Middlesex v. Quest
Middlesex v. Quest
Middlesex v. Quest
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PRESENT:
HON. ROBERT N. BLOCK, UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
Kerri Glover n/a
Deputy Clerk Court Reporter
It appearing to the Court from the Joint Stipulation (“Jt Stip”) that there are four
legal issues in dispute, the Court now rules as follows with respect to those legal issues.
Issue No. 1: Whether communications between Quest and the Government (i.e.,
the SEC and/or the USAO) may be withheld on the ground of the “settlement
privilege”
According to plaintiff, this issue relates to the documents that are referenced in the
Quest Privilege Log dated November 12, 2008 by “control numbers” 3253-3281 and
3284,1 and to the first ten documents referenced in Quest’s Second Supplemental
Privilege Log dated March 26, 2009. (See Jt Stip at 4). However, according to Quest,
it already has produced Document 3284 (see Jt Stip at 46 n.14) and the tenth document
on the Second Supplemental Privilege Log (see Jt Stip at 54 n.22). Therefore, the
propriety of Quest’s invocation of the “settlement privilege” to justify the withholding
of those documents has been rendered moot.2
1
As Quest points out, Document Nos. 3281 and 3284 also were withheld
on the ground of attorney work product.
2
The Court notes that plaintiff maintains that “it cannot independently
verify that these documents [that Quest maintains it already has produced] have been
(continued...)
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After duly considering the cases upon which both sides are relying in support of
their respective positions, the Court has decided to adopt the view of those courts that
have held that there is no federal settlement privilege that may be invoked to prevent the
discovery of written communications made during the course of settlement discussions.
See, e.g., Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University v. Tyco Intern. Ltd.,
253 F.R.D. 521, 523 (C.D. Cal. 2008); JZ Buckingham Invest. LLC v. United States, 78
Fed. Cl. 15, 22-24 (Fed. Cl. 2007); Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., Ltd. v. Mediatek, Inc.,
2007 WL 963975, *2-*4 (N.D. Cal. March 30, 2007); In re Subpoena Issued to
Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 370 F. Supp. 2d 201, 209-12 (D.D.C. 2005).
As pointed out in those decisions, Fed. R. Evid. 408 on its face is directed to the
admissibility of evidence at trial and does not limit discovery. See also 2 Weinstein’s
Federal Evidence § 408.07 at 408-26 (2005) (noting that “a party is not allowed to use
Rule 408 as a screen for curtailing his adversary’s right of discovery.”). Although the
Sixth Circuit recognized a settlement privilege pursuant to Fed. R. Evid. 501 in
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. v. Chiles Power Supply, Inc., 332 F.3d 976, 980 (6th Cir.
2003), one of the two cases upon which Quest principally is relying, the Court concurs
with the Magistrate Judge in Matsushita that the Sixth Circuit decision does not reflect
the detailed analysis required for the creation of a new federal privilege under Jaffe v.
Redmond, 518 U.S. 1, 9, 116 S. Ct. 1923, 135 L. Ed. 2d 337 (1996). Such a detailed
analysis is reflected in the Commodity Futures Trading Commission case, where the
District Judge declined to follow Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and instead concluded
that a federal settlement privilege does not exist. See In re Subpoena Issued to
Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 370 F. Supp. 2d at 208-12.
The other case upon which Quest principally is relying is Folb v. Motion Picture
Industry Pension & Health Plans, 16 F. Supp. 2d 1164 (C.D. Cal. 1998), aff’d, 216 F.3d
1082 (2000). There, the District Judge did conduct a detailed analysis before concluding
that a “mediation privilege” existed. However, the “mediation privilege” recognized in
2
(...continued)
produced.” Accordingly, to the extent that the four disputed issues relate to the
production of any documents that Quest maintains it already has produced, Quest is
ordered to produce those documents again.
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Folb expressly was limited “only to information disclosed in conjunction with mediation
proceedings with a neutral.” See id. at 1180. As the District Court observed in Molina
v. Lexmark Intern., Inc., 2008 WL 4447678,*8 n.59 (C.D. Cal. Sept. 30, 2008):
“In limiting the privilege it recognized in this manner, the Folb court
distinguished between mediation, which is not addressed in the
Federal Rules of Evidence, and settlement negotiations, which are
governed by Rule 408 of the Federal Rules of Evidence. See Fed. R.
