In re Westinghouse Electric Corp. Uranium Contracts Litigation

76 F.R.D. 47, 23 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1148, 2 Fed. R. Serv. 87, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14930
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedJuly 19, 1977
DocketMisc. No. 6728
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 76 F.R.D. 47 (In re Westinghouse Electric Corp. Uranium Contracts Litigation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Westinghouse Electric Corp. Uranium Contracts Litigation, 76 F.R.D. 47, 23 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1148, 2 Fed. R. Serv. 87, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14930 (W.D. Pa. 1977).

Opinion

OPINION and ORDER

SNYDER, District Judge.

This Court has been asked by Westinghouse Electric Corporation (Westinghouse) to order compliance by Gulf Oil Corporation (Gulf) and Charles A. Boyce, its Secretary, with a notice of deposition and subpoena duces tecum which included “Schedules of Requested Documents” to be produced for examination and copying at Gulf’s Headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, within the jurisdiction of this Court. On the day before compliance was due, Gulf formally objected for a multiplicity of reasons, including attorney-client privilege, to either the copying of the documents or to the taking of the deposition. After passage of more than three weeks, Westinghouse “noticed” Gulf that two days later, on May 4, 1977, it would ask this Court to hear arguments and give “EMERGENCY CONSIDERATION” due to the fact that discovery in the principal action to which this is ancillary in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia would be cut off as of June 3, 1977. In support thereof, Westinghouse filed a Brief and the Affidavit of Ronald Lawrence, its Chief Counsel of Litigation, in which it was set forth that the instant subpoena required documents of primary importance to “In Re: Westinghouse Electric Corporation Uranium Contracts Litigation, MDL Docket No. 235”, involving numerous actions for damages and injunctive relief against Westinghouse on its long-term commitment for [50]*50the supply of uranium to the Plaintiffs, all of whom are public utilities, and related to the Westinghouse defenses against the contract claims asserted therein. A trial date had been set by Judge Merhige for August 22, 1977. Most importantly here, Westinghouse is raising the defense of “commercially impracticable” under Section 2-615 of the Uniform Commercial Code1 because of the dramatic upsurge (from $6 to $40 per pound) experienced by uranium prices after 1973, allegedly due in part to conspiratorial actions of foreign and United States uranium producers (including Gulf) to regulate the supply and control the price of uranium.

Furthermore, the Lawrence Affidavit alleged:

“9. Deponent is informed and believes, and on that basis alleges, that on June 16, 1975 the United States grand jury in Washington, D. C. issued identical subpoenas to all uranium producers, including Gulf, directing them to produce documents concerning the unlawful conspiracy. A true and correct copy of one such subpoena to Gulf Oil Corporation is attached hereto as Exhibit ‘F’. The categories described by the grand jury in its subpoena were restated verbatim in the subpoenas issued by this court in support of Westinghouse’s application to Gulf, the only difference being that Westinghouse omitted certain categories (such as SEC filings) contained in the grand jury subpoena in order to minimize the burden on Gulf of such production.
10. In the multidistrict litigation there is in existence a Confidentiality Order, dated May 6, 1976, applicable to parties and nonparties alike, including Gulf, which provides broad ranging protection for any alleged confidential material produced pursuant to subpoena. Under that order, any producing company, including Gulf, can designate documents as ‘confidential’ or ‘specially confidential’ and thereby impose restrictions on their disclosure. A true and correct copy of the Confidentiality Order is attached hereto as Exhibit ‘G’.”2

At a hearing held May 12, 1977, before Judge Louis Rosenberg of this Court (presently unavailable) an Agreed Order was entered calling for production of the documents listed in Schedules A and B, but excusing immediate compliance as to the documents in Schedule C (herein being requested) and requiring Gulf to identify any [51]*51documents withheld on the grounds of privilege.3

On May 20, 1977, Westinghouse filed a Petition to Hold Gulf Oil Corporation in Contempt of Court for Violation of the Agreed Order of Production, stressing that time was of the essence. The Affidavit of its Counsel, James A. Gould of Kirkland & Ellis, was that on May 19, 1977, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, “Mr. Ream [Of Counsel for Gulf] informed me that Gulf would not produce a list of documents withheld on claim of privilege” and that “Attorney Richard Colman, who negotiated the Agreed Order . . . stated that no listing of withheld documents would be produced to me on May 19,1977.” However, a large quantity of documents were produced.

At the Hearing on the Petition, Judge Rosenberg elicited information that the list in question was being prepared and would be available in three or four days. The Hearing Memo indicates:

“GULF will have privileged document list prepared by early next week, and it will be delivered to the Washington office. HEARING ON MOTION will be continued to Tuesday, May 24, 1977 at 11 a.m. unless further notified by Attorney Egler.”

The list of documents was submitted to Westinghouse as agreed, but on June 21, 1977, Westinghouse petitioned this Court to compel Gulf to produce the documents identified thereon (some 90 in number) and contended that Gulf’s claim of attorney-client privilege was without merit. The matter was then assigned to Judge Herbert P. Sorg of this Court and came on for hearing on June 28, 1977. Judge Sorg was informed that discovery at MDL Docket 235 had been extended to August 21, 1977, with trial set to start September 21,1977. He then heard detailed arguments, received a Brief from Westinghouse, and considered Gulf’s Petition for Stay of Enforcement pending a decision by Chief Judge Bryant of the District of Columbia on a similar motion by Gulf in grand jury proceedings in that District. Judge Sorg denied the Petition as being “too indefinite” a proposal inasmuch as counsel were unable to advise him when Chief Judge Bryant’s decision was expected. Counsel for Gulf and Westinghouse requested a briefing schedule and Judge Sorg advised them of a prior inter-circuit assignment which would require his presence elsewhere. He did, however, set up a briefing schedule which has been complied with, and the matter is now ripe for determination on the record and briefs submitted to the undersigned after reassignment.

Gulf opposes the production of these documents for the following reasons (Opposition Brief, pp. 1-2):

“(1) The same documents which Westinghouse seeks to have produced are also subject to claims of privilege before the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia. These same privileged documents have been withheld by Gulf on grounds of privilege from production pursuant to a subpoena issued to Gulf during the course of a grand jury investigation. The matter has been fully briefed and submitted to the District of Columbia Court and is now awaiting decision. Westinghouse has filed an amicus brief in the District of Columbia proceedings, arguing against Gulf’s privilege claims as it does here. It would, therefore, be wasteful of this Court’s time and resources for it to engage in duplicative proceedings with respect to the identical privilege claims of Gulf.
(2) In a stipulated Order entered by this Court, dated May 12, 1977, Westinghouse agreed to a procedure whereby Gulf would produce to Westinghouse only those documents which have been or shall be produced to the grand jury in the course of the aforementioned investigation.

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Bluebook (online)
76 F.R.D. 47, 23 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1148, 2 Fed. R. Serv. 87, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14930, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-westinghouse-electric-corp-uranium-contracts-litigation-pawd-1977.