United States v. Second National Bank of Nashua

48 F.R.D. 268, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13689
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Hampshire
DecidedDecember 5, 1969
DocketCiv. A. No. 3023
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 48 F.R.D. 268 (United States v. Second National Bank of Nashua) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Hampshire primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Second National Bank of Nashua, 48 F.R.D. 268, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13689 (D.N.H. 1969).

Opinion

RULING AND ORDER ON MOTION TO COMPEL ANSWERS TO INTERROGATORIES

BOWNES, District Judge.

This is a ruling on a motion to compel answers to interrogatories filed in an interpleader action brought by the United States, under 28 U.S.C. § 1345 (1964), to determine which defendant is entitled to a certain sum of money in the amount of $14,421.00 now held by the Government. The defendant Second National Bank of Nashua (the Bank) brought the motion asking that defendant Brown be compelled to answer interrogatories which he had refused to answer on the grounds that his answers might tend to incriminate him. (See appended interrogatories.)

In order to fully understand this ruling, it is necessary to set forth the facts leading up to this case. On February 13, 1969, the Second National Bank of Nashua, New Hampshire, Simoneau Plaza Branch, was robbed of $31,339.77. On February 14, 1969, the money in controversy here was seized by F.B.I. Agents at an apartment in Dorchester, Massachusetts, from an attache case owned by the defendant Brown, who was not present at the time of the seizure. As a result of this seizure, inter alia, defendant Brown was indicted on March 13, 1969, for the robbery of the Second National Bank. In the criminal case brought against him, United States v. Brown, Cr. No. 6928 (D.N.H. July 16, 1969), defendant Brown moved to suppress the money as evidence on Fourth Amendment grounds. After an evidentary hearing, the motion to suppress was granted on July 10, 1969. United States v. Brown, 300 F.Supp. 1285 (D.N.H. 1969). The Court did not order the money returned to the defendant. At a conference in chambers on July 15th, preliminary to the trial-in-chief, counsel for the defendant asked that the money be returned. This request was denied by the Court. The United States Attorney then informed the Court that the Government was interpleading the Bank and Brown to determine which was entitled to the money. At the close of the prosecution’s evidence in the trial-in-chief, the defendant’s motion for a directed verdict of acquittal was granted by the Court.

The question, at this stage in the proceedings, is whether or not the Court should compel Brown to answer interrogatories which he claims will violate his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.

The cases suggested by the defendant Bank in support of its position that Brown has no right to invoke the Fifth Amendment are inapposite. In Kisting v. Westchester Fire Insurance Company, 290 F.Supp. 141 (W.D.Wis.1968), the plaintiff was seeking affirmative action against the defendant insurance compa[270]*270ny, claiming a fire loss. One of the requirements of the policy was that a claimant must, in order to collect, give any information relevant to the claim to the insurance company upon its request. The plaintiff refused to answer certain questions at the trial relying upon his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, and the defendant moved for a dismissal. The Court found that the questions were relevant and, further, that “[the] plaintiff in a civil action who exercises his privilege against self-incrimination to refuse to answer questions pertinent to the issues involved will have his complaint dismissed upon timely motion.” [Citations omitted.] 290 F.Supp. at 149.

The Court might accept the above view in the case of a plaintiff seeking affirmative action, but this case is quite different. While the defendant is asserting a claim to the money which was taken from his attache case, he did not institute this action. He was made a party defendant by the Government. He had constructive possession of the money at the time of the seizure, and is, in effect, now defending his right to it against the claim of the Bank. While this case is civil in name and procedure, the Court would be blind to reality if it did not recognize that it is quasi-criminal as to origin and effect.

The Bank also cites as authority for its position Brown v. United States, 356 U.S. 148, 78 S.Ct. 622, 2 L.Ed.2d 589 (1958), and Walder v. United States, 347 U.S. 62, 74 S.Ct. 354, 98 L.Ed. 503 (1954). Walder concerned the use of evidence found inadmissible in an earlier case, to contradict a defendant’s testimony on direct examination in a later case. The Court, in that case, did not even consider the Fifth Amendment and it is, therefore, inapplicable. The defendant here has not suggested, nor could he, that the Bank may not use the money as evidence in this case. Brown v. United States, supra, held that a defendant, who took the stand and testified in her own behalf, waived the right to invoke on cross-examination the privilege against self-incrimination regarding matters made relevant by her direct examination. Since Brown has refused to answer all of the interrogatories on Fifth Amendment grounds, there is no question of waiver at this time.

This case is analogous to the landmark case of Boyd v. United States, 116 U.S. 616, 6 S.Ct. 524, 29 L.Ed. 746 (1885), in which the Supreme Court held unconstitutional a statute which required a defendant or claimant to produce his private books, papers, etc., if he were to avoid the Government Attorney’s allegations being taken as confessed, when such confessed allegations would result in a forfeiture or penalty. The Court held that such a statute was repugnant to the Fourth and Fifth Amendments of the Constitution. The Court stated:

* * * we have to deal with an act which expressly excludes criminal proceedings from its operation (though embracing civil suits for penalties and forfeitures), and with an information not technically a criminal proceeding, and neither, therefore, within the literal terms of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution any more than it is within the literal terms of the Fourth. Does this relieve the proceedings or the law from being obnoxious to the prohibitions of either? We think not; we think they are within the spirit of both. At 633, 6 S.Ct. at 534.

More recently in United States v. Kordel, 407 F.2d 570 (6th Cir:1969), cert, granted 395 U.S. 932, 89 S.Ct. 1998, 23 L.Ed.2d 447 (1969), the Sixth Circuit reversed the conviction of two defendants, which had been obtained by the use of evidence garnered in a civil proceeding to condemn certain quantities of their products. In the civil action, the defendants had been compelled by the District Court to answer interrogatories, in spite of the fact that a criminal action relating to the same products was [271]*271contemplated. The Circuit Court noted that, if the defendants had refused to answer, it was almost certain they would have forfeited the property sought to be condemned. Thus, the defendants were forced to choose between either pleading the Fifth Amendment and forfeiting their property or answering the interrogatories and supplying necessary information for the Government’s contemplated criminal action. The Court, citing Boyd, stated:

Their choice was a hard one and the specific question is whether they should have been required to make a choice. We think not.

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Bluebook (online)
48 F.R.D. 268, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13689, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-second-national-bank-of-nashua-nhd-1969.