OPINION IN ORDER
ORRICK, District Judge.
This is another in a series of recent cases challenging the government’s right to obtain a bank’s records of its customers’ accounts. The case is before the Court on a verified petition for enforcement of Internal Revenue summons, filed by the United States and Agent Glenn Miyamoto of the Internal Revenue Service (Government) on April 7,1976, and a motion to intervene as a respondent, filed by the taxpayer, Edward M. Stadum, an attorney (Applicant), on May 17, 1976. The summons was served on The Bank of California, National Association (Bank) on October 29,1975, pursuant to Sections 7602 and 7603 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (26 U.S.C. §§ 7602, 7603).
It required the Bank to produce certain of its records respecting Applicant’s law office trust account.
This proceeding is brought and this Court has jurisdiction hereof under Sections 7402(b) and 7604(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (26 U.S.C. §§ 7402(b) and 7604(a)).
For the reasons hereinafter set forth, I find that Applicant has failed to establish a “significantly protectable interest” warranting his intervention in these proceedings, and that the summons is enforceable.
I
On November 12, 1973, the Government requested that Applicant provide complete records of all his personal and business banking transactions for 1972 in connection with a routine audit of the 1972 joint income tax return of Applicant and his then wife.
Applicant produced most of the requested materials, but he refused to produce the originals of his trust account records and unaltered copies of checks drawn on his law office trust account, claiming that they were privileged. He did provide 'copies of cancelled checks with his clients’ names deleted.
In July of 1974, the Government caused a Section 7602 summons to be served on Applicant. Applicant again refused to fully comply, claiming that the production of the trust account records and his clients’ identities would violate the attorney-client privilege and the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. He further asserted that his clients’ identities were irrelevant to his 1972 tax liability. As a result, in August and October of 1975, the Government caused two Section 7602 summonses to be served on the Bank requesting production of its records respecting the trust account. At Applicant’s request, the Bank refused to comply with the summonses without a court proceeding.
Thereafter, the Government filed its petition to enforce the October 29 summons (Bank summons), and the Government caused a notice of deficiency in the amount of $28,795 to be sent to Applicant,
and Applicant filed his motion to intervene. The Bank is not opposing the petition, and will produce the requested records upon this Court’s order to do so.
Applicant is contending that the Government has abused this Court’s process by seeking allegedly irrelevant information and by attempting to circumvent the discovery rules and policies of the United States Tax Court where he intends to contest the deficiency assessment. He further alleges that enforcement of the summons will violate the Fourth and Fifth Amendments and his clients’ attorney-client privileges.
The Government resists Applicant’s intervention in this proceeding, claiming that he has failed to demonstrate a “significantly protectable interest” warranting his intervention under the standards established by the Supreme Court in
Donaldson
v.
United States,
400 U.S. 517, 91 S.Ct. 534, 27 L.Ed.2d 580 (1971). Moreover, the Government contends that the materials sought are not privileged, and that neither the Fourth nor Fifth Amendments are implicated by a valid Section 7602 summons seeking a bank’s records respecting a law office trust account. Finally, it seeks enforcement of the summons on the grounds that it was lawfully issued pursuant to a proper purpose.
II
Taxpayer intervention in Section 7602 summons enforcement proceedings brought against third parties has been permitted under limited circumstances.
See, Donaldson v. United States, supra,
400 U.S. at 530-531, 91 S.Ct. 534;
Garrett v. United States,
511 F.2d 1037, 1038 (9th Cir. 1975);
United States v. Luther,
481 F.2d 429, 433 (9th Cir. 1973). Such intervention is permissive, not mandatory, and is appropriate only where the taxpayer establishes that he has a “significantly protectable interest” in the proceeding, as where there has been an abuse of legal process or where some privilege will be violated by enforcement.