Evid. 408 (evidence of settlement offers and compromise
negotiations is not admissible ‘to prove liability for, invalidity of, or
amount of a claim that was disputed as to validity or amount, or to
impeach through a prior inconsistent statement or contradiction’);
Folb, 16 F. Supp. 2d at 1180 (‘Any interpretation of Rule 501 must
be consistent with Rule 408. To protect settlement communications
not related to mediation would invade Rule 408’s domain; only
Congress is authorized to amend the scope of protection afforded by
Rule 408. Consequently, any post-mediation communications are
protected only by Rule 408’s limitations on admissibility.’).”
Since the written communications at issue here are not settlement communications
related to mediation proceedings (or even settlement proceedings) with a neutral, neither
Folb nor the other cases cited by Quest as following Folb have any applicability to their
discoverability.
The Court therefore finds and concludes that the answer to the question posed by
Issue No. 1 is no.
Issue No. 2: Whether the disclosure of documents to the Government (i.e., the
SEC and/or the USAO) constituted a waiver of work product protection for those
documents3
3
The Court notes that plaintiff also has questioned whether Quest’s letters
to the Government even qualify as work product insofar as they were created with the
(continued...)
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According to plaintiff, this issue relates to the documents that are referenced in the
Quest Privilege Log dated November 12, 2008 by “control numbers” 3281-3284 and
3329.4 (See Jt Stip at 8). However, according to Quest, it already has produced
Documents 3283 and 3284. (See Jt Stip at 46 n.14). Therefore, the propriety of Quest’s
3
(...continued)
intent to disclose them to the Government. (See Jt Stip at 8-9). If Quest were
asserting attorney-client privilege, the Court would be inclined to agree. See United
States v. Bergonzi, 216 F.R.D. 487, 494 (N.D. Cal. 2003) (finding that the attorney-
client privilege did not apply to communications created with the intent to disclose
them to the Government), appeal dismissed as moot, 403 F.3d 1048 (9th Cir. 2005).
However, it does not follow from the fact that the letters were created with the intent
to disclose them to the Government that they do not constitute work product prepared
in anticipation of litigation. See Bergonzi, 216 F.R.D. at 494-95 (rejecting this same
argument); see also In re International Systems and Controls Corp. Securities
Litigation, 693 F.2d 1235, 1239 n.4 (5th Cir. 1982) (“From the moment management
learned of the SEC investigation, it could almost count on some form of shareholder’s
derivative or class action suit.”). Accordingly, the Court concurs with Quest that
plaintiff’s argument really goes to the waiver issue, not the issue of whether the
documents otherwise qualify as work product.
4
Quest maintains that Document 3329 is the same as Document 3282 and
thus “an inadvertent duplicate entry.” (See Jt Stip at 46 n.14). The Court notes,
however, that the description of the two documents is different in that Document 3329
references enclosed transcripts whereas Document 3282 does not. The Court also
notes that Quest only asserted work product protection with respect to Document
3282, whereas Quest asserted both work product protection and attorney-client
privilege with respect to Document 3329. Although the parties did not brief the
propriety of Quest’s invocation of the attorney-client privilege with respect to
Document 3329, the Court finds that any attorney-client privilege otherwise applicable
to Document 3329 was waived by its disclosure to the Government.
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invocation of work product protection to justify the withholding of those documents has
been rendered moot.
The Ninth Circuit recognizes that a waiver of the attorney-client privilege by the
voluntary disclosure of the privileged information to a third party is not necessarily a
waiver of work-product protection. See Transamerica Computer Co., Inc. v.
International Business Machines Corp., 573 F.2d 646, 648 n.1 (9th Cir. 1978); see also,
e.g., Goff v. Harrah’s Operating Co., Inc., 240 F.R.D. 659, 661 (D. Nev. 2007); Ashanti
v. CA Dept. of Corrections, 2006 WL 2695337, *4 (E.D. Cal. Sept. 20, 2006); Chubb
Integrated Systems Ltd. v. National Bank of Washington, 103 F.R.D. 52, 63 (D.D.C.
