Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-3_05-cv-02816/USCOURTS-cand-3_05-cv-02816-1/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 190
Nature of Suit: Other Contract Actions
Cause of Action: 28:1331 Fed. Question

---

United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

RONALD F. GREENSPAN,

Plaintiff,

 v.

TOWER C. SNOW, JR.,

Defendant.

 /

No. C 05-02816 SI

ORDER VACATING OCTOBER 11, 2005

ORDER

On October 11, 2005, this Court issued an Order requiring plaintiff, trustee forthe estate of Brobeck,

Phleger & Harrison, LLP, to maintain Brobeck’s administrative files held by two offsite storage facilities until

further order of this Court. The Court issued its October 11 Order to ensure that both parties were given the

opportunity to be heard before any ofthose files might be destroyed. Having now heard fromboth parties, the

Court VACATES its October 11 Order without prejudice to raising the issues at a later time. The Court

believes that the bankruptcy court is in the best position to address these issues in the first instance.

Defendant, a former partner at Brobeck, brought this issue before the Court by letter brief, arguing that

plaintiff was poised to abandon Brobeck’s interest in approximately 10,000 boxes of administrative files held

by two offsite storage companies (the “Offsite Documents”). In addition to abandoning the estate’s interest,

plaintiff also sought to execute settlement agreements with the storage companies that provided that each

storage company was “under no obligation to continue to store or maintain [the Offsite Documents] and is free

to destroy them or dispose of them.” Def. Br. at 1. Defendant contends that the Offsite Documents must not

be destroyed because they contain informationthat is vitalto his defense and counterclaims in this lawsuit, such

as “accounting and finance records, time and expense reports, billing records, lease records, partner files . .

., payroll records, human resource files, business development files, marketing files, and various executive,

Case 3:05-cv-02816-SI Document 7 Filed 10/13/05 Page 1 of 3
United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

1Plaintiff has assembled, and has agreed to maintain, a separate set of documents that are actually in

the possession of the estate (the "Onsite Documents"). Plaintiff claims that these documents contain all the

information that defendant considers vital to his case. For example, plaintiff describes the Onsite Documents

as containing "financial statements and auditor work papers from 1999 forward, partner compensation files

from 2000 forward, and files respecting the Debtor's leases." Pl. Br. at 2. In addition, plaintiff has agreed to

maintain the estate's computer server, which holds "the Debtor's general ledgers and other accounting files,

innumerable other documents, and Brobeck's email database." Id.

2

committee, and practice group files.” Def. Br. at 3.

Despite the purported value of the Offsite Documents, which plaintiff disputes,1 defendant has

apparently made no effort to access those documents. Plaintiff has offered to give defendant complete access

to the documents provided defendant pays the storage companies’ modest access fee. Plaintiff has also

provided defendant with an index to the documents, and has even offered to delay the effectiveness of the

settlement agreements to allow defendant, as well as other former Brobeck partners, the opportunity to inspect

the Offsite Documents. Apparently defendant has not taken advantage of these opportunities. Nor did

defendant seek to challenge plaintiff’s bankruptcy court motion to abandon the estate’s interest in the Offsite

Documents, although a number of other former Brobeck partners filed objections.

Defendant’s position appears to be that plaintiff has a duty to maintain the Offsite Documents and to

produce them when discovery begins in this matter. Yet all the Offsite Documents are wholly available to

defendant now. Especially given that plaintiff is unfamiliar with the contents of the Offsite Documents, the Court

believes it would be inefficient to require plaintiff to maintain, review, and produce the Offsite Documents at

a later time. Cf. In re D.H. Overmyer Telecasting Co., 53 B.R. 963, 977-78 (D. Ohio 1984) (denying

discovery request where party already had access to the requested documents from discovery in prior

litigation).

Given that the bankruptcy court must approve plaintiff’s attempts to abandon the estate’s interest in

the Offsite Documents, as well as the two settlement agreements, the Court finds it appropriate to let the

bankruptcy court address this issue in the first instance. As other former Brobeck partners have contested

plaintiff’s motion to abandon the estate’s interest in the documents, there is no doubt the bankruptcy court will

consider plaintiff’sdiscovery obligations when deciding whether to approve the settlement agreements. Further,

the Court believes that the bankruptcy court is currently in the best position to determine whether the Offsite

Case 3:05-cv-02816-SI Document 7 Filed 10/13/05 Page 2 of 3
United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28 3

Documents contain any relevant informationthat is not present in the Onsite Documents, as well as whether the

limited resources of the estate are best applied to maintaining the Offsite Documents.

Accordingly, this Court’s October 11, 2005 Order is VACATED (Docket No. 5), without prejudice

to raising these issues at a later time.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: October 13, 2005

 

SUSAN ILLSTON

United States District Judge

Case 3:05-cv-02816-SI Document 7 Filed 10/13/05 Page 3 of 3