Securities & Exchange Commission v. First Security Bank

447 F.2d 166, 1971 U.S. App. LEXIS 8314
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedAugust 30, 1971
DocketNo. 71-1135
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 447 F.2d 166 (Securities & Exchange Commission v. First Security Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Securities & Exchange Commission v. First Security Bank, 447 F.2d 166, 1971 U.S. App. LEXIS 8314 (10th Cir. 1971).

Opinion

BREITENSTEIN, Circuit Judge.

On the application of the Securities and Exchange Commission the district [167]*167court directed enforcement of four subpoenas duces tecum issued in a Commission investigation of possible violations of the federal securities laws. The subpoenas seek production of certain records of the First Security Bank of Utah, N.A., and of the Murray State Bank. The banks do not oppose the Commission’s application for subpoena enforcement. Certain depositors who maintain accounts in the banks sought to prevent compliance by the banks and were permitted to intervene. The appeal is by the intervenors.

A Commission order directed that a private investigation be made to determine if the registration and anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities laws had been violated in the offer and sale of common stock of Newport Pharmaceuticals" International, Inc. Between September 29 and October, 8, 1970, four subpoenas were served requiring production of bank records relating to the account statements, deposit slips, items deposited, and checks drawn on the accounts of the intervenors. State court orders restrained the banks from responding to the subpoenas.

The Commission brought proceedings under the Securities Act of 1933, 15 U. S.C. § 77v(b), and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. § 78u(c), against the banks to enforce compliance with the subpoenas. The interventions were allowed under the permissive provisions of Rule 24(b), F.R.Civ.P. The district court ordered enforcement and granted a stay pending appeal.

Two of the subpoenas seek information relating to trust accounts maintained by the intervenors Nemelka and Salazar who are lawyers. They say that the subpoenaing of records pertaining to such accounts violates the attorney-client privilege which they and their clients will not waive. In essence their claim is that bank records of receipts and disbursements in their trust accounts are privileged communications. Comparable claims have been rejected in O’Donnell v. Sullivan, 1 Cir., 364 F.2d 43, 44, cert. denied 385 U.S. 969, 87 S.Ct. 501, 17 L. Ed.2d 433, and Harris v. United States, 9 Cir., 413 F.2d 316, 319-320. We agree with those decisions.

The privilege extends “to the substance of matters communicated to an attorney in professional confidence.” Colton v. United States, 2 Cir., 306 F.2d 633, 637, cert. denied 371 U.S. 951, 83 S.Ct. 505, 9 L.Ed.2d 499. The deposit and disbursement of money in a commercial checking account are not confidential communications. The records are the property of the bank and are made by it for its business purposes. The functions and responsibilities of bank employees are not analogous to those of an attorney’s secretaries and clerks. The relationship between each bank and the intervening depositor is that of a debtor-creditor.

United States v. Kovel, 2 Cir., 296 F.2d 918, is not contrary to our conclusions. That case concerned a communication made to an accountant, the employee of a lawyer, for the purpose of obtaining legal advice from the lawyer. The maintenance of checking accounts is not shown to have any relevance to any communications made in confidence between a lawyer and client for the purpose of obtaining legal advice. A client may not immunize his business transactions from discovery by the device of a lawyer’s commercial checking account. Cf. Pollock v. United States, 5 Cir., 202 F.2d 281, 286, cert. denied 345 U.S. 993, 73 S.Ct. 1133, 97 L.Ed. 1401.

The intervenors contend that the subpoenas were invalid and unenforceable because they were beyond the scope of the Commission’s order. The authority of the Commission to make investigations of possible violations is found in 15 U.S.C. §§ 77t(a) and 78u(a). Section 77s(b) provides that in connection with such investigations

“any member of the Commission or any officer or officers designated by it are empowered to * * * require the production of any books, papers, or other documents which the Commission deems relevant or material to the inquiry.”

[168]*168A similar provision is found in § 78u(b).

The Commission order states that no registration statement has been filed with respect to Newport securities; that Newport has been offering its common stock for sale to the public; that while so engaged Newport has made certain untrue statements and has omitted to state material facts; and that in such activities Newport has used the mails and the instrumentalities of interstate commerce.

The Commission ordered that:

“a private investigation be made to determine whether the aforesaid person [Newport] or any other persons have engaged or are about to engage in any of the reported acts or practices * *

The Commission also ordered that certain named individuals and each of them

“is hereby designated an officer of this Commission and empowered to * * * require the production of any books, papers, correspondence, memoranda or other records deemed relevant and material to the inquiry * * * >>

The subpoenas were issued by one of the officers so designated.

Investigative powers given by statute to an administrative agency are not derived from the judicial function and are “more analogous to the Grand Jury.” United States v. Morton Salt Co., 338 U.S. 632, 642-643, 70 S.Ct. 357, 364, 94 L.Ed. 401. Questions concerning agency subpoenas should be promptly determined so that the subpoenas, if valid, may be speedily enforced. See United States v. Davey, 2 Cir., 426 F.2d 842, 845.

The Commission points out that the scope of the Commission order was not questioned by the banks but by the in-tervenors and was untimely because some two and a half months had elapsed after the enforcement application before the question was raised. This delay is unjustifiable but the district court did not reject the issue because of untimeliness and we must consider it on its merits.

The Commission urges that the intervenors have no standing to question the scope of the order and points out that the banks are not raising the issue. After the district court permitted the interventions and granted enforcement of the subpoenas, the Supreme Court decided Donaldson v. United States,

Related

Yost v. Schaffner
2020 Ohio 4225 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2020)
Pales v. Fedor
113 N.E.3d 1019 (Court of Appeals of Ohio, Eighth District, Cuyahoga County, 2018)
McClary v. Walsh
202 F.R.D. 286 (N.D. Alabama, 2000)
Ex Parte Clark
630 So. 2d 493 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1993)
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Knopfler
658 F.2d 25 (Second Circuit, 1981)
Securities & Exchange Commission v. Knopfler
658 F.2d 25 (Second Circuit, 1981)
Ayers v. Securities & Exchange Commission
482 F. Supp. 747 (D. Montana, 1980)
United States v. Blackwood
582 F.2d 1244 (First Circuit, 1978)
United States v. Blackwood
582 F.2d 1244 (Tenth Circuit, 1978)
United States v. Coopers & Lybrand
550 F.2d 615 (Tenth Circuit, 1977)
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Kaplan
397 F. Supp. 564 (E.D. New York, 1975)
In Re a Grand Jury Subpoena Duces Tecum
391 F. Supp. 1029 (S.D. New York, 1975)
United States v. Kline
366 F. Supp. 994 (District of Columbia, 1973)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
447 F.2d 166, 1971 U.S. App. LEXIS 8314, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/securities-exchange-commission-v-first-security-bank-ca10-1971.