CP Salmon Corp. v. Pritzker
CP Salmon Corp. v. Pritzker
Opinion of the Court
ORDER ON MOTION TO COMPEL RETURN OF PRIVILEGED MATERIALS
I. INTRODUCTION
This matter is before the Court on Defendants Secretary of Commerce, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (“NOAA”), and the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (“NMFS”) Motion to Lodge a Revised Administrative Record and to Compel the Return of Privileged Documents at docket 20. Plaintiffs, who are members of the Bering Sea Pollock fishery, oppose at docket 30, and Defendants have replied at docket 33. Defendants seek an order from this Court, pursuant to Fed. R. Evid. 502(b), compelling the return of certain inadvertently disclosed un-redacted documents which Defendants assert contain materials protected by both the attorney-client privilege and the attorney work-product privilege. Plaintiffs oppose, arguing that the documents identified by Defendants are not privileged or in the alternative that Defendants have waived any privilege through disclosure. For the following reasons, the motion to compel the return of the documents and lodge a revised Administrative Record is GRANTED.
II. BACKGROUND
Plaintiffs are participants or representatives of the catcher/processor (“CP”) sector of the. Bering Sea directed Pollock fishery.
The Administrative Procedure Act
III. LEGAL STANDARD
Federal Rule of Evidence 502 applies to the “disclosure of a communication or information covered by the attorney-client privilege or work-produet protection.” When a disclosure of information is inadvertent, it does not operate as a waiver- of privilege in a federal proceeding so long as: “(1) the disclosure is inadvertent; (2) the holder of the privilege or protection took reasonable steps to prevent disclosure; and (3) the holder promptly took reasonable steps to rectify the error, including (if applicable) ■ following Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(B).”
The relevant part of Fed. R. Civ. P. 26 provides:
If information produced in discovery is subject to a claim of privilege or of protection as trial-preparation material, the party making the claim may notify any party that received the information of the claim and the basis for it. After being notified, a party must promptly return, sequester, or destroy the specified information and any copies it has; must not use or disclose the information until the claim is resolved; must take reasonable steps to retrieve the information if the party disclosed it before being notified; and may promptly present the information to the court under seal for a determination of the claim. The producing party must preserve the information until the claim is resolved.15
This dispute concerns eight sets of materials (Documents A-H) that Defendants claim contains privileged materials.
A. Description of the Disputed Documents
The documents at issue fall into two general categories: (1) legal review memo-randa and (2) email correspondence. Documents A, B, C, D, and H are legal review memoranda prepared by Defendants’ attorneys. Documents E, F, and G contain email correspondence between agency attorneys and agency employees regarding the cost recovery rule.
1. Legal Review Memoranda
Document A (AR 3011124-30)—This document is a draft internal legal memorandum from NOAA attorney John Lepore to Acting Deputy General Counsel Adam Issenberg. The very top of the document states “ATTORNEY REVIEW MEMORANDUM, ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATION, DO NOT DISCLOSE.”
Document B (AR 3012682-90) and Document C (AR 3012693-701)—These documents are almost entirely redacted drafts of an internal legal memorandum from NOAA attorneys John Lepore and Maura Burns Sullivan to Acting Deputy General Counsel Chris McNulty. The very top of the documents states “ATTORNEY REVIEW MEMORANDUM, ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATION, DO NOT DISCLOSE.”
Document D (AR 3015113-27)—The first page of this document is a Certifícate of Attorney Review from Alaska Section Chief Lisa Linderman to NMFS Alaska Regional Administrator James Balsiger.
Document H (AR 3013220-23)
2. Email Correspondence
Document E (AR 3012231-34)—This document is an email chain between NOAA and NMFS attorneys. The signature block of the email contains a confidentiality notice advising that the contents of the email may be “confidential, privileged, or attorney work product, or is otherwise exempt from disclosure under applicable law.”
Document F (AR 3000256-57)—This document is an email chain from a NOAA employee to NOAA attorney John Lepore seeking legal advice with respect to the cost recovery rule. Part of the email is redacted but Defendants assert they inadvertently left the subject line of the request for legal advice un-redacted in Le-pore’s response to the NOAA employee.
Document G (AR 3013603-05, 3013715-25, 3013837-40)—This document is several email chains with the subject line: “Cost Recovery Fee Program for W. Alaska CDQ, Amendment 80, AFA and Aleutian Islands Pollock RIN 0648-BE05.” One email chain is between NOAA attorney John Lepore and NMFS Fisheries Management Specialist Karen Palmigiano. The emails solicit legal advice and discuss changes to the cost recovery rule proposed by Attorney Advisor Trida Choe from the Commerce Department’s Office of the Assistant General Counsel for Legislation and Regulation.