1984); Ceco Steel Products Corp. v. H.K. Porter, Inc., 31 F.R.D. 142, 143 (N.D. Ill.
1962); Connecticut Mut Life Ins Co v. Shields, 16 F.R.D. 5, 7-8 (S.D.N.Y. 1954).
Thus, the waiver issue here turns on whether the disclosure to the Government
substantially increased the opportunity for potential adversaries like plaintiff and its
counsel to obtain that work product. See, e.g, Transamerica Computer Co., Inc., 573
F.2d at 648 n.1; Goff, 240 F.R.D. at 661; 8 Wright, Miller & Marcus, Federal Practice
and Procedure, Civil 2d § 2024, at 367-69 (1994 & 2009 Supp.).
In the Court’s view, the disclosure of the work product in question to the
Government did substantially increase the opportunity for potential adversaries like
plaintiff and its counsel to obtain that work product.
In the first place, the Court disagrees with Quest that the SEC and/or the USAO
were not its adversaries. The only reason the Government was seeking documents from
Quest was to determine whether Quest and/or its executives had committed violations
of the federal securities laws. The fact that litigation had not yet commenced is not
dispositive. See, e.g., United States v. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 129 F.3d
681, 687 (1st Cir. 1997) (“The audit agency was reviewing MIT’s expense submissions.
MIT doubtless hoped that there would be no actual controversy between it and the
Department of Defense, but the potential for dispute and even litigation was certainly
there. The cases treat this situation as one in which the work product protection is
deemed forfeit.”); In re Steinhardt Partners, L.P., 9 F.3d 230, 234 (2d Cir. 1993);
Westinghouse Elec. Corp. v. Republic of Philippines, 951 F.2d 1414, 1428 (3d Cir.
1991) (“Westinghouse was the target of investigations conducted by the agencies. Under
these circumstances, we have no difficulty concluding that the SEC and the DOJ were
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confidential agreement did not preserve work product protection where “Westinghouse
deliberately disclosed work product to two government agencies investigating allegations
against it”); Bergonzi, 216 F.R.D. at 494 (finding waiver of work product protection
where internal audit report disclosed to the SEC and USAO pursuant to a confidentiality
agreement containing a provision that permitted the SEC, in its discretion, to “determine
that disclosure is otherwise required by federal law or in furtherance of [the
Government’s] discharge of its duties and responsibilities.”).
The Court therefore finds and concludes that the answer to the question posed by
Issue No. 2 is yes.
5
According to Quest, it also has produced Documents 1882-1885, 1887,
1889, and 1891-1892 in redacted form. (See Jt Stip at 40).
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2001) (“In order to show that a communication relates to legal advice, the proponent of
the privilege must demonstrate that the ‘primary purpose’ of the communication was
securing legal advice.”). Rather, according to the Special Committee’s counsel,
“whenever the Special Committee communicated with members of Quest’s Board of
Directors or other Quest employees, it did so in furtherance of those individual Board
members’ or those employees’ fiduciary duties to the Company in order for those
individuals to make appropriate business decisions, including, among other things,
disclosures mandated by the applicable federal securities laws, rules and regulations;
NASDAQ reporting requirements; and California state law.” (See Ephross Decl. at ¶ 8).
The Court therefore concurs with plaintiff that the documents in question are not
protected by the attorney-client privilege. See S.E.C. v. Microtune, Inc., - F.R.D. -, 2009
WL 1574872, at *5 (N.D. Tex. June 4, 2009); S.E.C. v. Roberts, 254 F.R.D. 371, 383
(N.D. Cal. 2008); In re OM Securities Litigation, 226 F.R.D. 579, 590-92 (N.D. Ohio
2005).6
Accordingly, the Court finds and concludes that the answer to the question posed
6
The Court has reviewed the sole case cited by Quest for the proposition
that, under the “common interest” exception to the rule that the disclosure of attorney-
client privileged communications to a third party waives the privilege, discussions
between a Special Committee and its counsel and a corporation and its counsel are
protected. Contrary to Quest’s characterization, In re BCI West, L.P., 2000 U.S. Dist.
