this testimonial privilege would cover any business records that he is interrogated on. Therefore, since petitioner would possess immunity, the State argues that the status of the documents is immaterial.

With this factual background, the court now considers the law in this area.

THE LAW

The 5th Amendment provides that no person “shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself”. This constitutional provision “protects a person * * * against being incriminated by his own compelled testimonial communications.” (Fisher v United States, 425 US 391,-409.) Such protection has been extended to one’s own papers since these reflect a “private inner sanctum of individual feeling[s] and thoughts]” (Couch v United States, 409 US 322, 327). One’s private papers, therefore, are protected by the 5th Amendment; however, this privacy does not extend to nonprivate records (Beilis v United States, 417 US 85); or records required to be kept by law (Shapiro v United States, 335 US 1).

As to business records, the 5th Amendment does not protect the records of corporations, unincorporated associates or partnerships. A sole proprietor can invoke the privilege to his benefit (Boyd v United States, 116 US 616).

In recent years, the protection of one’s business papers has been interpreted to mean not a “general protection of privacy” (Fisher v United States, supra, p 400), but rather a protection against “compelled self-incrimination” (Maness v Meyers, 419 US 449, 474). Thus, not every invasion of one’s business privacy violates the constitutional mandate, but only those involving compelled testimonial self-incrimination of some sort. Therefore, if business records are prepared voluntarily or by a third party, they cannot be said to be compelled in a constitutional sense.

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Related

Boyd v. United States
116 U.S. 616 (Supreme Court, 1886)
Shapiro v. United States
335 U.S. 1 (Supreme Court, 1948)
Couch v. United States
409 U.S. 322 (Supreme Court, 1973)
Bellis v. United States
417 U.S. 85 (Supreme Court, 1974)
Maness v. Meyers
419 U.S. 449 (Supreme Court, 1975)
Fisher v. United States
425 U.S. 391 (Supreme Court, 1976)
United States v. Doe
465 U.S. 605 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Matter of Grand Jury Empanelled March 19, 1980
541 F. Supp. 1 (D. New Jersey, 1981)
In Re Grand Jury Subpoena Served Upon Bekins Record Storage Co.
465 N.E.2d 345 (New York Court of Appeals, 1984)
Matter of Manning v. Valente
77 N.E.2d 3 (New York Court of Appeals, 1947)
Additional January 1979 Grand Jury of Albany Supreme Court v. Doe
405 N.E.2d 194 (New York Court of Appeals, 1980)
Virag v. Hynes
430 N.E.2d 1249 (New York Court of Appeals, 1981)
People v. Doe
450 N.E.2d 211 (New York Court of Appeals, 1983)

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Bluebook (online)
126 Misc. 2d 1010, 484 N.Y.S.2d 759, 1984 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3779, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-grand-jury-subpoena-duces-tecum-served-upon-doe-nysupct-1984.