Opinion ID: 1623775
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Action (07-KK-1853 and 07-KK-1870)

Text: In brief, both CNN and the AG argue that any documents obtained from Tenet-Memorial plainly fall within the definition of a public record under the Public Records Act, and, therefore, the AG has a legal duty to maintain copies of all such documents in his file. They further argue this duty overcomes Tenet-Memorial's right to have said copies returned. [7] CNN and the AG also argue that a motion filed pursuant to La. R.S. 15:41 is by nature a civil action that can only be brought in a court of civil jurisdiction, and that, even if a motion for return of seized property can be brought in a criminal court, La. R.S. 15:41 is applicable only to property seized pursuant to a search warrant and specifically inapplicable to documents produced pursuant to a subpoena duces tecum. In opposition, Tenet-Memorial asserts that CNN lacks standing to intervene in this action, La. R.S. 15:41 is a criminal motion that can only be brought in a court of criminal jurisdiction, and La. R.S. 15:41 applies to both search warrants and subpoenas duces tecum. [8] We must first consider whether CNN has standing to intervene in Tenet-Memorial's motion for return of property. Tenet-Memorial asserts that CNN was neither a party to the motion for return of property, nor was it made a subject of the court's order. In addition, Tenet-Memorial notes that La. R.S. 15:41 does not contemplate actions by third parties other than those who claim an ownership interest in the seized property. Consequently, Tenet-Memorial concludes that CNN lacks standing to challenge the trial court's order. CNN counters that it has an interest in the motion for return of property because the records at issue qualify as public records and therefore implicate the public's rights under the Public Records Act. When addressing a litigant's standing, we have found that the predicate requirement of standing is satisfied if it can be said that the [litigant] has an interest at stake in litigation which can be legally protected. In re: Melancon, 05-1702, p. 9 (La.7/10/06), 935 So.2d 661, 668. Conversely, a litigant who is not asserting a substantial existing legal right is without standing in court. Melancon, 05-1702 at p. 8, 935 So.2d at 667. In addition, that a party has the legal capacity to appear in court does not alone define standing; rather, standing is gauged also by the specific statutory or constitutional claims that the party presents and the party's relationship to those claims. Melancon, 05-1702 at p. 9, 935 So.2d at 668. The standing inquiry requires careful examination of whether a particular litigant is entitled to an adjudication of the particular claims it has asserted. Melancon, 05-1702 at p. 10, 935 So.2d at 668 (citing Allen v. Wright, 468 U.S. 737, 752, 104 S.Ct. 3315, 3325, 82 L.Ed.2d 556 (1984)). In this case, La. R.S. 44:35 provides for the enforcement of the public's rights under the Public Records Act: A. Any person who has been denied the right to inspect or copy a record under the provisions of this Chapter, either by a final determination of the custodian or by the passage of five days... from the date of his request without receiving a final determination in writing by the custodian, may institute proceedings for the issuance of a writ of mandamus, injunctive or declaratory relief, together with attorney's fees, costs and damages as provided for by this Section, in the district court for the parish in which the office of the custodian is located. La. R.S. 44:35. La. R.S. 44:35, by its plain language, provides that any person who has been denied the right to inspect or copy a record by the action of the custodian of those records a cause of action against the custodian. See Vourvoulias v. Movassaghi, 04-0262, p. 6 (La.App. 1 Cir. 2/11/05), 906 So.2d 461, 465 (Only the person who requests to inspect or copy a public record and is denied that right belongs to the class of persons to whom the law grants the cause of action.). Tenet-Memorial is not the custodian of the public records at issue in these consolidated cases, and is therefore not capable of denying CNN its right to inspect or copy a public record by filing a motion for return of its property. La. R.S. 44:31 and 44:36. Rather, the custodian of the public records at issue in these proceedings is the AG. La. R.S. 44:36. CNN's right of action under the Public Records Act is limited to actions against the custodian of the public records. La. R.S. 44:35. Consequently, CNN's action for enforcement of its rights under the Public