B. The Ninth Circuit follows Wig-more’s eight-part test for attorney-client privilege.
The United States Supreme Court described the attorney-client privilege, which protects certain attorney-client communications from disclosure as “the oldest of the privileges for confidential communications known to the common law.”
(1) Where legal advice of any kind is sought (2) from a professional legal adviser in his or her capacity as such, (3) the communications relating to that purpose, (4) made in confidence (5) by the client, (6) are, at the client’s instance, permanently protected (7) from disclosure by the client or by the legal adviser, (8) unless the protection be waived.34
The Ninth Circuit has also recognized that “[t]he attorney-client privilege protects confidential disclosures made by a client to an attorney in order to obtain legal advice, as well as an attorney’s advice in response to such disclosures.”
C. The contents of the disputed documents fall under the attorney-client privilege.
1. Legal Memoranda (Documents A, B, C, D, and H)
Defendants assert that each of the legal review memoranda (Documents A, B, C, D, and H), are privileged because they contain legal advice from the agency’s attorneys in response to requests by the client agency. Additionally, Defendants contend that the memos are protected attorney work-product because they were prepared in anticipation of foreseeable litigation. Plaintiffs argue that the documents are not protected under either privilege.
The parties’ citation to Ninth Circuit case law addressing legal protection for intra-agency legal memoranda is limited. Plaintiffs cite a Second Circuit case, National Council of La Raza v. Department of Justice,
La Raza involved a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) challenge by a coalition of advocacy organizations seeking the disclosure of an unpublished Office of Legal Counsel (“OLC”) memo prepared for the DOJ regarding whether state and local law enforcement could lawfully enforce certain provisions of federal immigration law.
Plaintiffs contend that under La Raza, to the extent the explanations in NOAA’s proposed and final cost recovery rules track the reasoning in the memoranda, it constitutes the agency’s adoption of the memos as policy and thus requires their disclosure here.
Contrary to Plaintiffs’ assertions, there is no substantial evidence that NOAA expressly adopted or incorporated the legal review memoranda into its official policy through repeated public reference as was the case with the DOJ in La Raza. Defendants are correct that the present situation involving Documents A, B, C, D, and H is distinguishable from La Raza because the legal review memoranda at issue here were used solely within the agency, were not widely-circulated, and were not used to persuade third parties to take action.
Defendants cite an unpublished opinion, Jemigan v. Department of the Air Force;
Beyond any case law, Congress has weighed in on what level of protection should be given to internal agency legal advice and memoranda. Congress enacted the FOIA which amended the APA to include language protecting from disclosure “interagency or intra-agency memorandums or letters.”
Considering the lack of case law addressing thése types of memoranda in this circuit, it is informative to apply Wig-more’s eight-factor test to the legal mem-oranda in question. Such application reveals: (1) the memoranda convey legal advice; (2) the advice is from agency attorneys acting in their official capacities;
Applying Wigmore’s eight factors, the Court concludes that the disputed memo-randa and the legal advice contained within them embody the quintessential type of attorney-client communications meant to be protected by the attorney-client privilege. To conclude otherwise would only serve to chill agency attorneys from providing candid advice to agency decision-makers for fear that anything they communicate in an internal legal memorandum would later be subject to disclosure.
2. Emails (Documents E, F, and G) contain protected attorney-client communications.
The Court must also determine if the email correspondence contained in Documents E, F, and .G are privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure. In Document E, NOAA attorney Gene Martin provides a legal interpretation of permits with respect to the cost recovery rule. In Document F, the client agency seeks legal advice from NOAA attorney John Lepore on the cost recovery rule. And in Document G, Lepore offers legal advice to the client agency regarding the cost recovery rule in response to feedback provided by Commerce Department attorney Trida Choe. Documents E and G contain notices and disclaimers that the contents of the emails may be privileged or otherwise protected attorney-client communications.
Having determined the disputed documents fall under the attorney-client privilege, the Court must assess whether Defendants waived this privilege by disclosing the disputed documents in the AR. Under Fed. R. Evid. 502(b), the disclosure of attorney-client privileged materials does not waive the privilege so long as: (1) the disclosure is inadvertent; (2) the privilege-holder took reasonable steps to prevent the disclosure; and (3) the privilege-holder promptly took reasonable steps to correct the error while complying with Fed. R. Civ. P. 26.
Defendants assert that they did not waive attorney-client privilege for the disputed documents because the disclosure of the documents in the AR was inadvertent, the agency took reasonable steps to prevent the disclosure, and the agency promptly moved to correct the inadvertent disclosure.
1. Defendants have made a showing that disclosure was inadvertent.
In support of their claim of inadvertent disclosure, Defendants have submitted declarations from NMFS Regional Administrator James Balsiger and by trial counsel Jeremy Hessler.
The numerous actions taken by Defendants after becoming aware of the disclosure as well as the declarations from Bal-siger and Hessler leave little doubt that the inclusion of these materials or failure to redact certain portions of included materials was accidental. The Defendants have met their burden of showing that the disclosure of the disputed documents was inadvertent.