Donaldson v. United States, supra,
400 U.S. at 531, 91 S.Ct. 534;
Garrett v. United States, supra,
511 F.2d at 1038.
Abuse of process exists where the summons is issued in bad faith, “solely” for criminal investigatory purposes
(Donaldson v. United States, supra,
400 U.S. at 533, 91 S.Ct. 534;
Wild v. United States,
362 F.2d 206, 208-209 (9th Cir. 1966)), to harass the taxpayer
(United States v. Powell,
379 U.S. 48, 58, 85 S.Ct. 248, 13 L.Ed.2d 112 (1964);
United States v. Church of Scientology of California,
520 F.2d 818, 822 (9th Cir. 1975)), or after a recommendation for criminal prosecution.
Reisman v. Caplin,
375 U.S. 440, 449, 84 S.Ct. 508, 11 L.Ed.2d 459 (1964);
Boren
v.
Tucker,
239 F.2d 767, 772 (9th Cir. 1956). Applicant does not assert any such abuse. Rather, he maintains, first, that the Bank’s records sought are irrelevant to his 1972 tax liability. However, relevancy has “a broader connotation [under Section 7602] than in the context of trial”.
United States v. Ruggeiro,
425 F.2d 1069, 1071 (9th Cir. 1970),
cert. denied,
401 U.S. 922, 91 S.Ct. 863, 27 L.Ed.2d 826 (1971). The test as to whether records sought are relevant to a tax inquiry within the meaning of Section 7602(2) is whether the inspection sought
might
throw light upon the correctness of Applicant’s 1972 return.
United States v. Ryan,
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OPINION IN ORDER
ORRICK, District Judge.
This is another in a series of recent cases challenging the government’s right to obtain a bank’s records of its customers’ accounts. The case is before the Court on a verified petition for enforcement of Internal Revenue summons, filed by the United States and Agent Glenn Miyamoto of the Internal Revenue Service (Government) on April 7,1976, and a motion to intervene as a respondent, filed by the taxpayer, Edward M. Stadum, an attorney (Applicant), on May 17, 1976. The summons was served on The Bank of California, National Association (Bank) on October 29,1975, pursuant to Sections 7602 and 7603 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (26 U.S.C. §§ 7602, 7603).
It required the Bank to produce certain of its records respecting Applicant’s law office trust account.
This proceeding is brought and this Court has jurisdiction hereof under Sections 7402(b) and 7604(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (26 U.S.C. §§ 7402(b) and 7604(a)).
For the reasons hereinafter set forth, I find that Applicant has failed to establish a “significantly protectable interest” warranting his intervention in these proceedings, and that the summons is enforceable.
I
On November 12, 1973, the Government requested that Applicant provide complete records of all his personal and business banking transactions for 1972 in connection with a routine audit of the 1972 joint income tax return of Applicant and his then wife.
Applicant produced most of the requested materials, but he refused to produce the originals of his trust account records and unaltered copies of checks drawn on his law office trust account, claiming that they were privileged. He did provide 'copies of cancelled checks with his clients’ names deleted.
In July of 1974, the Government caused a Section 7602 summons to be served on Applicant. Applicant again refused to fully comply, claiming that the production of the trust account records and his clients’ identities would violate the attorney-client privilege and the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. He further asserted that his clients’ identities were irrelevant to his 1972 tax liability. As a result, in August and October of 1975, the Government caused two Section 7602 summonses to be served on the Bank requesting production of its records respecting the trust account. At Applicant’s request, the Bank refused to comply with the summonses without a court proceeding.
Thereafter, the Government filed its petition to enforce the October 29 summons (Bank summons), and the Government caused a notice of deficiency in the amount of $28,795 to be sent to Applicant,
and Applicant filed his motion to intervene. The Bank is not opposing the petition, and will produce the requested records upon this Court’s order to do so.
Applicant is contending that the Government has abused this Court’s process by seeking allegedly irrelevant information and by attempting to circumvent the discovery rules and policies of the United States Tax Court where he intends to contest the deficiency assessment. He further alleges that enforcement of the summons will violate the Fourth and Fifth Amendments and his clients’ attorney-client privileges.
The Government resists Applicant’s intervention in this proceeding, claiming that he has failed to demonstrate a “significantly protectable interest” warranting his intervention under the standards established by the Supreme Court in
Donaldson
v.
United States,
400 U.S. 517, 91 S.Ct. 534, 27 L.Ed.2d 580 (1971). Moreover, the Government contends that the materials sought are not privileged, and that neither the Fourth nor Fifth Amendments are implicated by a valid Section 7602 summons seeking a bank’s records respecting a law office trust account. Finally, it seeks enforcement of the summons on the grounds that it was lawfully issued pursuant to a proper purpose.