Records Act is not by way of intervention against Tenet-Memorial in a motion for return of property filed in an Orleans Parish Criminal District Court because CNN has no substantial legal right in that motion. Rather, CNN's action for enforcement of its rights under the Public Records Act is by way of suit against the AG, in the district court for the parish in which the office of the custodian is located. La. R.S. 44:35. In fact, in these consolidated cases, CNN exercised its rights under the Public Records Act when it filed suit against the AG in the District Court for the Parish of East Baton Rouge. For these reasons, CNN lacks statutory authority and is thus without standing to also exercise that right by intervening in an Orleans Parish Criminal District Court action against an entity that is not the custodian of the public records. CNN asserts, however, that it has a right, not only to access the public records, but also to ensure that they are not compromised by the Orleans Parish District Court's order mandating the return of certain documents and copies thereof. The intent of CNN's intervention in this case is thus not to inspect the public records, but rather to maintain what it considers to be public records. However, when the facts alleged provide a remedy to someone, but the litigant who seeks relief is not the person in whose favor the law extends the remedy, that litigant is without standing. Melancon, 05-1702 at p. 10, 935 So.2d at 668. In this case, the right and responsibility to maintain the public records is within the exclusive statutory authority of the AG. La. R.S. 44:36. Consequently, CNN cannot gain standing by claiming that it wishes to maintain the integrity of the public records on behalf of the AG. In addition, when ruling on standing, it is both appropriate and necessary to look to the substantive issues to determine whether there is a logical nexus between the status asserted and the claim sought to be adjudicated. Chicago Tribune Co. v. Mauffray, 08-522, pp. 7-8 (La.App. 3 Cir. 11/5/08), 996 So.2d 1273, 1279 (citing Flast v. Cohen, 392 U.S. 83, 101, 88 S.Ct. 1942, 20 L.Ed.2d 947 (1968)). Here, CNN asserts a status that necessarily belongs to the AG: that of custodian of the alleged public records at issue in this case. However, CNN is without statutory authority to take up this mantle on behalf of the AG. As such, CNN also asserts that it has status as a person who has been denied the right to inspect or copy a public record. Nonetheless, CNN has asserted this status in an action for return of property. The claim sought to be adjudicated in this proceeding is that of the return of property. This claim has no logical nexus to CNN's asserted status, which is that of a party who has been denied the right to inspect or copy a public record. In order to be entitled to maintain its action, CNN must have had a direct and present interest in the motion for return of property; it is insufficient that CNN had a remote or indirect interest therein. Melancon, 05-1702 at p. 8 n. 5, 935 So.2d at 667 n. 5 (citing 26 C.J.S.  125 (2001), pp. 241-15). For these reasons, we find that CNN lacked standing to intervene in the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court proceeding, and we hereby dismiss CNN from that portion of this case. Having determined that CNN lacked standing to intervene in Tenet-Memorial's motion for return of property, we now address whether the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court possessed the requisite jurisdiction to entertain that motion. The AG asserts that a motion for return of property under La. R.S. 15:41 is a civil action over which the Criminal District Court for the Parish of Orleans had no jurisdiction. Tenet-Memorial, in turn, argues that only the Criminal District Court had jurisdiction over its motion for return of property, noting that it would be untenable for a party to petition the Orleans Civil District Court for relief from the orders of the Criminal District Court. La. R.S. 15:41, entitled Disposition of property seized in connection with criminal proceedings, is found in Title 15 of the Revised Statutes governing Criminal Procedure within Code Title IV, entitled Search Warrants. La. R.S. 15:41(B) provides for the return of property seized in connection with a criminal proceeding so long as that property (1) is not to be used as evidence or is no longer needed as evidence and (2) no statute declares the property to be contraband. La. R.S. 15:41. The rules of statutory construction provide that when a law is clear and unambiguous and its application will not lead to