United States v. Mobil Corp.

149 F.R.D. 533, 71 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1875, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5570, 1993 WL 266123
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Texas
DecidedApril 13, 1993
DocketNo. 3:92-CV-0068-T
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 149 F.R.D. 533 (United States v. Mobil Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Mobil Corp., 149 F.R.D. 533, 71 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1875, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5570, 1993 WL 266123 (N.D. Tex. 1993).

Opinion

ORDER DENYING PETITION TO ENFORCE INTERNAL REVENUE SUMMONS

MALONEY, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on Petitioners’ January 10, 1992, petition to enforce an internal revenue service summons.1 Respondents filed their brief in opposition on February 18, 1992. The Court held a hearing on Petitioners’ request on April 24, 1992. The Court, having considered the parties’ briefs and the arguments presented at the hearing, is of the opinion that the petition should be denied.

I

The United States moves the Court to order Defendants to comply with an Internal Revenue Service summons issued to Robert L. Book, the manager of tax administration for Mobil Administrative Services Company. [536]*536The summons was issued pursuant to an investigation of the pricing of Saudi crude between 1979 and 1981. The IRS is investigating the pricing of Saudi crude oil between Mobil and its affiliates to determine whether the pricing clearly reflects the income of the corporations.2 The documents being sought purportedly relate to an audit by the German taxing authority, similar to the one being conducted by the IRS, which resulted in a settlement with Mobil’s wholly-owned German subsidiary, Mobil Oil Aktiengesellsehaft (MOAG).

The summons required Book to testify and produce documents in the matter of the tax liability for Mobil Oil Corporation and MOAG for the years 1979, 1980, and 1981. Petitioners argue that the information sought may be relevant to an ongoing investigation of Mobil Oil Corporation’s income tax liability.

On March 5, 1991, in response to the summons, Book appeared at the designated IRS office. However, he refused to provide the requested documents. After taking the required administrative steps, the United States initiated this action to enforce the summons as to the documents not provided. Subsequent to the filing, the parties reached agreements as to some of the requested documents. There remains a dispute as to fourteen documents and attachments. Mobil opposes the enforcement of the summons as to the fourteen documents on two grounds: (1) attorney-client privilege; and (2) the attorney work-product doctrine.3

II

A

The attorney-client privilege protects two related, but different, communications: (1) confidential communications made by a client to his lawyer for the purpose of obtaining legal advice; and (2) any eommuni-cation from an attorney to his client when made in the course of giving legal advice, whether or not that advice is based on privileged communications from the client. In re LTV Securities Litigation, 89 F.R.D. 595, 600-03 (N.D.Tex.1981).4 Mobil bears the burden of proving that the documents are protected by either the attorney-client privilege or the attorney work-product doctrine. United States v. Kelly, 569 F.2d 928, 938 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 829, 99 S.Ct. 105, 58 L.Ed.2d 123 (1978).

To invoke the attorney-client privilege, the claimant must establish the following elements: (1) the asserted holder of the privilege is or sought to become a client; (2) the person to whom the communication was made is (a) a member of a bar of a court, or his subordinate, and (b) in connection with this communication is acting as a lawyer; (3) the communication relates to a fact of which the attorney was informed (a) by his client (b) without the presence of strangers (c) for the purpose of securing primarily either (i) an opinion on law or (ii) legal services (iii) or assistance in some legal proceeding, and (d) not for the purpose of committing a crime or tort; and (4) the privilege has been (a) claimed and (b) not waived by the client. In re LTV Securities Litigation, 89 F.R.D. at 600. Of course, the elements vary slightly when the claimant is attempting to prove the existence of a privilege based on a communication from an attorney to his client.

B

Mobil also claims that, to the extent the documents are not protected by the attorney-client privilege, they are protected by the work-product doctrine. See, e.g., Hickman v. Taylor, 329 U.S. 495, 67 S.Ct. 385, 91 L.Ed. 451 (1947). The work-product rule is codified in Rule 26(b)(3) of the Federal Rules of

[537]*537Civil Procedure, which provides, in pertinent part:

(8) Trial Preparation: Materials
Subject to the provisions of subdivision (b)(4) of this rule, a party may obtain discovery of documents and tangible things otherwise discoverable under subdivision (b)(1) of this rule and prepared in anticipation of litigation or for trial by or for another party or by or for that other party’s representative (including the other party’s attorney, consultant, surety, indem-nitor, insurer or agent) only upon a showing that the party seeking discovery has substantial need of the materials in the preparation of the party’s case and that the party is unable without undue hardship to obtain the substantial equivalent of the materials by other means. In ordering discovery of such materials when the required showing has been made, the court shall protect against disclosure of the mental impressions, conclusions, opinions, or legal theories of an attorney or other representative of a party concerning the litigation.

Having identified the basic elements of the privileges asserted, the Court will discuss each of the fourteen documents individually.

Ill

Document 1 is a letter from H. Breedek, tax counsel for MOAG, to R.F. Dodds, supervisory tax counsel for Mobil. The identity and corporate affiliation of the parties involved in this document raise one of the more difficult issues in addressing the merits of Respondents’ arguments. Breedek and Dodds are attorneys for different, albeit related, corporations, MOAG and Mobil Oil, respectively. The Court must consider the effect of communications between attorneys for different, but related, entities on an assertion of attorney-client or work-product privilege. ■

It is undisputed that communications between a corporation and its inside counsel are protected in the same manner and to the same degree as communications with outside counsel. Upjohn Co. v. United States, 449 U.S. 383, 389-97, 101 S.Ct. 677, 682-86, 66

L.Ed.2d 584 (1981); In re LTV Securities Litigation, 89 F.R.D. at 602. In Upjohn, the Supreme Court held that the privilege applies to communications by any corporate employee regardless of position when the communications concern matters within the scope of the employee’s corporate duties and the employee is aware that the information is being furnished to enable the attorney to provide legal advice to the corporation. 449 U.S. at 394, 101 S.Ct. at 685. Rather than adopting a specific test for application of the privilege to corporations, the Court held that each case must be evaluated to determine whether application of the privilege would further the underlying purpose of the privilege. Id. at 396-97, 101 S.Ct. at 686.

The Upjohn Court rejected a mechanistic approach to application of the attorney-client privilege.

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149 F.R.D. 533, 71 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1875, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5570, 1993 WL 266123, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-mobil-corp-txnd-1993.