II
Taxpayer intervention in Section 7602 summons enforcement proceedings brought against third parties has been permitted under limited circumstances.
See, Donaldson v. United States, supra,
400 U.S. at 530-531, 91 S.Ct. 534;
Garrett v. United States,
511 F.2d 1037, 1038 (9th Cir. 1975);
United States v. Luther,
481 F.2d 429, 433 (9th Cir. 1973). Such intervention is permissive, not mandatory, and is appropriate only where the taxpayer establishes that he has a “significantly protectable interest” in the proceeding, as where there has been an abuse of legal process or where some privilege will be violated by enforcement.
Donaldson v. United States, supra,
400 U.S. at 531, 91 S.Ct. 534;
Garrett v. United States, supra,
511 F.2d at 1038.
Abuse of process exists where the summons is issued in bad faith, “solely” for criminal investigatory purposes
(Donaldson v. United States, supra,
400 U.S. at 533, 91 S.Ct. 534;
Wild v. United States,
362 F.2d 206, 208-209 (9th Cir. 1966)), to harass the taxpayer
(United States v. Powell,
379 U.S. 48, 58, 85 S.Ct. 248, 13 L.Ed.2d 112 (1964);
United States v. Church of Scientology of California,
520 F.2d 818, 822 (9th Cir. 1975)), or after a recommendation for criminal prosecution.
Reisman v. Caplin,
375 U.S. 440, 449, 84 S.Ct. 508, 11 L.Ed.2d 459 (1964);
Boren
v.
Tucker,
239 F.2d 767, 772 (9th Cir. 1956). Applicant does not assert any such abuse. Rather, he maintains, first, that the Bank’s records sought are irrelevant to his 1972 tax liability. However, relevancy has “a broader connotation [under Section 7602] than in the context of trial”.
United States v. Ruggeiro,
425 F.2d 1069, 1071 (9th Cir. 1970),
cert. denied,
401 U.S. 922, 91 S.Ct. 863, 27 L.Ed.2d 826 (1971). The test as to whether records sought are relevant to a tax inquiry within the meaning of Section 7602(2) is whether the inspection sought
might
throw light upon the correctness of Applicant’s 1972 return.
United States v. Ryan,
455 F.2d 728, 733 (9th Cir. 1972);
United States v. Shlom,
420 F.2d 263, 265 (2d Cir. 1969),
cert. denied,
397 U.S. 1074, 90 S.Ct. 1521, 25 L.Ed.2d 809 (1970). The records sought by the Bank summons clearly satisfy this test. Applicant admittedly derived income from and deposited funds into the trust account during 1972. By the uncontroverted affidavit of Agent Miyamo-to, the Government has established that since Applicant will not produce his own ■trust account records, the only source of ascertaining the correctness of Applicant’s 1972 return is the bank records, and the only means of identification and verification of nonincome and income items may be through the trust account clients themselves.
Applicant next maintains that enforcement of the summons at this point in time (after the notice of deficiency and his statement of intention to challenge the deficiency assessment in the United States Tax Court) is analogous to using a Section 7602 summons to obtain information for use in a criminal proceeding, and thus should be condemned under
Donaldson v. United States, supra.
He argues that Tax Court discovery rules and policy might prevent the discovery and use of the information sought here. The argument lacks merit. It is established federal law that the mailing of a deficiency notice, and even a subsequent petition by the taxpayer to the Tax Court for review of the tax deficiency determination, does not cut off the Government’s rights to have produced and to examine records bearing on the determina
tion, where the summons was issued during the course of an audit and before the mailing of the notice.
National Plate & Window Glass Co. v. United States, supra,
254 F.2d at 93. Accordingly, I find that this Court’s process has not been abused.
Ill
The heart of Applicant’s claimed right to intervene is his contention that production of the Bank’s copies of the checks revealing the clients’ names will violate the attorney-client privilege.
