PEOPLE EX REL. PUC v. Entrup

143 P.3d 1120
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 27, 2006
Docket05CA0130
StatusPublished

This text of 143 P.3d 1120 (PEOPLE EX REL. PUC v. Entrup) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
PEOPLE EX REL. PUC v. Entrup, 143 P.3d 1120 (Colo. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

143 P.3d 1120 (2006)

The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado ex rel. PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Robert ENTRUP, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 05CA0130.

Colorado Court of Appeals, Div. V.

July 27, 2006.

*1122 John W. Suthers, Attorney General, David M. Nocera, Assistant Attorney General, Denver, Colorado, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Robert Entrup, pro se.

Opinion by Judge RUSSEL.

Defendant, Robert Entrup, appeals the trial court's judgment finding him in contempt of court and imposing sanctions. We affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand with directions.

I. Introduction

The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) alleged that Entrup and his business entities were operating as motor vehicle carriers in violation of statutes that required them to register and provide proof of liability insurance. Entrup responded, asserting, among other things, that he carried liability insurance in the required amounts.

As relevant here, the ensuing dispute yielded two separate orders imposing sanctions—one for a violation of the rules governing discovery and the other for contempt of court. We address each of these orders in turn.

II. Discovery Sanctions

Several weeks after the case was at issue, the PUC informed the trial court that Entrup had failed to serve C.R.C.P. 26(a)(1) disclosures and therefore was in violation of C.R.C.P. 16(b)(5). The PUC later asked the court to compel disclosure of pertinent insurance policies, as well as an insurance card that Entrup's attorney allegedly possessed. The PUC also asked the court to impose sanctions for Entrup's failure to provide the pertinent material in a timely manner.

Entrup resisted the PUC's request. He asserted, among other things, that his Fifth Amendment rights would be violated if he were compelled to produce the information that the PUC sought.

The trial court granted the motion to compel and ordered Entrup to "produce any insurance policy information" within six days. Later, as a sanction for the failure to comply with discovery rules, the court ordered Entrup to pay $3075 in attorney fees.

A. No Fifth Amendment Violation

Entrup contends that the trial court violated his Fifth Amendment privilege against compelled selfincrimination when it ordered him to produce the insurance policy information. We disagree.

The Fifth Amendment protects a person from having to make statements that could, directly or indirectly, subject him to criminal liability. A person may invoke the privilege against compelled selfincrimination in criminal or civil proceedings. Steiner v. Minn. Life Ins. Co., 85 P.3d 135, 139-40 (Colo.2004).

We conclude that Entrup could not properly invoke the privilege against compelled selfincrimination because the Fifth Amendment does not protect the information that the PUC requested.

The PUC sought documents that showed the amount of motor vehicle liability insurance that Entrup carried during the relevant times. Entrup could not avoid disclosing the content of these documents on Fifth Amendment grounds because the privilege against compelled selfincrimination does not protect the content of any voluntarily prepared business record. United States v. Doe, 465 U.S. 605, 610-11 n. 8, 104 S.Ct. 1237, 1240-41, 79 L.Ed.2d 552 (1984).

An individual may resist a request for documents on the ground that the act of production will itself be incriminating. See Fisher v. United States, 425 U.S. 391, 410, 96 S.Ct. 1569, 1581, 48 L.Ed.2d 39 (1976) (act of producing evidence in response to a subpoena has communicative aspects wholly aside from the contents of the papers produced). For the following reasons, however, Entrup could not avoid producing the requested documents.

First, under the "collective entity" doctrine, an individual who acts as an agent for a corporation or other collective entity may not claim a Fifth Amendment privilege over documents that belong to the entity. See Bellis v. United States, 417 U.S. 85, 94 S.Ct. 2179, 40 L.Ed.2d 678 (1974) (partner *1123 may not refuse to produce partnership documents). Thus, Entrup could not avoid producing a document that belonged to one of his business entities on the ground that the act of disclosure would incriminate him personally. See Braswell v. United States, 487 U.S. 99, 108 S.Ct. 2284, 101 L.Ed.2d 98 (1988) (custodian of corporate records may not resist a subpoena on the ground that the act of production will be personally incriminating).

Second, even if the requested documents belonged to Entrup, the court could compel their production under the "required records" doctrine. This doctrine creates an exception to the Fifth Amendment privilege where the inquiry and the requested records meet three criteria: (1) the purpose of the government's inquiry is regulatory, rather than criminal; (2) the records contain the type of information that the regulated party would ordinarily keep; and (3) the records have assumed public aspects rendering them analogous to public documents. In re Grand Jury Subpoena Duces Tecum (Underhill), 781 F.2d 64, 67 (6th Cir.1986) (citing Grosso v. United States, 390 U.S. 62, 67-68, 88 S.Ct. 709, 713-14, 19 L.Ed.2d 906 (1968)).

Here, the necessary criteria are met:

1. Motor vehicle carriers are required by statute to maintain and file insurance policies to demonstrate that they have liability insurance in the required amounts. See §§ 4010110, 4016104(2), C.R.S.2005. Because the governing statutes are regulatory in nature, the PUC's request was regulatory, not criminal. See In re Grand Jury Subpoena, 21 F.3d 226, 228 (8th Cir.1994) (first criterion is whether "the purpose of the recordkeeping is essentially regulatory"); In re Grand Jury Subpoena Duces Tecum (Underhill), supra, 781 F.2d at 67 (in determining the purpose of the government's inquiry, the relevant question is whether the statute and regulations that require the records' maintenance are regulatory in nature).
2. The PUC sought information that is routinely kept by those who operate motor vehicle carriers. By assuming control over an enterprise that is subject to the government's noncriminal regulatory powers, Entrup effectively agreed to maintain the requested records and forfeited his ability to resist disclosure. See Baltimore City Dep't of Soc. Servs. v. Bouknight, 493 U.S. 549, 558-59, 110 S.Ct. 900, 906-07, 107 L.Ed.2d 992 (1990) (by accepting care of child in need, custodian submitted to the routine operation of the regulatory system and accepted the obligation to permit inspection); Exotic Coins, Inc. v.

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Related

Grosso v. United States
390 U.S. 62 (Supreme Court, 1968)
Bellis v. United States
417 U.S. 85 (Supreme Court, 1974)
Fisher v. United States
425 U.S. 391 (Supreme Court, 1976)
United States v. Doe
465 U.S. 605 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Braswell v. United States
487 U.S. 99 (Supreme Court, 1988)
In Re Grand Jury Subpoena Duces Tecum Served Upon
781 F.2d 64 (Sixth Circuit, 1986)
In Re the Estate of Elliott
993 P.2d 474 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2000)
Exotic Coins, Inc. v. Beacom
699 P.2d 930 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1985)
In Re the Marriage of Nussbeck
974 P.2d 493 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1999)
Schmidt Construction Co. v. Becker-Johnson Corp.
817 P.2d 625 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 1991)
In Re the Marriage of Lodeski
107 P.3d 1097 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2004)
Gordon v. Boyles
99 P.3d 75 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2004)
Brown v. Silvern
141 P.3d 871 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2005)
Steiner v. Minnesota Life Insurance Co.
85 P.3d 135 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2004)
People ex rel. Public Utilities Commission v. Entrup
143 P.3d 1120 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2006)

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143 P.3d 1120, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-ex-rel-puc-v-entrup-coloctapp-2006.