2. Defendants took reasonable steps to prevent disclosure.
In addition to inadvertence, the disclosing party must take reasonable steps to
3. Defendants took prompt and reasonable steps to réctify the disclosure.
Finally, the disclosing party must take prompt and reasonable steps to rectify the disclosure, including notification of the receiving party in accordance with Fed, R. Civ. P. 26(b)(5)(B).
Pursuant to Fed. R. Evid. 502(b), Defendants did- not waive attorney-client privilege when they inadvertently disclosed the documents at issue, because they took reasonable steps to prevent their disclosure and promptly moved to rectify the disclosure. Accordingly, the Court finds that these documents are privileged and GRANTS the motion to compel their return.
y. CONCLUSION
Having reviewed all of the disputed documents, the Court determines that the materials are protected under attorney-client privilege. Accordingly, the Motion, to Compel Return of Privileged Documents at docket 20 is GRANTED. IT IS HEREBY
IT IS SO ORDERED.
. Dkt. 1 at 2-3; Dkt. 23 at 2.
. NMFS is a sub-agency of NOAA within the Department of Commerce.
. Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area; New Cost Recovery Fee Programs, 81 Fed. Reg. 150, 150-73 (Jan. 1, 2016) (to be codified at 15 C.F.R. pt. 902; 50 C.F.R. pt. 679).
. Dkt. l.
. Id.
. Id. at 4.
. 5 U.S.C. § 702 ("A person suffering legal wrong because of agency action, or adversely affected or aggrieved by agency action within the meaning of a relevant statute, is entitled
. 16 U.S.C. § 1855(f) ("Regulations promulgated by the Secretary under this chapter and actions described in paragraph (2) shall be subject to judicial review to the extent authorized by, and in accordance with, [the APA].”).
. Dkt. 10,
. Dkt. 22 at 2,
. Dkt. 22-1, Defendants sent a revised claw-back letter on April 22, 2016, See Dkt. 22-2.
. Dkt. 22-3. Plaintiffs do not object to the redaction of a cell phone number and other personally identifying information at AR 3007494.
. Dkt. 17.
. Fed. R, Evid. 502(b).
. Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(5)(B).
. In the Motion to Compel at docket 20, Defendants identify seven sets of documents, A-G, that they argue contains privileged materials. In Defendants’ supplement at docket 26, they identify an additional document (H) that they assert is also privileged, for a total of eight sets of documents. See Dkt. 20; Dkt. 26.
. Dkt. 30,
. To avoid confusion, the Court identifies the documents both with the letters used by Defendants to identify the documents in their Motion to Compel and Supplement (Documents A-H), and by their respective page numbers in the AR. See Dkt, 20; Dkt. 25; Dkt. 26.
. Dkt. 25-1 at 2.
. Dkt. 20 at 14.
. Dkt. 25-2 at 2.
. Dkt. 25-4 at 2.
. Document H was not initially identified as containing privileged material in the original Motion to Compel at docket 20, but was identified in the Supplement to Federal Defendants' Motion to Lodge Revised Administrative Record and to Compel the Return of Privileged Documents at docket 26. Defendants moved to include Document H, nunc pro tunc, with their original motion to compel. See Dkt. 26.
. Dkt. 28-1 at 2.
. Dkt. 26 at 2.
. Dkt. 28-1 at 5.
. Dkt. 25-5.
. Dkt. 20 at 18.
. Id.
. Dkt. 25-7.
. Id.
. Upjohn Co. v. United States, 449 U.S. 383, 389, 101 S.Ct. 677, 66 L.Ed.2d 584 (1981).
. Gomez v. Vernon, 255 F.3d 1118, 1132 (9th Cir. 2001) (quoting Upjohn, 449 U.S. at 389, 101 S.Ct. 677).
. See e.g., United States v. Graf, 610 F.3d 1148, 1156 (9th Cir. 2010); United States v. Martin, 278 F.3d 988, 999 (9th Cir. 2002); In re Fischel, 557 F.2d 209, 211 (9th Cir. 1977).
. In re Grand Jury Investigation, 974 F.2d 1068, 1070 (9th Cir. 1992) (internal citations omitted).
. Graf, 610 F.3d at 1156.
. Dkt. 30.
. 411 F.3d 350 (2d Cir. 2005).
. Dkt. 30 at 3.
. Dkt. 33 at 8-9.
. La Raza, 411 F.3d at 352.
. Id. at 353. Notably, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft made references to the legal authority of the OLC memo during a press conference, high-ranking DOJ officials repeatedly referenced the OLC memo in letters to the plaintiffs and Members of Congress, and DOJ officials summarized the OLC memo in presentations to state and local law enforcement agencies.
