United States v. Max Factor & Co.

39 F.R.D. 3, 9 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 34, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10139, 1966 Trade Cas. (CCH) 71,667
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Missouri
DecidedJanuary 21, 1966
DocketNo. 14757-1
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 39 F.R.D. 3 (United States v. Max Factor & Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Max Factor & Co., 39 F.R.D. 3, 9 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 34, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10139, 1966 Trade Cas. (CCH) 71,667 (W.D. Mo. 1966).

Opinion

JOHN W. OLIVER, District Judge.

The question for decision is defendant’s motion filed pursuant to Rule 34 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

In its motion defendant prays for an order directing “plaintiff’s attorneys to make available for inspection and copying by defendant. * * * the transcript of those portions of the testimony of the following persons who testified in 1961-63 * * * before a grand jury in United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri, which concerned the business of Max Factor and Company, or which related to the subject matter of Paragraph VI of plaintiff’s complaint in this action.”

The names of two prospective witnesses designated by the defendant to testify at the trial of the pending civil antitrust case are listed, together with the names of ten prospective witnesses who were designated by plaintiff to testify at such trial. Defendant also seeks to obtain the testimony of any other prospective witness designated by the plaintiff on August 4, 1965, who, although not known to defendant, testified in 1961-63 before [the] grand jury and any witnesses to be designated by either plaintiff or defendant in the future who similarly testified before [the] grand jury.

Defendant’s motion raises the question of whether and to what extent the transcript of testimony taken before a grand jury should now be made available to a corporate defendant in order to aid it in the preparation of its defense to a civil antitrust case maintained by the United States as plaintiff. The defendant in the pending civil antitrust action [4]*4was among others subject to the grand jury investigation. Neither the defendant nor the others investigated were ever indicted. Specifically, defendant contends that it should be furnished the transei'ipt of the grand jury testimony for study before the scheduled depositions of the designated witnesses are taken.

Both parties are agreed, indeed the Supreme Court cases (United States v. Procter & Gamble, 356 U.S. 677, 78 S.Ct. 983, 2 L.Ed.2d 1077 (1958); Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company v. United States, 360 U.S. 395, 79 S.Ct. 1237, 3 L.Ed.2d 1323 (1959); and United States v. Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., 310 U.S. 150, 60 S.Ct. 811, 84 L.Ed 1129 (1940)) require such agreement, that we have power to compel the requested production. Both parties also agree that the showing of “good cause” required by Rule 34 of the Rules of Civil Procedure means, under the applicable cases, that defendant must show a “particular compelling need” for disclosure before the discretionary power to disclose matters occurring before a grand jury should be exercised. Rule 6(e) of the Rules of Criminal Procedure, providing that matters occurring before a grand jury may be disclosed only when “directed by the court preliminarily to or in connection with a judicial proceeding or when permitted by the court,” recognizes the existence of power to order disclosure. That rule does not, however, set forth the criteria for the exercise of that discretionary power.

Judge Robson in Commonwealth Edison Co. v. Allis-Chalmers Mfg. Co., N.D. Ill.1962, 211 F.Supp. 729, at 734, stated:

The legal principles pertaining to the disclosure of grand jury proceedings are fairly well established. Fundamentally, it is established that the secrecy of the proceedings must not be broken absent compelling necessity. The burden is on the movant to show particularized need or that the ends of justice require the disclosure of grand jury minutes which consideration outweighs the policy of secrecy. The revealing of the proceedings lies in the court’s discretion.

Footnotes 4 through 7 on page 734 of 211 F.Supp. cite the applicable cases, most of which have been called to our attention in the excellent briefs submitted by the parties in this case.

Judge Robson’s opinion was written in one of the electrical anti-trust treble damage cases. The distinguished judges who have been primarily responsible for handling those cases have given the problem of balancing the conflicting policy of grand jury secrecy and the policy favoring pretrial discovery under the Rules of Civil Procedure extensive and thoughtful consideration.

Chief Judge Clary’s opinion in City of Philadelphia v. Westinghouse Electric Corp., E.D.Pa.1962, 210 F.Supp. 486, established the guidelines applicable to production of grand jury testimony in that multiple anti-trust litigation. Counsel for both parties cite and rely upon Chief Judge Clary’s opinion in that case; hence, there is no need to discuss the rationale of the numerous other cases cited by the parties.

Chief Judge Clary stated:
The Court must consider two policies, one requiring secrecy and the other disclosure. And there can be no policy in favor of disclosure unless there is particular need. The lack or improbability of harm is but a factor in the evaluation of the need for secrecy. It is not a factor demonstrating a need for disclosure. While the need for secrecy may not be apparent in a particular case, it must be kept in mind that there is a general policy, fundamental and historically supported, which demands secrecy. Secrecy must still prevail in the absence of particular compelling need. [Emphasis Judge Clary’s], 210 F.Supp. at 489.

[5]*5Efforts of various parties to obtain wholesale disclosure of the Philadelphia grand jury testimony and grand jury documentary evidence in the electrical anti-trust cases were spectacularly unsuccessful. The State of California sought only to obtain the names of witnesses and the copying of the various subpoenas for the production of documents before the grand jury. Chief Judge Ganey in Application of State of California, E.D.Pa.1961, 195 F.Supp. 37, denied such motion. In In re Grand Jury Proceedings, E.D.Pa.1961, 29 F.R.D. 151, Judge Wood denied disclosure requested by the Federal Trade Commission, in which the Department of Justice joined.

Neal and Goldberg’s article “The Electrical Equipment Antitrust Cases: Novel Judicial Administration”, 50 A.B.A.J. 621 (July, 1964) at page 628 authoritatively described the procedure followed during the taking of depositions in the electrical cases and outlined the factors that controlled the exercise of discretion by the judges presiding at the depositions in regard to disclosure of grand jury testimony. The authors there stated:

Chief Judge Thomas J. Clary of Philadelphia, acting as a judge of the district in which the grand juries had been impaneled, outlined and approved a procedure which permitted deposition judges to release the deponents’ testimony without further formal order of that court [citing City of Philadelphia v. Westinghouse Electric Corporation, 210 F.Supp. 486 (E.D.Pa.1962), appeal dismissed (3d Cir., February 21, 1963)]. The procedure followed that suggested in Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company v. United States, 360 U.S. 395 [79 S.Ct. 1237, 3 L.Ed. 2d 1323] (1959), and called for in camera

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Guardian Angel Cr. Union v. MetaBank
2010 DNH 074 (D. New Hampshire, 2010)
United States v. National Dairy Products Corp.
262 F. Supp. 447 (W.D. Missouri, 1967)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
39 F.R.D. 3, 9 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 34, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10139, 1966 Trade Cas. (CCH) 71,667, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-max-factor-co-mowd-1966.