In Re Special Investigation No. 244

459 A.2d 1111, 296 Md. 80, 1983 Md. LEXIS 232
CourtCourt of Appeals of Maryland
DecidedMay 5, 1983
Docket[No. 117, September Term, 1982.]
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 459 A.2d 1111 (In Re Special Investigation No. 244) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Special Investigation No. 244, 459 A.2d 1111, 296 Md. 80, 1983 Md. LEXIS 232 (Md. 1983).

Opinions

[82]*82Smith, J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court.. Menchine, J., dissents and filed a dissenting opinion at page 98 infra.

This is yet another case emanating from the Attorney General’s ongoing investigation of Medicaid fraud in Maryland. A subpoena duces tecum was issued to the custodian of records of a joint venture, which is the landlord of a health care provider. The principal owners of the joint venture also own a significant interest in or participate in the management of two health care providers. The joint venture and its principal owners sought to quash the subpoena. They appealed from an unfavorable decision. We then granted their petition for a writ of certiorari before the case was heard by the Court of Special Appeals.

We are faced with the following questions: (1) Whether the denial of the motion to quash is appealable; (2) whether the Attorney General has the authority to act as prosecutor in this area; (3) whether the Grand Jury of Baltimore City has power to summon records of an entity locatéd beyond the confines of Baltimore City; (4) whether procedures are required to prevent improper concurrent use of subpoenaed material by persons or entities other than the grand jury; and (5) whether the subpoena duces tecum here is defective in that part which in effect requires the recipient to construct a document. We shall hold the order appealable, that the Attorney General and the grand jury have not exceeded their authority, that there appears to be no improper concurrent use of materials here, and that the recipient of a subpoena may not be required to create a document.

The subpoena in question was issued on May 19, 1982, by the Grand Jury of Baltimore City at the instance of the Medicaid Fraud Unit of the office of the Attorney General. The motion to quash was heard and denied on July 2. An appeal was immediately entered to the Court of Special Appeals. The term of the grand jury has long since expired. No effort was made to enforce the subpoena pending the appeal. No effort was made to have the grand jury continued beyond its term. No similar subpoena has been issued by a [83]*83subsequent grand jury. It follows, therefore, that there is now no one to whom the subpoena is returnable and the subpoena must be quashed. See In Re Special Investigation No. 229, 295 Md. 584, 458 A.2d 80 (1983), and In Re Special Investigation No. 195, 295 Md. 276, 454 A.2d 843 (1983). However, because there is likely to be a recurrence of the issues here presented and upon the recurrence the same difficulty which prevented the issues from being heard in time is likely to again prevent a resolution, we shall address the issues presented. See Equitable Tr. Co. v. State Comm’n, 287 Md. 80, 89, 411 A.2d 86 (1980); Reyes v. Prince George’s County, 281 Md. 279, 300, 380 A.2d 12 (1977), and Maryland Rule 885. We shall set forth additional facts as we discuss the questions presented.

1. Appealability

The Attorney General has moved to dismiss the appeal on the ground that the denial of a motion to quash is not appealable. He relies heavily upon Cobbledick v. United States, 309 U.S. 323, 327-28, 60 S. Ct. 540, 84 L. Ed. 783 (1940), and its progeny. In Cobbledick Justice Frankfurter stated for the Court, "Finality as a condition of review is an historic characteristic of federal appellate procedure.” Id. at 324. There the Court was faced with an order denying a motion to quash a subpoena duces tecum. The Court said, "The witness’ relation to the inquiry is no different in a grand jury proceeding than it was in the Alexander case,” Id. at 328, referring to Alexander v. United States, 201 U.S. 117, 26 S. Ct. 356, 50 L. Ed. 686 (1906). In Alexander witnesses were directed to appear and produce documents before a special examiner designated by the circuit court to hear testimony in a suit brought by the United States to enforce the Sherman Act. Upon refusal to submit the documents called for in the subpoena, the United States petitioned the circuit court for an order requiring compliance. The petition was granted. An appeal followed to the Supreme Court. The appeal was dismissed for want of [84]*84jurisdiction. In the course of its opinion, 201 U.S. at 121-22, quoted in Cobbledick, 309 U.S. at 327, the Court held that a right of review which would follow from an order holding a witness in contempt "is adequate for his protection without unduly impeding the progress of the case.... This power to punish being exercised the matter becomes personal to the witness and a judgment as to him. Prior to that the proceedings are interlocutory in the original suit.”

Cobbledick was reaffirmed by the Supreme Court as recently as in United States v. Ryan, 402 U.S. 530, 91 S. Ct. 1580, 29 L. Ed. 2d 85 (1971). In Ryan Justice Brennan referred for the Court to the exception expressed in Perlman v. United States, 247 U.S. 7, 38 S. Ct. 417, 62 L. Ed. 950 (1918), where the subpoena directed a third party to produce exhibits which were not the property of the person to whom the subpoena was issued and the owner claimed immunity from the production order. The Supreme Court there allowed immediate review stating that to have denied such review would have left Perlman "powerless to avert the mischief of the order,” Id. at 13, for, as Justice Brennan put it for the Court in Ryan, "the custodian could hardly have been expected to risk a citation for contempt in order to secure Perlman an opportunity for judicial review.” 402 U.S. at 533. Technically the subpoena here may be to a third party since it does not clearly appear whether the recipient is an employee. In Perlman the recipient was not an employee. Thus, if "the custodian of records,” the title used in the subpoena, is an employee, he is under the direction and control of his employers, his duties may be changed at will, and he may not be in actual control of the records.

Cases which appear to follow Cobbledick include: United States v. Harrod, 428 A.2d 30 (D.C. 1981); State v. Grover, 387 A.2d 21 (Me. 1978); Commonwealth v. Winer, 380 Mass. 934, 404 N.E. 2d 654 (1980); and In Re: Petition of Arlen Specter, 455 Pa. 518, 519-20, 317 A.2d 286 (1974).

Appellants counter with the rule laid down in New York in such cases as Mtr. Cunningham v. Nadjari, 39 N.Y. 2d 314, 317, 347 N.E.2d 915, 383 N.Y.S.2d 590 (1976), and [85]*85Matter of Boikess v. Aspland, 24 N.Y.2d 136, 138-39, 247 N.E.2d 135, 299 N.Y.S. 2d 163 (1969). Those cases carry little weight here, however, because the reasoning is that they were final orders in special proceedings on the civil side of the docket in a court vested with civil jurisdiction.

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Bluebook (online)
459 A.2d 1111, 296 Md. 80, 1983 Md. LEXIS 232, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-special-investigation-no-244-md-1983.