In re the Leslie Fay Companies, Inc. Securities Litigation

161 F.R.D. 274
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedMay 26, 1995
DocketMaster File No. 92 Civ. 8036 (WCC)
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 161 F.R.D. 274 (In re the Leslie Fay Companies, Inc. Securities Litigation) 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 the Leslie Fay Companies, Inc. Securities Litigation, 161 F.R.D. 274 (S.D.N.Y. 1995).

Opinion

OPINON AND ORDER

WILLIAM C. CONNER, Senior District Judge.

This discovery dispute comprises yet another chapter in the ongoing class action brought on behalf of all individuals who purchased common stock of The Leslie Fay Companies, Inc. (“Leslie Fay” or “the Company”) between March 28, 1991 and April 5, 1993. Plaintiffs allege violations of §§ 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder against a number of Leslie Fay’s former officers and directors (collectively the “Individual Defendants”) and BDO Seidman (“BDO”), the Company’s former outside auditor. In April 1995, BDO filed various cross-claims against the Individual Defendants and a third party complaint against certain of Leslie Fay’s directors seeking contribution for any liability BDO may ultimately bear in the underlying action.

On December 22, 1993, this Court ordered production of a report (the “Audit Committee Report” or “ACR”) generated by Leslie Fay’s Board of Directors’ Audit Committee (the “Audit Committee” or the “Committee”). BDO now seeks production of documents created by Weil, Gotshal & Manges (“Weil”), attorneys representing the Audit Committee, and by Arthur Andersen & Co. (“AA”) for Weil in connection with the investigation conducted by the Audit Committee in preparing the ACR. For the reasons discussed below, the Court orders Weil to produce these documents unless it can show, on a document-by-document basis, that any documents withheld contain the attorneys’ legal analysis or advice not discussed in the ACR, and do not encompass subject matters reflected in the ACR.

I. BACKGROUND

Although the facts surrounding the creation of the ACR are fully articulated in our prior opinion, see In re Leslie Fay Companies, Inc. Securities Lit., 152 F.R.D. 42 (S.D.N.Y.1993) [hereinafter Leslie Fay I ] familiarity with which is presumed, we will briefly recapitulate the events leading up to this discovery dispute. On January 31,1993, the Board of Directors of Leslie Fay (the “Board”) was informed of certain accounting-irregularities with respect to the Company’s financial statements. Subsequently, the Board requested its Audit Committee to commence an investigation and report its findings to the Board. The Audit Committee retained Weil to assist in the investigation, who in turn retained a team of AA accountants (the “AA Investigation Team”).1 The instant discovery dispute involves the discov-erability of the documents created in the course of that investigation.

On February 1, 1993, Leslie Fay publicly announced the commencement of this Audit Committee Investigation and stated that the results might cause the Company to restate previously reported earnings for 1991 and eliminate any profit for 1992. On the same day, the first of thirteen shareholder class-[278]*278action lawsuits was filed against the Company,2 its officers and directors, and BDO.

Shortly thereafter, Leslie Fay was informed by the Securities & Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania (the “USAO/MDPA”), and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (“USAO/SDNY”) that they had commenced investigations into the accounting irregularities. At the outset of these government investigations, the Audit Committee agreed to provide the SEC and the U.S. Attorneys with copies of the ACR upon completion of the investigation.

On September 29, 1993, Leslie Fay issued a press release announcing the completion of the ACR, after which it voluntarily provided copies of the report to the SEC, USAO/ MDPA, and USAO/SDNY. Upon BDO’s motion to compel production of the report in this suit, we ruled in December 1993 that the production of the report to the SEC waived any work-product immunity, attorney-client privilege, or self-analysis privilege associated with the report itself. Leslie Fay I, 152 F.R.D at 44.

Subsequent to the ACR’s creation, in Leslie Fay’s pending chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding, a committee of Leslie Fay’s creditors (the “Creditors’ Committee”) questioned Weil’s impartiality and the accuracy of the report. Therefore, at Weil’s request the bankruptcy court appointed Examiner Charles A. Stillman (“Stillman”) to investigate these assertions. In accordance with that order, Stillman obtained a large portion of Weil’s and AA’s work product generated in preparing the ACR and deposed several Weil attorneys. That order also maintained the confidentiality of the documents produced by the Audit Committee pursuant to Stillman’s investigation and indicated that their production did not affect any work-product or attorney-client immunities potentially covering them. On May 27, 1994, Stillman filed two reports (the “Stillman Reports”) with the bankruptcy court analyzing 1) the potential claims on behalf of the bankruptcy estate3 and 2) Weil’s potential conflict of interest in representing the Audit Committee and preparing the ACR. Those reports substantially concurred with the conclusions of the ACR that senior management was not culpable for failing to detect the accounting irregularities. Although initially filed under seal, the Still-man reports were unsealed in August 1994 in response to a motion brought by Bloomberg Business News. Similarly, although the ACR was initially subject to the terms of a confidentiality agreement between the parties in the instant suit “So Ordered” by this Court, pursuant to our order dated March 31, 1995, we declared that document non-confidential.

Pursuant to the USAO/MDPA’s investigation, in addition to providing the ACR, Leslie Fay also produced certain materials prepared by AA at the direction of Weil in connection with the Audit Committee’s investigation in response to grand jury subpoenas. In a letter dated November 17, 1993, the U.S. attorney agreed to keep the ACR confidential and disclosure limited to the furtherance of law enforcement objectives. Similarly, the AA materials were produced in accordance with a confidentiality agreement between the USAO and Weil dated May 19, 1994. In that letter agreement, the parties state that the production is made pursuant to the “common interests of the USAO and the Audit Committee” and is not meant to waive any attorney-client privilege or work-product protection to which those documents may be entitled. Referring to the November 17 agreement, the U.S. Attorney also agreed to [279]*279keep the AA materials confidential and disclosure limited to the furtherance of law enforcement objectives.

On March 15, 1995, BDO served a subpoena on Weil pursuant to Rule 45, Fed.R.Civ. Pro., to produce, among other things the following four classes of documents in Weil’s possession:

1) memorandum and notes regarding interviews of Company personnel conducted by Weil and AA in the course of preparing the ACR;
2) Weil and AA work product relating to the discovery, mechanics and scope of Leslie Fay’s accounting irregularities;
3) Weil and AA work product relating to the other matters discussed in the ACR, including their analysis of materials reviewed by senior management and the outside directors; and
4) communications with the Audit Committee about the investigation, including drafts of the ACR.4

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Bluebook (online)
161 F.R.D. 274, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-leslie-fay-companies-inc-securities-litigation-nysd-1995.