Applicant argues that the privilege is implicated because as an attorney he is required under Rule 9 of the California Rules of Professional Conduct
to maintain all funds received or held for the benefit of clients in a separate client fund or trust account. He suggests that the disclosure of unaltered checks deposited in or drawn upon this account will necessarily disclose the nature of the legal services he performed for his clients in violation of the state law which requires an attorney to preserve the confidences of his clients.
However, it is the law of this Circuit and elsewhere that checks deposited in or drawn upon a law office trust account are not privileged communications and that, therefore, no attorney-client privilege exists with respect to them or to copies of them in the hands of a third-party bank.
Harris v. United States,
413 F.2d 316 (9th Cir. 1969);
O’Donnell v. Sullivan,
364 F.2d 43, 44 (1st Cir. 1966),
cert. denied,
385 U.S. 969, 87 S.Ct. 501, 17 L.Ed.2d 433 (1966).
In
Harris,
a bank’s records concerning a California attorney’s trust account
were subpoenaed by the grand jury.
In declining to find that such records, in particular copies of checks exchanged between the attorney and client, were protected by the privilege, the court said:
“ * * * the client, by writing the check which the attorney will later cash or deposit at the bank, has set the check afloat on a sea of strangers. The client knows when delivering the check, and the attorney knows when cashing or depositing it, that the check will be viewed by various employees at the bank where it is cashed or deposited, at the clearing house through which it must pass, and at his own bank to which it will eventually return. Thus, the check is not a confidential communication, as is the consultation between attorney and client.”
Harris v. United States, supra,
413 F.2d at 319-320.
I find
Harris
dispositive of this issue.
Baird v. Koerner,
279 F.2d 623 (9th Cir. 1960), relied upon by Applicant in oral argument, is inapposite.
Baird
held that an attorney cannot be compelled to divulge the name of a client who employs him to mail a cashier’s check to the Internal Revenue Service in voluntary payment of deficiencies owed from prior tax years. In
Baird
it was clear that the substance of the confidential communications between the attorney and his client would be revealed and that the client’s potential liability for underpayment of taxes would be established if the client’s name were disclosed. Quoting
Ex parte McDonough,
170 Cal. 230, 236-237, 149 P. 566 (1915), the court noted that while the identities of clients are not normally within the privilege, an exception exists where:
“ * * * the name of the client * * is material only for the purpose of showing an acknowledgment of guilt on the part of the client of the very offenses on account of which the attorney [was] employed.”
Baird v. Koerner, supra,
279 F.2d at 633.
Here, both Applicant and the Government have represented to the Court that none of the clients whose identities Applicant seeks to protect are known to be under investigation by the Internal Revenue Service or anyone else. More importantly, Applicant is not called upon to reveal his clients’ identities. The clients’ names appear on copies of checks which are in the hands of a third-party bank and, as noted, the summons is directed at the Bank. This Circuit has held that no confidential relationship exists between a bank and an attorney-depositor, and that the checks themselves are not privileged communications between an attorney and a client.
Harris v. United States, supra,
413 F.2d at 319. A similar conclusion was very recently reached in
Gannet v. First National State Bank,
410 F.Supp. 585 (D.N.J.1976).
Gannet,
like
Baird,
involved a situation in which an attorney sent the Internal Revenue Service cashier’s checks on behalf of an unidentified client to satisfy an unpaid tax obligation. The Internal Revenue Service summoned the bank’s records concerning the purchase of the cashier’s checks and the source of funds used in order to ascertain the taxpayer’s identity. The court held,
inter alia,
that no attorney-client privilege existed with respect to the records sought by the bank summons, since “[t]hese are obviously third-party disclosures which are not part of a confidential communication between attorney and client.”
Gannet v. First National State Bank, supra,
410 F.Supp. at 589.
Accordingly, I find that the attorney-client privilege is not implicated by the records, in particular the copies of unaltered checks, sought by the Bank summons.
IV
Applicant’s Fourth and Fifth Amendment claims must fall with the attorney-client privilege.
Neither Applicant nor his clients have a protectable interest in the Bank records because they have no legitimate expectation of privacy in them.
United States v. Miller,
425 U.S. 435, 96 S.Ct. 1619, 48 L.Ed.2d 71 (1976).
Kelley v. United States,
536 F.2d 897 (9th Cir. 1976);
Garrett v. United States, supra.