. Dkt. 30 at 6.
. Gomez, 255 F.3d at 1132 (quoting Upjohn, 449 U.S. at 389, 101 S.Ct. 677).
. Dkt. 21 at ¶8.
. 163 F.3d 606, 1998 WL 658662 (9th Cir. 1998).
. Id.
. See Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3(a) ("Unpublished dispositions and orders of this Court are not precedent except when relevant under the doctrine of law of the case or rules of claim preclusion or issue preclusion,”).
. See Ninth Circuit Rule 36—3(c) ("Unpublished dispositions and orders of this Court issued before January 1, 2007 may not be cited to the courts of this circuit, except in the following circumstances.”),
. 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(5).
. See Coastal States Gas Corp. v. Dep’t of Energy, 617 F.2d 854, 866 (D.C. Cir. 1980) (explaining Congress’s intent to "assure that subordinates within an agency will feel free to provide the decision-maker with their uninhibited opinions and recommendations without fear of later being subject to public ridicule or criticism; to protect against premature disclosure of proposed policies before they have been finally formulated or adopted; and to protect against confusing the issues and misleading the public by dissemination of documents suggesting reasons and rationales for a course of action which were not in fact the ultimate reasons for the agency's action”).
. See e.g., Grand Cent. P'ship, Inc. v. Cuomo, 166 F.3d 473, 481 (2d Cir. 1999); Maricopa Audubon Society v. United States Forest Serv., 108 F.3d 1082, 1084 n.1 (9th Cir. 1997).
. See e.g., Dep’t of Interior v. Klamath Water Users Protective Ass’n, 532 U.S. 1, 8-9, 121 S.Ct. 1060, 149 L.Ed.2d 87 (2001); Abuhouran v. United States State Dep’t, 843 F.Supp.2d 73, 79-80 (D.D.C. 2012).
. The legal memoranda contained in documents A, B, C, D, and H are authored by NOAA attorneys John Lepore and Maura Bums Sullivan.
. See Dkt. 25-1 at 2; Dkt. 25-2 at 2; Dkt. 25-4 at 2; Dkt. 28-1 at 2.
. While Wigmore frames the fifth prong as protecting communications by the client, the Ninth Circuit has made clear that attorney-client privilege also protects confidential disclosures made by an attorney in response to a client’s request for legal advice, so the fifth prong is satisfied. See In re Grand Jury Investigation, 974 F.2d at 1070.
. Dkt. 20; Dkt 21; Dkt 22; Dkt 33.
. See infra Part IV.D.
. See Klamath, 532 U.S. at 8-9, 121 S.Ct. 1060 (noting that FOIA exemption 5's "deliberative process privilege rests on the obvious realization that officials will not communicate candidly among themselves if each remark is a potential item of discovery and front page news,” and that the ultimate goal of the privilege is to enhance "the quality of agency decisions, by protecting open and frank discussion among those who make them within the Government”) (internal citations and quotations omitted).
. Because the Court determines that the documents are protected under the attorney-client privilege, the Court need not analyze the memoranda under the attorney work-product doctrine.
. Dkt. 25-5; Dkt. 25-7.
. Id. Although Document F does not contain the same confidentiality notice as Documents E and G, there is no indication that the NOAA employee or attorney had any intention that their exchange was not made in confidence.
. See supra note 56.
. See infra Part IV.D.
. See United States v. Richey, 632 F.3d 559, 566 (9th Cir. 2011) ("The attorney-client privilege protects confidential communications between attorneys and clients, which are
. Fed. R. Evid. 502(b).
. Dkt. 20; Dkt. 33.
. Dkt. 30 at 8-13.
. Dkt. 21; Dkt 22,
. Dkt. 30 at 10.
. United States v. Real Property at 475 Martin Lane, Beverly Hills Cal., 298 Fed.Appx. 545, 551 (9th Cir. 2008) ("When a declarant necessarily has first-hand knowledge of the facts contained in an affidavit by virtue of his or her position of employment, personal knowledge may be inferred.”) (citing In re Kaypro, 218 F.3d 1070, 1075 (9th Cir. 2000)).
. Fed. R. Evid. 502(b)(2).
. Dkt. 22.
. Id.
. See e.g. Edelen v. Campbell Soup Co., 265 F.R.D. 676, 698 (N.D. Ga. 2010) (finding defendants' inadvertent production of documents which were protected by the attorney-client privilege did not result in waiver of those protections, and thus the return of the documents was required, where only four pages out of a more than 2,000-page production were privileged, the documents had been checked by three different attorneys prior to production, and counsel immediately sought the return of the documents once they discovered their mistake).
. Fed. R. Evid. 502(3).
. Dkt. 22 at 2.
. Dkt. 22-1; Dkt. 22-2.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- CP SALMON CORPORATION v. Penny PRITZKER
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- 1 case
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- Published