United States v. International Business Machines Corp.

83 F.R.D. 97, 27 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 660, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11500
District Court, S.D. New York·Decided June 25, 1979·No. No. 69 Civ. 200 (DNE)·Published·Cited by 75 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

EDELSTEIN, Chief Judge.

On February 7,1979, the United States of America [“government”], plaintiff in this civil antitrust action, served a deposition subpoena ad testificandum and duces te-cum, Fed.R.Civ.P. 45(d), upon Frank T. Cary [“Cary”], Chairman of the Board of defendant International Business Machines Corporation [“IBM”], commanding Cary to appear for a deposition and to produce documents described in fifty-three separate paragraphs and subparagraphs of a schedule attached to the subpoena.1 Cary has been named by defendant as one of its witnesses, and the subpoena issued as part of a court-authorized deposition program allowing plaintiff to depose defendant’s prospective trial witnesses.2 The limited purpose of that program is to enable plaintiff to prepare for cross-examination at tri[99] al of defendant’s witnesses.3 Defendant is now presenting its direct case.

IBM’s and Cary’s Motion to Quash

IBM and Cary have moved this court to quash the duces tecum part of the subpoena pursuant to rule 45(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the fourth amendment to the United States Constitution. The arguments presented are numerous, interrelated, often repetitive and rhetorical. In the first instance, IBM and Cary assert that the subpoena is “unreasonable and oppressive,” Fed.R.Civ.P. 45(b), under every test of reasonableness articulated by courts. If reasonableness is measured in terms of the burden imposed, IBM and Cary conclude “[w]e have found no case which even remotely compares—in terms of time, manpower or cost—to the burden to be visited upon IBM by plaintiff’s subpoena.”4 Lead counsel for IBM states that “[Realistically, it is not possible for IBM to produce all of the documents called for by the Cary subpoena . . . .” Affidavit of Thomas D. Barr, dated March 14, 1979 at 2.

Apart from the argument of burdensomeness, IBM and Cary object to the sweeping, all-inclusive nature of the government’s document request. According to IBM and Cary, that request must be considered in light of substantial discovery already afforded the government.5 IBM and Cary characterize the subpoena as an improper mid-trial discovery request which, if granted, would severely delay the course of the trial.

IBM and Cary contend further that the subpoena is overly broad in two respects: it asks for too much and fails reasonably to particularize the documents requested. The subpoena is described by IBM and Cary as all-encompassing, “calling at bottom for everything that IBM has.” Memorandum of IBM and Cary at 22. Document requests contained in the subpoena are said to be vague and redundant so that “[i]t is impossible for IBM—or anyone else—to know which documents to produce in response to which of the overlapping paragraphs of the demand.” Memorandum of IBM and Cary at 22. Because of the sweeping nature of the subpoena on the one hand, and its lack of specificity on the other, IBM and Cary allege that the subpoena constitutes an unreasonable search and seizure in violation of the fourth amendment.

Other arguments advanced by IBM and Cary, and the court’s responses thereto, are set forth in the margin.6

[100] The Government’s Response

The government opposes IBM’s and Cary’s motion to quash and responds that it needs the documents requested to prepare for cross-examination of Cary at trial. According to the government, it “has had virtually no discovery of documents from the IBM files relating to Mr. Cary for the period 1974 to the present.” Plaintiff’s Memorandum at 1. Yet, the government asserts, there is every indication that Cary’s testimony will focus on the time period 1974 to the present by covering such issues as “future trends in the EDP [Electronic Data Processing] industry,” “the future of communications companies in the EDP industry,” “foreign competition in the U.S. market,” and “current revenue and growth figures” of EDP companies. Plaintiff’s Memorandum at 7. Without the documents demanded in the subpoena, the government contends, it “would be effectively obstructed in its efforts to confront the Chief Executive Officer of the defendant corporation with any contradictory evidence concerning many contemporary issues to which Mr. Cary will testify . . . .” Plaintiff’s Memorandum at 7. Moreover, the government disputes IBM’s and Cary’s contention that compliance is impossible without delaying the course of the trial.

The government argues further that the reasonableness of the subpoena—in terms of its scope and specificity—must be measured against IBM’s “vague representations of the broad potential scope” of Cary’s trial testimony. Plaintiff’s Memorandum at 8. Fundamental fairness, the government concludes, requires that it be allowed to obtain documents relevant to Cary’s projected trial testimony.

The Fourth Amendment

IBM and Cary invoke the fourth amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures as an independent ground for quashing the government’s subpoena. To support their constitutional attack, IBM and Cary have referred the court to cases imposing a fourth amendment requirement of reasonableness on subpoenas duces tecum issued by grand juries and administrative agencies in the course of their investigations. The court questions the applicability of the fourth amendment to a subpoena duces tecum served by the government in the course of a civil trial.

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United States v. International Business Machines Corp., 83 F.R.D. 97, 27 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 660, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11500 (S.D.N.Y. 1979).

83 F.R.D. 97 (United States v. International Business Machines Corp.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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