Opinion ID: 165516
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Discovery and Other Rulings in Limine

Text: 37 In preparation for the hearing on the Government's motion to dismiss, the magistrate stayed discovery. The district court approved the stay. We review discovery rulings for an abuse of discretion. Motley v. Marathon Oil Co., 71 F.3d 1547, 1550 (10th Cir.1995), cert. denied, 517 U.S. 1190, 116 S.Ct. 1678, 134 L.Ed.2d 781 (1996). The discovery Relators wanted to conduct would have involved classified documents. Thus, discovery would have allowed what the Government was trying to avoid in moving to dismiss the action: divulging classified information. Furthermore, the Relators sought through discovery to challenge the Government's motivation behind the dismissal. 22 The magistrate denied the requested discovery on the grounds it would reach classified information and was irrelevant to the question of whether the proposed dismissal was rationally related to a valid governmental purpose. The court limited Relators' proof to their own witnesses and documents and cross-examination of government witnesses. 38 We expect the district court to exercise its discretion in determining when and how to limit discovery. Clearly, the district court did not abuse its discretion in this case in limiting discovery so as to avoid revelation of classified information, particularly when this was one of the very purposes behind the Government's motion to dismiss. Neither, for the reasons we next discuss in relation to the deliberative process privilege, did it err in denying inquiry into the Government's subjective motivation behind its dismissal. 39 Ruling in limine, the magistrate quashed the Relators' subpoena of the Government's person most knowledgeable about its motion to dismiss. 23 Furthermore, she indicated she would apply the deliberative process privilege at the hearing to any communications between government agents that were pre-decisional or deliberative relative to the motion to dismiss. Relators object to both rulings as a bar to what they claim is a legitimate inquiry into the subjective motivation of the Government in filing its motion to dismiss. We review a decision to quash a subpoena and evidentiary rulings of the trial court for abuse of discretion. Heat & Control, Inc. v. Hester Indus., Inc., 785 F.2d 1017, 1022 (Fed.Cir.1986) (quash subpoena); Faulkner v. Super Valu Stores, Inc., 3 F.3d 1419, 1433 (10th Cir.1993) (evidentiary ruling). 40 The magistrate was correct to quash the subpoena for the Government's person most knowledgeable about its motion to dismiss for the plain reason that Fed.R.Civ.P. 30(b)(6), the provision under which the subpoena issued, authorizes a subpoena for deposition, and not in-court testimony. As to the deliberative process privilege, it 41 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 its object is to enhance the quality of agency decisions by protecting open and frank discussion among those who make them within the Government. 42 Casad v. U.S. Dep't of Health & Human Servs., 301 F.3d 1247, 1251 (10th Cir.2002) (quoting U.S. 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) (quotations and citations omitted)). Relators argue the Government should not be allowed the protection of the deliberative process privilege because they seek to establish the Government's motivation, for which the privilege is unavailable. They rely on In re: Subpoena Duces Tecum Served on the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, 156 F.3d 1279 (D.C.Cir.1998). The unavailability of the privilege in that case, however, did not extend to inquiries into the Government's subjective motivation for a decision. Id. at 1280. When a party challenges agency action as arbitrary and capricious the reasonableness of the agency's action is judged in accordance with its stated reasons. Agency deliberations not part of the record are deemed immaterial. Id. at 1279 (citation omitted). Therefore, the district court was correct to apply the deliberative process privilege.