Source: http://openjurist.org/148/f3d/487/in-re-grand-jury-subpoena-dated-december-17-1996
Timestamp: 2015-08-05 08:42:44
Document Index: 683748962

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 5102', '§ 5101', '§ 5101', '§ 154', '§ 154', '§ 154']

148 F3d 487 In Re: Grand Jury Subpoena Dated December 17 1996 | OpenJurist
148 F. 3d 487 - In Re: Grand Jury Subpoena Dated December 17 1996 Home
148 F3d 487 In Re: Grand Jury Subpoena Dated December 17 1996 148 F.3d 487
In re: GRAND JURY SUBPOENA DATED DECEMBER 17, 1996.
No. 97-10507.
Madeleine Brinton Johnson, Dallas, TX, for Plaintiff-Appellant.
Leslie Stephen Mendelsohn, Judith A. Sanders-Castro, San Antonio, TX, for Movants-Appellees.
David Cohen, Austin, TX, for Alternative Dispute Resolution Section of the State of Texas, Amicus Curiae.
D. Gene Valentini, Lubbock, TX, for Texas Dispute Resolutions, Directors Council, Amicus Curiae.
Wes Sims, Waco, TX, for Texas Farmers Union, Amicus Curiae.
Appeal from the United States District for the Northern District of Texas.
Before KING and DAVIS, Circuit Judges, and VANCE*, District Judge.
The Government appeals an order of the district court quashing a grand jury subpoena served on the custodian of records of the Texas Agricultural Mediation Program ("TAM"), a state agricultural loan mediation program operated and administered by Texas Tech University, to the extent the subpoena sought documents relating to mediation proceedings involving appellees Gervase and Ira Moczygembas and the Poth Land and Cattle Company (collectively, the "Moczygembas"). The district court ruled that such documents are protected from disclosure to the grand jury by a federal mediation privilege. For the reasons set out below, we reverse and remand.
TAM is a state agricultural loan mediation program that receives federal funding under the Agricultural Credit Act of 1987, Pub.L.N. 100-233. The Agricultural Credit Act was passed in response to the growing problem of farm debt in the United States. Among other things, the Act provides for financial assistance to states for the operation and administration of agricultural loan mediation programs to assist in resolving disputes between farmers and their agricultural lenders. See 7 U.S.C. § 5102. To qualify for financial assistance, a state must obtain certification from the Secretary of Agriculture. See 7 U.S.C. § 5101(a). The Secretary will certify a state for qualification if the state has in effect an agricultural loan mediation program that, among other things, "provides that mediation sessions shall be confidential[.]" See 7 U.S.C. § 5101(c)(3)(D).
The state of Texas has received financial assistance for the operation and administration of TAM since 1988. Its proposal for certification provided that TAM would be operated in accordance with the confidentiality provisions of the Texas Alternative Dispute Resolution Procedures Act (referred to herein as the "Texas ADR statute"), Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem.Code §§ 154.001 et seq. The Texas ADR statute provides that "a communication relating to the subject matter of any civil or criminal dispute made by a participant in an alternative dispute resolution procedure ... is confidential, is not subject to disclosure, and may not be used as evidence against the participant in any judicial or administrative proceeding." See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem.Code §§ 154.073(a). However, if this provision "conflicts with other legal requirements for disclosure of communications or materials, the issue of confidentiality may be presented to the court having jurisdiction of the proceedings to determine, in camera, whether the facts, circumstances, and context of the communications or materials sought to be disclosed warrant a protective order of the court or whether the communications or materials are subject to disclosure." § 154.073(d).
In 1995, during the course of an audit of TAM, the Office of Investigator General ("OIG") of the United States Department of Agriculture ("USDA") discovered a number of irregularities and began to suspect criminal wrongdoing. The OIG's suspicions eventually led to a grand jury investigation of TAM. In November 1996, a grand jury subpoena was served on TAM's custodian of records. On December 16, 1996, one day before the return date of the subpoena, the Moczygembas moved to intervene and quash the subpoena on the ground that documents relating to mediation proceedings involving them are protected from disclosure by a mediation privilege.