absurd consequences, it must be applied as written. La. C.C. art. 9. Furthermore, when the words of a law are ambiguous, their meaning must be sought by examining the context in which they occur and the text of the law as a whole. La. C.C. art. 12. We find nothing within the plain language of La. R.S. 15:41 that requires Tenet-Memorial's motion to be filed in a civil court. To the contrary, the fact that this article is found within the Revised Statutes governing criminal procedure strongly suggests that it applies to courts exercising criminal jurisdiction. In addition, logical considerations suggest such a finding. A civil court is an unlikely venue for determining the status of a criminal matter pending in another court or whether the evidence to be used therein is still needed. [9] Such action by the Orleans Civil District Court would put it at odds with the exclusive jurisdiction of the Orleans Criminal District Court. It would be bizarre indeed to require the clerk of the Orleans Criminal District Court to appear before the Orleans Civil District Court regarding orders issued by the Orleans Criminal District Court. The AG cites three appellate cases in support of his conclusion that a La. R.S. 15:41 motion for return of property is a civil action: In the Interest of C.C., 03-762, p. 7 (La.App. 5 Cir. 12/9/03), 864 So.2d 663, 667; State v. Baynes, 96-0292, p. 6 n. 2 (La.App. 4 Cir. 7/31/96), 678 So.2d 959, 962 n. 2 (citing State v. Lamb, 26,257 (La.App. 2 Cir. 10/26/94); 645 So.2d 791); and State v. Mart, 96-1584, p. 5 (La.App. 1 Cir. 6/20/97), 697 So.2d 1055, 1058. In State v. Lamb , the police seized a significant amount of non-contraband cash from defendant Lamb incidental to his arrest, which he thereafter sought to have returned to him. Lamb, 26,257 at p. 1, 645 So.2d at 792. The State argued that Lamb's failure to appeal a prior judgment denying his previous motion for return of his property prevented him from now seeking its return. Lamb, 26,257 at p. 5, 645 So.2d at 794. The court of appeal stated, without citation, that the instant matter is treated as civil by this court and is governed by the Code of Civil Procedure. Id. Finding that the delay for taking his appeal had not started to run under the Code of Civil Procedure, the court of appeal allowed Lamb to contest the prior judgment denying his previous motion for return of property. Lamb, 26,257 at p. 7, 645 So.2d at 795. The appellate court's assertion in Lamb constituted dicta, and was unsupported by law. The Baynes court, also in dicta, made a similar finding, noting in a footnote that an action for return of property, even if governed in part by criminal statutes, is by nature a civil action. Baynes, 96-0292 at p. 6 n. 2, 678 So.2d at 962 n. 2. In support of this contention, the court of appeal cited State v. Lamb as its sole authority. Similarly, the Mart court, in arriving at an identical finding, cited only State v. Baynes as authority for its conclusion. Finally, in In the Interest of C.C., the appellate court, in determining that a motion seeking a return of property should be brought in a separate civil proceeding, cited this court's decision in State v. Paster, 373 So.2d 170 (La.1979). However, a review of the Paster decision reveals that it did not address La. R.S. 15:41 at all, but rather found that a defendant's liability for towing and storage fees was a civil action pursuant to La.C.Cr.P art. 886 (1979) (nonpayment of fines and costs in criminal matters may be enforced in the same manner as money judgments in civil cases). Paster, 373 So.2d at 175-76. We find none of the above-cited cases probative or even helpful in resolving the issues presently before us. Rather, the above-cited cases referenced no governing, applicable authority for their interpretations of La. R.S. 15:41, and several relied solely on the unsubstantiated findings of their fellow appellate courts. Consequently, we question their correctness, and, to the extent they conflict with our decision today, they are overruled. Finally, we note that La. R.S. 15:41 must be read in light of La.C.Cr.P. art. 167, which provides as follows: When property is seized pursuant to a search warrant, it shall be retained under the direction of the judge. If seized property is not to be used as evidence or is no longer needed as evidence, it shall be disposed of according to law, under the direction of the judge. La.C.Cr.P. art. 167. The plain language of this article vests the judge presiding over a proceeding with the jurisdiction to order the return of property seized under a search warrant in connection with that