United States v. International Business Machines Corp.

66 F.R.D. 206, 19 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 319, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6431
District Court, S.D. New York·Decided October 5, 1974·No. No. 69 Civ. 200 (DNE)·Published·Cited by 39 cases

Opinion

OPINION

EDELSTEIN, Chief Judge.

On April 16, 1973, this court entered an order, designated Special Master Or.der No. 1, appointing special masters pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 53 for the purpose of making recommendations to the court regarding the validity of claims of privilege asserted by the parties. The history of the masters’ proceedings with respect to documents withheld by defendant International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) from production to plaintiff on the basis of claims of attorney-client privilege or attorney-work product immunity pursuant to Fed.R. Civ.P. 26(b) (3) is detailed in this court’s [208]*208opinion of June 27, 1974 and need not be repeated here. As a result of the June 27 decision, the Masters, on July 9, 1974, submitted a Preliminary Report and invited written comments from the parties. Plaintiff, by its letter to the Masters of July 16, indicated that it had no comments. Defendant, on July 16, submitted its “Comments with Respect to the Preliminary Report of Special Masters”. On July 24 the Masters issued a revised “Final Report Re (a) Glossary and (b) Revision of IBM Claims (hereinafter referred to as Final Report). That Report is attached hereto as Appendix A. By motion dated August 5, 1974, IBM moved for an order amending and modifying the Final Report and on August 15 the Government filed a response in opposition to the motion. It is that motion which is the subject of this opinion.

In reviewing the Final Report, the court is guided by two considerations. To the extent that the Final Report is the’result of findings and conclusions reached by the court in its June 27 opinion, the Report must be analyzed to assure its conformity to that opinion. To the extent that the Masters have formulated conclusions of law, the Report must be reviewed as to the correctness of the legal propositions asserted.

The Masters’ Report

The Masters recommended that:

1. IBM furnish to each of us (a) a directory of personnel, other than attorneys, referred to in the documents or a general directory from which such persons can be identified, and (b) a glossary of groups and abbreviations referred to in the documents and not otherwise identified, and that
2. IBM review the documents in light of the Court’s opinion of June 27, 1974 and the categories of not privileged documents set forth below. Documents which survive such review will be resubmitted to the Masters for rulings; documents which do not, are to be furnished to plaintiff without further order of the Master to whom the document has been assigned except that as to documents with respect to its claim of privilege, IBM may present to the Master a list of such documents setting forth (a) the document number, (b) a statement indicating which category(ies) below the document falls within, and (c) a statement as to why the document is deemed privileged. The Master will then issue a final report, from which appeal may be taken.

The recommended categories of non-privileged documents as to which attorney-client privilege is claimed, in brief, are as follows:

1. Where the subject of communication is company policy
2. Where the document is not intended primarily for the purpose of securing legal advice
3. Where a reading of the document in question does not reveal a communication of confidential information
4. Where a communication is not intended to remain confidential, including a communication from or to an attorney that is intended for transmission to third parties without legal approval.

With respect to claims of work product immunity, the Masters’ guidelines, pursuant to the June 27 opinion, make not-privileged all documents which do not disclose that they were prepared for use in this litigation.

The court’s opinion of June 27, 1974 directed the Masters to use the so-called control group theory in determining the validity of IBM’s claims of attorney-client privilege. United States v. International Business Machines Corp., 69 Civ. 200 (S.D.N.Y., filed Jan. 17, 1969) (opinion filed June 27, 1974 at 178-179). Subsequently, the Government submitted a list of persons whom it believes are within the IBM control group. The pro[209]*209cedure established by the Masters for applying the control group theory is as follows:

As to each document resubmitted by IBM in which all of the originator (s), addressee(s) and copyee(s) are not within the IBM control group list submitted by the Government, IBM shall submit one or more affidavits of appropriate IBM official(s) setting forth the factual basis for IBM’s claims that the persons not within the Government’s list are within the control group.

IBM’s Objections

IBM first objects to the proceedure recommended by the Masters for the disposition of those documents which fall into the categories of non-privileged material. It argues that “the provision in question implies the absence of a ‘final order’ for documents not subject to an appeal to this Court.” Defendant’s Memorandum in Support of Its Appeal From and Objections to the Final Report of Special Matters Re (a) Glossary and (b) Revision of IBM Claims [hereinafter referred to as Defendant’s Memorandum]. The court sees no such ambiguity in the procedure recommended by the Masters. All documents as to which IBM has claimed privilege have previously been identified and listed. The Masters’ Report, if adopted by the court, contains a clear direction that certain of those documents, i. e., those which do not survive review in light of the Masters’ Report, be furnished to plaintiff without further order. Any further order is unnecessary because the Report in itself constitutes a final order as to those documents. It is only as to those documents with respect to which IBM wishes to appeal to the court that further Masters’ proceedings and therefore further orders are necessary. Accordingly, defendant’s first objection is overruled.

Defendant’s second objection to the Masters’ procedure involves this court’s holding, in its June 27 opinion, that work product immunity will attach only to materials prepared for use in this litigation. IBM complains that:

Under the Court’s June 27 Opinion and the proposed procedure, work product materials generated exclusively in connection with another case, such as Xerox v. IBM, would have to be turned over to the Department of Justice without review by the Court. In view of the Court’s and the Department’s prior interpretations of the Publicity In Taking Of Evidence Act, that material could then be obtained freely by Xerox’s counsel notwithstanding prior orders of this Court preliminarily protecting such material from disclosure .

Defendant’s Memorandum at 5.

IBM therefore seeks to protect the confidentiality of any such material produced to the Government in this litigation. In the first instance it should be noted that such material would become a matter of public record only if the Government; having received from IBM documents as to which work product status has been claimed in another case, sought to use that material at trial or in the course of a deposition.

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United States v. International Business Machines Corp., 66 F.R.D. 206, 19 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 319, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6431 (S.D.N.Y. 1974).

66 F.R.D. 206 (United States v. International Business Machines Corp.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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