In
Miller,
the Supreme Court held that a bank customer has no Fourth Amendment interest in bank records of his transactions. During the course of a criminal investigation of defendant Miller’s illicit liquor dealings, the government subpoenaed records of his accounts at two banks. The banks complied by furnishing records maintained in conformance with the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 (12 U.S.C. § 1829b(d)), including copies of the defendant’s deposit slips and checks. Evidence so obtained was introduced at Miller’s trial after the trial court had denied his motion to suppress.
The Supreme Court ruled that the motion to suppress was properly denied since the defendant had no legitimate expectation of privacy in regard to the contents of the bank records and that, therefore, no Fourth Amendment rights were implicated by their production and use at trial. The Court rejected the argument that the defendant had a Fourth Amendment interest in the bank records because they were merely copies of his personal accounts which the bank was compelled to maintain by the Bank Secrecy Act. The Court reaffirmed the .ruling of
California Bankers Association v. Shultz,
416 U.S. 21, 94 S.Ct. 1494, 39 L.Ed.2d 812 (1974), that the maintenance of such records by the bank invades no Fourth Amendment rights of any depositor. It further held that the bank records did not fall within a protected zone of privacy shielded by the Fourth Amendment from unwarranted governmental intrusion. Discussing the nature of the records produced, the Court stated:
“Even if we direct our attention to the original checks and deposit slips, rather than to the microfilm copies actually viewed and obtained by means of the subpoena, we perceive no legitimate ‘expectation of privacy’ in their contents. The checks are not confidential communications but negotiable instruments to be used in commercial transactions. * * * The lack of any legitimate expectation of privacy concerning the information kept in bank records was assumed by Congress in enacting the Bank Secrecy Act, the expressed purpose of which is to require
records to be maintained because they ‘have a high degree of usefulness in criminal, tax, and regulatory investigations and proceedings.’ ”
United States v. Miller, supra,
425 U.S. at 442, 96 S.Ct. at 1623.
Applicant’s suggestion that this case is distinguishable from
Miller
in that he is an attorney compelled by the California Code of Professional Conduct to maintain a client trust account, whereas
Miller
noted that the ■bank records there sought contained only information “voluntarily” conveyed to the bank, is unconvincing. Both Applicant and his clients knew or reasonably should have known that the checks they signed and sent into commerce would be viewed by third parties, in particular by bank personnel, and that copies of the checks were required to be made and retained by the Bank under the Bank Secrecy Act. As the Court stressed in Miller:
“The depositor takes the risk, in revealing his affairs to another, that the information will be conveyed by that person to the government. * * * This Court has held repeatedly that the Fourth Amendment does not prohibit the obtaining of information revealed to a third party and conveyed by him to government authorities, even if the information is revealed on the assumption that it will be used only for a limited purpose and the confidence placed in the third party will not be betrayed. * * *
This analysis is not changed by the mandate of the Bank Secrecy Act that, records of depositors’ transactions be maintained by banks.”
United States v. Miller, supra,
425 U.S. at 443, 96 S.Ct. at 1624.
Accordingly, I find that no Fourth Amendment rights are implicated by the Bank summons.
V
The final question presented is whether the Bank summons is enforceable. I find that it is.
In order to obtain enforcement of a Section 7602 summons, the Government must establish that the investigation will be conducted pursuant to a legitimate purpose; that the inquiry may be relevant to that purpose; that the information sought is not already within the Internal Revenue Service’s possession; and that the administrative steps required by the Internal Revenue Code have been followed.
United States v. Church of Scientology of California, supra,
520 F.2d at 821. On the basis of the record and oral argument had herein,
the Government has satisfied each of these requirements. The summons was issued in good faith for the proper purpose of conducting a routine tax audit of Applicant; the records sought bear directly on Applicant’s 1972 tax liability and, because of Applicant’s refusal to produce his trust account records, are the only means through which the Internal Revenue Service can ascertain the correctness of Applicant’s 1972 tax return; the Internal Revenue Service does not presently have the information sought; and the entire investigation has been properly conducted according to applicable provisions of the Internal Revenue Code.
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Applicant’s motion for intervention is DENIED and petitioner’s application for enforcement of the summons is GRANTED.