proceeding. Because property seized pursuant to a search warrant is almost exclusively done so in connection with criminal proceedings and this provision is found in the Code of Criminal Procedure, we interpret this statute as allowing a criminal court judge to exercise the jurisdiction to order the return of property seized pursuant to a search warrant. Given our mandate to read laws on the same subject matter in reference to each other under La. C.C. art. 13, and for the reasons set forth above, we find that a motion for return of property filed pursuant to La. R.S. 15:41 is part and parcel of a criminal proceeding, and is thus included within the jurisdiction of the criminal court presiding over or having presided over the criminal proceeding. Having concluded that the Criminal District Court is a proper jurisdiction in which to bring this La. R.S. 15:41 motion, we now address the scope of such a motion. As noted above, La. R.S. 15:41, entitled Disposition of property seized in connection with criminal proceedings, is found in Title 15 of the Revised Statutes governing Criminal Procedure. Within Title 15, this statute is found in Chapter 1, entitled Code of Criminal Procedure Ancillaries, and, within that chapter, is found within Code Title IV, entitled Search Warrants. Although the text of La. R.S. 15:41 does not refer by name to search warrants or the fruits thereof (i.e., property seized pursuant to a search warrant), it consistently and exclusively refers to property seized in connection with a criminal prosecution. As such, we must discern whether the copies in the possession of the AG constitute property seized in connection with a criminal prosecution as contemplated by La. R.S. 15:41. As an initial matter, we do not address the status of any original documents, or copies thereof, seized by the AG pursuant to a search warrant. We find that we need not reach this issue given the limited language of the trial court's order. The trial court's order demanded the return of the originals and all copies of materials produced as a result of a subpoena signed by this court, to the entities or organizations that produced material to the [AG]'s office or the [DA]'s office in this matter. (Emphasis added.) Later in its order, the trial court ordered the AG and the DA not [to] release any original documents, records, other property, or copies thereof that were produced as a result of a subpoena signed by this court in this matter. (Emphasis added.) Thus, it appears that the trial court's order was specifically limited to a return of the originals and copies of documents produced as a result of a subpoena only, and did not address or order the return of the originals or the copies of documents seized pursuant to a search warrant. Therefore, we need not comment on whether a trial court, under the auspices of La. R.S. 15:41, may order the return of documents or copies of documents seized pursuant to a search warrant. Having disposed of this initial issue, we now turn to whether documents produced pursuant to a subpoena duces tecum, and copies thereof, constitute property seized within the meaning of La. R.S. 15:41. This analysis necessarily requires an inquiry into the constitutional origin of the subpoena duces tecum. At the outset, we note that there has been significant confusion regarding the precise relationship between subpoenas duces tecum and what have been viewed as traditional searches and seizures under the Fourth Amendment. The United States Supreme Court noted in its seminal case on the matter, which involved the production of a corporation's documents in response to a subpoena duces tecum: The primary source of misconception concerning the Fourth Amendment's function lies perhaps in the identification of cases involving so-called `figurative' or 'constructive' search with cases of actual search and seizure. Only in this analogical sense can any question related to search and seizure be thought to arise in situations which, like the present ones, involve only the validity of authorized judicial orders. The confusion is due in part to the fact that this is the very kind of situation in which the decisions have moved with variant direction, although without actual conflict when all of the facts in each case are taken into account. Notwithstanding this, emphasis and tone at times are highly contrasting, with consequent overtones of doubt and confusion for validity of the statute or its application. The subject matter perhaps too often has been generative of heat rather than light, for the border along which the cases lie is one where government intrudes upon