Opinion ID: 176129
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: NBC and New York Times

Text: Appellants argue that other circuit precedent counsels against such an analysis. First, Appellants cite our decision in National Broadcasting Co. v. U.S. Department of Justice, 735 F.2d 51 (2d Cir.1984) ( NBC )our only precedent that deals directly with a civil discovery dispute, as opposed to a common-law or First Amendment right of access, involving wiretap materials. In NBC, we noted that Congress did not utilize a provision in the Organized Crime Control Act [amending § 2517] to make the fruits of wiretapping broadly available to all civil litigants who show a need for them. Id. at 54. While that statement is clearly correct so far as it goes, NBC does not stand for the proposition that the disclosure of Title III materials in civil discovery is necessarily foreclosed. NBC involved a libel suit brought by Wayne Newton, the entertainer, against NBC, the broadcasting corporation, based on broadcasts concerning organized crime investigations involving Newton. Id. at 51-52. The government had conducted wiretaps in an investigation of organized crime members' attempts to extort money from Newton and others. Id. at 52. To defend against the libel action, NBC sought discovery from the government of the wiretap applications, orders, and recordings. Id. The government opposed disclosure of these documents. Id. The district court found that, while the interceptions were legal, it lacked the power to order the government to disclose the[ ] contents [of the wiretaps] in a civil proceeding to which the government was not a party. Id. at 53. [20] We affirmed the district court, noting that, while § 2517(3) had been amended in 1970 to permit disclosure of materials in civil as well as criminal proceedings, turning Title III into a general civil discovery mechanism would simply ignore the privacy rights of those whose conversations are overheard. Id. at 54. We emphasized that the suit at issue, between NBC and Newton, was not a civil enforcement proceeding, which Congress had in mind in passing the amendment, and found that Congress surely had not intended the amendment to Title III to make the fruits of wiretapping broadly available to all civil litigants who show a need for them. Id. [21] While NBC stands for the proposition that a civil litigant cannot force the government to disclose Title III materials in an ordinary civil case for the simple expedient of aiding its defense, it does not govern the instant case. NBC is distinguishable in two fundamental ways. First, it dealt with whether a court could order the government to disclose previously undisclosed wiretap recordings against its wishes in a civil proceeding unrelated to the government's criminal case. In the instant case, on the other hand, the government has disclosed these materials to a party pursuant to § 2517(2), and the question is whether or not the court can order that party to disclose the materials in the interest of the civil discovery principle of equal knowledge. Second, there was no relevant informational imbalance in NBC, as Newton did not have access to these materials either. Here, in contrast, Appellants have free access to the materials to prepare their defense in the SEC action. [22] Therefore, while NBC establishes that Title III is not meant to make wiretap materials a repository of information available from the government by subpoena to civil litigants for use in private disputes, it does not address the legitimacy of ordering the discovery from a private litigant of Title III materials that have already been disclosed to that litigant by the government, in order to create a level playing field between a civil enforcement agency and that litigant. Finally, while NBC makes clear that Title III does not make wiretap materials in the government's possession freely available to civil litigants, it does not support the proposition that discovery of such materials from anyone, made under any circumstances, is forbidden. Indeed, the result in NBC is entirely compatible with the balancing approach set forth in Newsday. Under the circumstances present in NBC, the interests weighing against disclosure were overpowering. In addition to the privacy interests of those who had been overheard, the government's strong interest in the confidentiality of a criminal investigation strongly counseled against disclosure. See NBC, 735 F.2d at 52 (noting that the government opposed disclosure, in part, because the wiretap applications contained descriptive data regarding confidential informants). Moreover, absent any new criminal prosecution, there was no reason to believe that the wiretap materials that had not been disclosed at the related criminal trial would ever be disclosed to anyone outside the government. On the other side of the balance, NBC sought materials that might or might not ultimately be relevant or admissible at trial, and that no other party to the civil litigation possessed. Under such circumstances, disclosure of the wiretap materials was clearly unwarranted. It does not follow that the balance will come out the same way in all other cases. Appellants' reliance on New York Times, 577 F.3d at 406, for the proposition that there is a strong presumption against disclosure of the fruits of wiretap applications, is also misplaced. Id. (emphasis omitted). In New York Times, we concluded that because The New York Times was not an aggrieved person it could not show the requisite good cause to release applications under Title III regarding wiretaps of the prostitution ring once patronized by former Governor Eliot Spitzer. Id. at 408. New York Times, however, dealt with the disclosure of wiretap applications, not contents. [23] In fact, in New York Times, we expressly distinguished Newsday by noting (among other reasons) that at issue in Newsday were the fruits of the wiretaps, which are governed by 18 U.S.C. § 2517, not the wiretap applications, which are governed by § 2518(8)(b). Id. at 407 n. 3; see also id. at 408. In any event, even if there is a presumption against disclosure of wiretap contents that would be relevant to this case, an issue we need not decide, the analysis set forth above is still appropriate, as that presumption could be overcome with a sufficient showing of need based on a Newsday -type balancing. In short, Appellants have failed to point us to any case law establishing that Title III prohibits the disclosure of wiretap materials in a situation such as this one: where the government has previously disclosed the contents of wiretaps to a party, and a civil enforcement agency seeks access to those contents from that party, not from the government.