Mobil Oil Corp. v. Department of Energy

102 F.R.D. 1, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17645
District Court, N.D. New York·Decided April 18, 1983·No. No. 81-CV-340·Published·Cited by 36 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM-DECISION AND ORDER

MUNSON, Chief Judge.

Presently before the Court is a motion by plaintiff, Mobil Oil Corporation (Mobil), to compel defendants, the Department of Energy, et al. (DOE), to produce twenty-two documents: P-1 and P-3 through P-23. [4] The defendants have refused to disclose the documents, asserting the predecisional privilege with regard to each of the documents; the attorney-client privilege with regard to P-3, P-5, P-11 and P-22; and the work product privilege with regard to P-5, P-10, P-12, P-17, a portion of P-18, and P-19. The Court has carefully considered the memorandum of law submitted by each side and has reviewed certain documents in camera. For the reasons stated herein the Court concludes that DOE’s predecisional privilege claims fail on procedural grounds and are denied except as to P-12; DOE’s attorney-client privilege claim applies to P-11 and is denied as to all other documents; and DOE’s work product privilege claim applies to P-12, a portion of P-19, and P-17.

PREDECISIONAL PRIVILEGE

The predecisional privilege,1 a “subcategory of the executive or govern[5] mental privilege,” Mobil Oil Corp. v. Department of Energy, 520 F.Supp. 414, 416 (N.D.N.Y.1981), rev’d on other grounds, 659 F.2d 150 (TECA), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 1110, 102 S.Ct. 687, 70 L.Ed.2d 651 (1981) (citing N.L.R.B. v. Sears, Roebuck, & Co., 421 U.S. 132, 95 S.Ct. 1504, 44 L.Ed.2d 29 (1975), protects from disclosure those agency documents which reflect “advisory opinions, recommendations and deliberations comprising part of a process by which governmental decisions and policies are formulated.” Id. The purpose of the privilege is to encourage frank discussion of ideas and policies, thereby ensuring the quality of governmental decision making. Id. The privilege is to be narrowly construed. Mobil Oil Corp., Exxon Corp., Gulf Oil Corp., and Marathon Oil Co. v. The Department of Energy, and James B. Edwards, Secretary of Energy, 79-CV-11 (N.D.N.Y. April 2, 1982) (Munson, C.J.) (Order).

To support its privilege claim, an agency must establish that: “1) the materials were part of a deliberative process by which policies or decisions are formulated ..., and 2) that the materials were truly of a predecisional, or advisory or recommendatory nature, or expressed an opinion on a legal or policy matter, or otherwise were reflective of a deliberative process.” Id. (citations omitted). “Working law communications,” i.e., those explanations or interpretations of an existing decision, are not within the protection of the privilege; nor does the privilege extend to purely factual material or factual data which may be severed from a deliberative memorandum or report. Id.

Once the privilege is properly invoked and the court determines that the material falls within the predecisional privilege, the court must engage in a balancing test to determine whether to compel release of the information.2 Factors to be considered in this balancing test are:

(i) the relevance of the evidence sought to be protected; (ii) the availability of other evidence; (iii) the “seriousness” of the litigation and the issues involved; (iv) the role of government in the litigation; and (v) the possibility of future timidity by government employees who will be forced to recognize that their secrets are violable.

Mobil Oil Corp. v. Department of Energy, 520 F.Supp. at 417 (citations omitted).

The government has the burden of properly invoking the privilege. After an exhaustive study of the case law, this Court, in Mobil Oil Corp. v. Department of Energy, id. at 416, outlined the specific procedure to be followed:

First, the claim of the privilege must be lodged by the head of the agency which has control over the matter, after personal consideration of the allegedly privileged nature of the information. This power to claim the privilege may be delegated by the head of the agency, but only to a subordinate with high authority. Nevertheless, before this properly may be done, the head of the agency [6] must issue guidelines on the use of the privilege. These requirements are designed to guarantee both that the delegatee official has sufficient expertise in the agency’s operations and functions, and will be able to render decisions on privileged information after reasoned judgment. The second procedural requirement is that a claim of privilege must specifically designate and describe the information that is purportedly privileged. And third, the agency must provide “precise and certain” reasons for preserving the confidentiality of the requested information.

(citations omitted) (emphasis added).

In the instant case,3 DOE fails to meet the strict procedural requirements. First, the privilege has been invoked by a DOE staff attorney and not by the agency’s head or a “subordinate with high authority.” Relying upon United States Department of Energy v. Brett, 659 F.2d 154 (TECA 1981) and Vaughn v. Rosen, 484 F.2d 820 (D.C.Cir.1973), cert. denied, 415 U.S. 977, 94 S.Ct. 1564, 39 L.Ed.2d 873 (1974), DOE argues that if the agency submits a specific and detailed justification of its claims and is willing to submit the documents to the Court for in camera inspection, then an affidavit or testimony of the agency head or high official is not mandated. DOE submits only an unsworn index of documents and seeks in camera inspection by the Court. This Court has already respectfully declined to follow Brett’s holding that no affidavit is needed if the agency seeks in camera review:

Followed literally, [Brett ] forces courts to become mindreaders—to discern without guidance what privilege claims an agency is asserting, the reasons for those claims, and then using those assumptions to determine whether the documents may be justifiably withheld. Moreover, in arcane areas of the law, judges may well fail to understand the precise content or import of highly technical documents without affidavits. Without such assistance, the chances of erroneous determinations increase.

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Mobil Oil Corp. v. Department of Energy, 102 F.R.D. 1, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17645 (N.D.N.Y. 1983).

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