different areas of privacy and the history of such intrusions has brought forth some of the stoutest and most effective instances of resistance to excess of governmental authority. Oklahoma Press Pub. Co. v. Walling, 327 U.S. 186, 202, 66 S.Ct. 494, 502, 90 L.Ed. 614 (1946). Notwithstanding this confusion, the Court plainly concluded that the short answer to Fourth Amendment objections regarding subpoenas duces tecum is that documents sought pursuant to a valid subpoena duces tecum, like those sought in the afore-quoted Oklahoma Press case, present no question of actual search and seizure.... Oklahoma Press, 327 U.S. at 195, 66 S.Ct. at 498. See also United States v. Wallace & Tiernan Co., Inc., 336 U.S. 793, 796-97, 69 S.Ct. 824, 826, 93 L.Ed. 1042 (1949) (Thus it cannot be thought that the form of the subpoena or the method of its enforcement constitutes even a `constructive' search or seizure barred as `unreasonable' by the Fourth Amendment.); United States v. Dionisio, 410 U.S. 1, 9, 17, 93 S.Ct. 764, 769, 773, 35 L.Ed.2d 67 (1973) (It is clear that a subpoena to appear before a grand jury is not a `seizure' in the Fourth Amendment sense, even though that summons may be inconvenient or burdensome, and also noting that the initial directive to appear is as intrusive if the witness is called simply to testify as it is if he is summoned to produce physical evidence.); United States v. Mara, 410 U.S. 19, 21, 93 S.Ct. 774, 775, 35 L.Ed.2d 99 (1973) (a grand jury subpoena is not a `seizure' within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment.); In re Grand Jury Proceedings, 115 F.3d 1240, 1244 (1997) (finding that a subpoena duces tecum is not a search or seizure, the litigant's argument to the contrary conflated a grand jury subpoena with a magistrate judge's search warrant, and the instruments are different in nature and issued by different authorities). Rather, the Court opined, the only question raised by such subpoenas regards whether they have been validly made. Oklahoma Press, 327 U.S. at 195, 66 S.Ct. at 498. [10] In distinguishing a valid subpoena duces tecum from a search and seizure, the Court noted that it is not necessary, as in the case of a search warrant, that a specific charge or complaint of violation of the law be pending or that the order be made pursuant to one. Oklahoma Press, 327 U.S. at 208-09, 66 S.Ct. at 505. Rather, it is enough that the investigation is lawfully authorized. Id. In addition, no officer or other person attempts to enter the premises of a person or corporation receiving a subpoena duces tecum, nor does any person attempt to search or seize their person or their records without their assent, other than pursuant to orders of a court authorized by law and made after adequate opportunity to present objections. Oklahoma Press, 327 U.S. at 195, 66 S.Ct. at 498. It is this opportunity for objection and judicial intervention, in fact, that differentiates a subpoena duces tecum from a search or seizure. Persons from whom documents are subpoenaed are not required to submit to the subpoena's demand if it is in any way unreasonable or overreaches its authority. Oklahoma Press, 327 U.S. at 217, 66 S.Ct. at 510. See also Donovan v. Lone Steer, Inc., 464 U.S. 408, 412, 104 S.Ct. 769, 772, 78 L.Ed.2d 567 (1984) (affirming Oklahoma Press, and finding that a subpoena is scarcely the sort of governmental act which is forbidden by the Fourth Amendment. The subpoena itself did not authorize either entry or inspection of appellee's premises; it merely directed appellee to produce relevant... records at appellants' regional office....). Rather, to such an overbroad or unreasonable subpoena, such persons may make every appropriate defense supported by every safeguard of judicial restraint. Oklahoma Press, 327 U.S. at 217, 66 S.Ct. at 510; Donovan, 464 U.S. at 415, 104 S.Ct. at 773 (persons receiving subpoenas are provided protection and in no way left defenseless because they can question the reasonableness of the subpoena before the court before suffering any penalties for refusing to comply with it); Doe v. United States, 253 F.3d 256, 264 (6th Cir.2001) (noting that a primary distinction between subpoenas and searches and seizures is that, unlike the immediacy and intrusiveness of a search and seizure conducted pursuant to a warrant, the reasonableness of a subpoena's command can be contested in court before being enforced.). [11] This judicial intervention also alters the necessary burden for receiving a subpoena duces tecum. The probable cause requirement that is literally applicable in the case of search warrants is satisfied