Securities & Exchange Commission v. National Student Marketing Corp.

68 F.R.D. 157, 20 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 216, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13301
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedMarch 18, 1975
DocketCiv. A. No. 225-72; M.D.L. Docket No. 105
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 68 F.R.D. 157 (Securities & Exchange Commission v. National Student Marketing Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia 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. National Student Marketing Corp., 68 F.R.D. 157, 20 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 216, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13301 (D.D.C. 1975).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

PARKER, District Judge.

At the present stage of this securities fraud litigation, one of the most controversial procedural issues which the Court is again called upon to review involves the “Fifteenth Defense”. The substance of this defense is that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) violated its rules and procedures by failing to advise the defendants of their potential liability and their right to present their views to the Commission. There is no dispute that the defendants were not given such advice. Invoked initially by the defendants White & Case and Epley and later adopted by Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co.; Lord, Bissell & Brook and other defendants, the Fifteenth Defense challenges the good faith and indeed the authority of the Commission to initiate this litigation allegedly brought in violation of its rules. Dismissal of the complaint is sought.

When the issue was first presented, following exhaustive briefing and oral argument, the Court on August 23, 1974 in an unpublished memorandum opinion granted the motion of the Commission to strike the Fifteenth Defense asserted by White & Case and denied the motions of the other defendants for leave to amend their answers to include this affirmative defense.

The “rule” in question is based on a September 1, 1970 unpublished memorandum (the 1970 directive) from the Commission to its supervisory staff.1 The last paragraph of the memorandum provides:

In regard to both administrative proceedings and injunctive actions, the Commission requests that the staff’s memoranda to the Commission recommending the particular action set forth separately any arguments or contentions as to either the facts or the law involved in the case which have been advanced by the prospective respondents and which countervail those made by the staff in its memoranda as a basis for the recommendation.

In the August 23 opinion, this Court found that if the 1970 directive was a rule, it was designed primarily to provide information for the benefit of the agency and not to protect the procedural rights of those subject to the agency’s power, and as such, the violation of the rule did not provide a-basis for invalidating the agency action.

Immediately following that ruling, the affected defendants filed motions to reconsider contending that “the Court had made factual determinations concerning the intent, purpose and reason for the 1970 memorandum which could not be resolved by the pleadings and that the defendants, through discovery, should be permitted to develop a record under the circumstances.”2 On October 29, 1974, the motions for reconsideration were granted, the earlier order was vacated, and the motion of the SEC to strike the Fifteenth Defense was denied without prejudice to renew. The mo[159]*159tions of the other defendants to amend their answers to include the Fifteenth Defense were granted. Also, later denied were motions of the Commission for certification of the issue to the Court of Appeals and for a stay of that ruling pending an interlocutory appeal.

The defendants then embarked on a broad-ranging request for the production of documents relating to: the promulgation of the 1970 directive; possible notification of the defendants in this case; inquiries from persons outside the Commission concerning pre-pro-ceeding notification; recommendations of the Wells Committee (Advisory Committee on Enforcement Policies and Practices of the SEC); and discussions of Securities Act Release No. 5310 (“Procedures Relating to the Commencement of Enforcement Proceedings and Termination of Staff Investigations”). The request for documents covered a time period from several years before the 1970 directive to well beyond the time the suit was filed in early 1972. The SEC responded by moving for a protective order and renewing its motion to strike the defense. While it produced the official Commission minute3 which approved circulation among the staff of the 1970 directive, it resisted discovery of 67 other items which were indexed, described and submitted for in camera review by the Court.4

Discovery of the items was resisted by the SEC on the grounds that; (1) the October 29th Order limited the defendants’ legitimate discovery requests to documents illuminating the Commission’s intent, purpose and reason for issuing the 1970 directive; (2) the only documents which could provide such illumination were those issued by the Commission itself, and not those prepared by individual Commissioners or staff members; (3) internal memoranda of the Commission were immune from discovery by reason of the governmental privilege attaching to intra-agency mem-oranda containing advice, opinions, evaluations and recommendations, absent a showing of compelling need; (4) courts should not permit a party to utilize the judicial process to inquire into the mental impressions of individual decision-makers in an agency without a prima facie showing of improper action or bad faith in the decision-making process.

The Commission has also renewed its motion to strike the Fifteenth Defense and relies upon an affidavit of its secretary which states in part that the 1970 directive was not “a rule, procedure or directive requiring its staff, during the course of a Commission investigation and prior to the institution of an enforcement action . . ., to inform a person that he is a prospective defendant or target or to solicit the submission of views or contentions of any person as to why he should not be sued by the Commission.” The affidavit further alleges that the directive was an “instructional memorand[um] . . . intended to improve efficiency in the administration of [the Commission’s] regulatory and enforcement functions” and was not intended “to confer any rights or entitlements upon any person.”5 An earlier argument was also reasserted —that since the directive was not made public, there could have been no reliance on it by defendants.

In seeking to compel production of the requested documents, the defendants argue that: (1) the self-serving affidavit prepared by the Commission five years after the 1970 directive cannot substitute for the discovery sought [160]*160by defendants; (2) the Court, not the SEC, must determine questions of relevance; (3) the SEC’s own description of its documents impels the conclusion that they are relevant; and (4) that the cases relied upon by the Commission deal with the exemption for intra-agency memoranda under the Freedom of Information Act, but do not provide a standard for disclosure under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

I. DISCOVERY OF COMMISSION DOCUMENTS

In granting the defendants’ motions for reconsideration the Court was concerned with their expressed need for discovery to develop the facts concerning the Commission’s intent, reason and purpose in issuing the 1970 directive. Defendants now seek an order requiring the production of certain documents in pursuit of such facts. After an in camera review of these documents, this Court concludes that they are protected from disclosure by reason of the privilege for internal governmental memoranda containing advice or opinions. The.

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68 F.R.D. 157, 20 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 216, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13301, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/securities-exchange-commission-v-national-student-marketing-corp-dcd-1975.