LEXIS 12590 (S.D.N.Y. Aug 31, 2000) had nothing to do with the “common interest”
exception. Moreover, the issue in that case was not whether privileged
communications between the Special Committee and its counsel were waived by the
disclosure of those communications to the corporation and its counsel. Rather, the
issue was whether, because the Special Committee’s counsel had communications
with the Board and management, the attorney-client privilege was waived with respect
to communications between the Special Committee’s counsel and the Special
Committee. Here, in any event, the Court concurs with plaintiff that the Special
Committee did not have the requisite “common interest” with the persons it was
investigating and with whom the privileged communications in question were shared.
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Issue No. 4: Whether documents disclosed to Deloitte qualify for work product
protection and, if so, whether the disclosure of those documents to Deloitte
constituted a waiver of such work product protection
According to plaintiff, this issue relates to the documents that are referenced in the
Deloitte privilege log in rows 3-22, 24, 26-40, 43-45, 47-83, 85, 86, 92, 93, and 100-121;
and to the documents that are referenced in the Deloitte redaction log in rows 3-62, 67,
68, 72-74, 78-91, 93, 99, 102, 109-121, and 124-126. (See Joint Stip at 18).
To the extent that any of these withheld or redacted documents were prepared by
Deloitte during the course of its audit work (including notes made by Deloitte of
meetings with the Special Committee’s counsel,8 the Court finds that the documents do
not qualify for work product protection because Quest has failed to make the requisite
showing that those documents were created because of the prospect of litigation. See In
re Grand Jury Subpoena, 357 F.3d 900, 907 (9th Cir. 2004). The Court likewise finds
with respect to any documents prepared by the Special Committee or its counsel
specifically in response to requests by Deloitte for information during the course of its
audit work. See In re Diasonics Securities Litigation, 1986 WL 53402, *1 (N.D. Cal.
7
As Quest points out, Document 181 also was withheld on the basis that
it qualified for work product protection. The Court has reviewed the cases cited by
Quest for the proposition that “work product, and especially opinion work product,
remains protected when shared between a Special Committee and a corporation.”
(See Jt Stip at 40). Since Document 181 does not purport to have been prepared by
counsel for the Special Committee, the Court is dubious about whether that document
constitutes “opinion work product.” Moreover, to the extent that Document 181
merely contains factual information, work product protection would not be absolute.
Therefore, the Court has decided to accede to the request made by plaintiff in footnote
5 of the Joint Stipulation with respect to Document 181.
8
The Court concurs with plaintiff that the privilege log is inadequate with
respect to its description of notes in rows 55-63.
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A further consideration is that, given the nature of its role, Deloitte was under no
obligation to keep confidential any work product disclosed to it that Deloitte determined
it needed to publicly disclose in the performance of its audit function. See 2 Epstein,
The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine, 1060 (5th ed. 2007)
(“Further and more generalized dissemination is thus a necessary although not inevitable
correlation to such disclosure [of work product to an independent auditor of a publicly
held company] and it is potentially so broad as to vitiate any meaning to the
protection.”).
Accordingly, the Court finds and concludes that the answer to the second question
posed by Issue No. 4 is yes.
*************************
In view of the foregoing rulings, plaintiff’s Motion to Compel Production is
granted as follows:
1. The Motion is granted with respect to all the documents sought
by plaintiff, except for Document 181. Quest is ordered to produce those
documents (including those that Quest maintains it already has produced,
as well as unredacted versions of those that Quest maintains it already has
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produced in redacted form) within ten (10) days of the service date of this
ruling. However, if Quest timely files objections to this part of the Court’s
ruling within the 10-day period, then compliance with this order shall be
stayed pending the District Judge’s ruling with respect to all documents that
are the subject of Quest’s objections.
2. Within ten (10) days of the service date of this ruling, Quest
is ordered to lodge a copy of Document 181 for the Court’s in camera
review and to concurrently file under seal a memorandum, limited to three
(3) pages in length, that re-articulates the basis for Quest’s contention that
Document 181 is entitled to work product protection. If the Court
determines that the document in whole or in part is entitled to qualified
work product protection, the Court will afford plaintiff the opportunity to
make the requisite showing under Fed. R. 26(b)(3)(A). However, if Quest
timely files objections to this part of the Court’s ruling within the 10-day
period, then compliance with this order shall be stayed pending the District
Judge’s ruling with respect to Document 181.