by the court's determination that the investigation is authorized, the documents sought are relevant to the inquiry, and the request for production is reasonable. Oklahoma Press, 327 U.S. at 209, 66 S.Ct. at 506; Doe, 253 F.3d at 264 (immediacy and intrusiveness associated with a search are not present in a subpoena duces tecum and thus the heightened requirement of probable cause is inapplicable); Becker v. Kroll, 494 F.3d 904, 916 (10th Cir.2007) (citing United States v. Bailey (in re Subpoena Duces Tecum), 228 F.3d 341, 347-49 (4th Cir.2000) for the proposition that probable cause is required for warrants but not for subpoenas because warrants are immediate and intrusive, whereas subpoenaed parties have an opportunity to challenge a subpoena before complying with it). Moreover, rather than a literal requirement to describe the place to be searched and the things to be seized, as is actually required for search warrants, a subpoena duces tecum need merely specify adequately, but not excessively, which documents must be produced for the purposes of the relevant inquiry. La.C.Cr.P. art. 732; Oklahoma Press, 327 U.S. at 209, 66 S.Ct. at 506. Therefore, while both subpoenas duces tecum and search warrants implicate a basic compromise between securing the public interests and guarding the private ones, the interests implicated by the use of a subpoena duces tecum are not identical with those protected against invasion by actual search and seizure, nor are the threatened abuses the same. Oklahoma Press, 327 U.S. at 213, 66 S.Ct. at 508. While this court has yet to directly address the difference between subpoenas duces tecum and search warrants, we have recently spoken on the issue in a tangential manner. In State of Louisiana v. Lee, 05-2098, p. 17 (La.1/16/08), 976 So.2d 109, 123-24, this court addressed whether DNA collection could be compelled by use of a La.C.Cr.P. art. 66 AG's/DA's investigative subpoena duces tecum, and, in so doing, found that such a collection constituted a search under the Fourth Amendment requiring a valid search warrant supported by probable cause. In that case, the State asserted that a subpoena duces tecum issued by a judge pursuant to La.C.Cr.P. art. 66 is the functional equivalent of a search warrant. Lee, 05-2098 at p. 18, 976 So.2d at 124. We rejected this contention, noting that a subpoena duces tecum need not be supported by probable cause, as a search warrant must. Lee, 05-2098 at pp. 18-19, 976 So.2d at 124-25. We also found that, unlike a person served with a search warrant, a person receiving a subpoena duces tecum may at any time seek protection by the court from hardship or abuse of process by moving to modify or quash the subpoena or order. Lee, 05-2098 at p. 18, 976 So.2d at 124 n. 9. Our differentiation of warrants and subpoenas duces tecum and our rejection of the State's argument that such subpoenas are the functional equivalent of warrants makes it clear that there is a concrete difference between the two and that the Fourth Amendment does not equate subpoenas duces tecum with seizures. For these reasons, we find that documents and other things produced pursuant to a subpoena duces tecum are not property seized within the meaning of La. R.S. 15:41. [12] Therefore, because valid subpoenas duces tecum are not seizures, and documents produced pursuant to such subpoenas are not property seized within the meaning of La. R.S. 15:41, we find that the trial court was without authority under La. R.S. 15:41 to order the AG to return the documents, or their copies, produced by Tenet-Memorial pursuant to the AG's subpoenas duces tecum. Consequently, the order of the trial court is reversed and set aside, and the case is remanded to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. We note that we have determined only that La. R.S. 15:41 does not apply to documents produced pursuant to a subpoena duces tecum. While the legislature has not provided a specific procedure for the return of property produced pursuant to a subpoena duces tecum, the parties are not necessarily without recourse, and the trial court on remand may fashion a reasonable resolution if it so desires following the finality of the proceedings, including the expiration of all applicable appellate delays, initiated in the Nineteenth Judicial District Court for the Parish of East Baton Rouge (08-CC-1066). See La.C.Cr.P. art. 3 (Where no procedure is specifically prescribed by this Code or by statute, the court may proceed in a manner consistent with the spirit of the provisions of this Code and other applicable statutory and constitutional provisions.).