United States v. Dish Network, L.L.C.

283 F.R.D. 420, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80844, 2012 WL 2108211
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. Illinois
DecidedJune 12, 2012
DocketNo. 09-cv-3073
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 283 F.R.D. 420 (United States v. Dish Network, L.L.C.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Dish Network, L.L.C., 283 F.R.D. 420, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80844, 2012 WL 2108211 (C.D. Ill. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION

BYRON G. CUDMORE, United States Magistrate Judge:

This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel Production of Documents Over Defendant’s Privilege Assertions (d/e 95) (Motion). At the Court’s direction, Defendant Dish Network, LLC (Dish), filed the disputed documents under seal for in camera inspection. Text Orders entered April 18, 2012, and May 2, 2012; Notices of Filing Sealed Documents (d/e 109 and 132); Sealed Documents (d/e 101, 102, 103, m, 105, 106, 107, 108, 110, 111, 112, 113, Hit, 115 116, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, and 131).1 Upon careful review of the documents and consideration of the submissions of the parties, the Court allows the Motion in part.

BACKGROUND

The Plaintiffs allege, inter alia, that Dish violated § 5(a) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act), § 6 of the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act (Telemarketing Act), and the Telemarketing Sales Rule (Rule or TSR) promulgated by the Federal Trade Commission pursuant to the FTC Act and the Telemarketing Act. The Plaintiffs allege that Dish made improper telephone solicitations (telemarketing) to telephone numbers of the National Do Not Call Registry (Do Not Call List), improperly abandoned telemarketing calls, and wrongfully assisted and facilitated others who were violating the Rule. First Amended Complaint and Demand for Jury Trial (d/e 5) (Amended Complaint), Counts I, II, and III; 15 U.S.C. § 45(a), 16(a), 57b, and 6105; 16 C.F.R. Part 310, as amended; see Opinion entered November It, 2009 (d/e 20), at 2-7, for a summary of the Plaintiffs’ allegations.

Dish answered the Amended Complaint and asserted several affirmative defenses including the defense that the Plaintiffs’ claims are barred by the Rule’s “Safe Harbor” provisions. Answer to First Amended Complaint (d/e 26) (Answer), at 17.2 The Safe Harbor provisions include § 310.4(b)(3), which provides,

(3) A seller or telemarketer will not be liable for violating [the Rule] if it can demonstrate that, as part of the seller’s or telemarketer’s routine business practice:
(i) It has established and implemented written procedures to comply with § 310.4(b)(l)(ii) and (iii) [the operative provisions of the Rule]; [423]*423(ü) It has trained its personnel, and any entity assisting in its compliance, in the procedures established pursuant to § 310.4(b)(3)©;
(in) The seller, or a telemarketer or another person acting on behalf of the seller or charitable organization, has maintained and recorded a list of telephone numbers the seller or charitable organization may not contact, in compliance with § 310.4(b)(l)(iii)(A);
(iv) The seller or a telemarketer uses a process to prevent telemarketing to any telephone number on any list established pursuant to § 310.4(b)(l)(iii)(B), employing a version of the “do-not-call” registry obtained from the Commission no more than thirty-one (31) days prior to the date any call is made, and maintains records documenting this process;
(v) The seller or a telemarketer or another person acting on behalf of the seller or charitable organization, monitors and enforces compliance with the procedures established pursuant to § 310.4(b)(3)©; and
(vi) Any subsequent call otherwise violating § 310.4(b)(l)(ii) or (iii) is the result of error.

16 C.F.R. § 310.4(b)(3).

The Plaintiffs have served requests for production of documents on Dish. Dish has produced documents, but has also withheld documents under the attorney-client and work product privileges. The Plaintiffs seek to compel Dish to produce the documents withheld under these claims of privilege. The documents sought in the Motion are set forth on the Plaintiffs’ Challenge Log and Supplemental Challenge Log (collectively Logs).3 Motion, Exhibit 1, Challenge Log; Plaintiffs’ Memorandum of Law in Reply to Dish Network’s Opposition to Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel Production of Documents Over Defendant’s Privilege Assertions (d/e 100), Exhibit A, Supplemental Challenge Log (d/e 99).4 The Plaintiffs have certified that they have attempted to meet and confer with Dish to resolve this matter before filing this Motion. Motion, at 4.

ANALYSIS

Dish asserts the attorney-client and work product privileges. The work product privilege applies to documents prepared in anticipation of litigation or for trial. Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b)(3). The attorney-client privilege applies to confidential communications made with an attorney in connection with the provision of legal services and in the context of an attorney-client relationship. United States v. BDO Seidman, LLP, 492 F.3d 806, 815 (7th Cir.2007). The attorney-client privilege attaches to otherwise privileged attorney-client communications with third parties who share a common legal interest with respect to the communication. Id. at 815-16; Pampered Chef v. Alexanian, 737 F.Supp.2d 958, 964-66 (N.D.Ill.2010). The privilege also extends to communications about the privileged material between non-attorneys who are properly privy to the privileged information. IBJ Whitehall Bank & Trust Co. v. Cory & Associates, Inc., 1999 WL 617842, at *6-7 (N.D.Ill. August 12, 1999).

The Plaintiffs assert that Dish waived these privileges by pleading the Safe Harbor affirmative defense. At issue is the requirement in the Safe Harbor defense that Dish “monitors and enforces compliance” of its procedures for complying with the Rule. 16 C.F.R. § 310.4(b)(3)(v). The Plaintiffs argue that Dish’s attorneys participated in performing this monitoring function. The Plaintiffs argue that Dish’s defense is based, in part, on the conduct of its attorneys in performing these monitoring functions, then the Plaintiffs are entitled to discover matters related to the attorneys’ performance of these functions.

[424]*424The Plaintiffs analogizes to Title VII hostile work environment cases in which employers assert an affirmative defense that they exercised reasonable care to prevent, investigation and promptly correct harassing behavior. See Burlington Indus., Inc. v. Ellerth, 524 U.S. 742, 765, 118 S.Ct. 2257, 141 L.Ed.2d 633 (1998). If a Title VII defendant employer asserts this defense and the employer’s attorney conducts the investigation, then the attorney-client privilege is waived with respect to that communications related to that investigation because the employer has put the sufficiency of the attorney’s performance of the investigation at issue.

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Bluebook (online)
283 F.R.D. 420, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80844, 2012 WL 2108211, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-dish-network-llc-ilcd-2012.