Court Opinion

ID: 9474867
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:11:18.648578+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:44:23.238031
License: Public Domain

OAKES, Circuit Judge
(concurring):
I cannot agree with Judge Lumbard’s approach to the confidential marital privilege, preserved by Trammel v. United States, 445 U.S. 40, 51, 100 S.Ct. 906, 913, 63 L.Ed.2d 186 (1980), and by congressional rejection of proposed Fed.R.Evid. 505, see 2 J. Weinstein & M. Berger, Weistein’s Evidence 505-1 (1975). Like the district court, I feel it is too amorphous a task for federal courts to determine the degree of viability (or lack of viability) of a marriage. Thus, I prefer the bright line drawn by legal separation or divorce. See United States v. Sims, 755 F.2d 1239, 1243 n.3 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S. —, 105 S.Ct. 3533, 87 L.Ed.2d 656 (1985); In re Malfitano, 633 F.2d 276, 279 (3d Cir.1980); United States v. Lilley, 581 F.2d 182, 189 (8th Cir.1978); People v. Fields, 38 A.D.2d 231, 233, 328 N.Y.S.2d 542, 544-45 (1st Dep’t), aff'd, 31 N.Y.2d 713, 289 N.E.2d 557, 337 N.Y.S.2d 517 (1972).
But at the same time I agree with what I view as Judge Lumbard’s alternate, and narrower, ground of decision, namely, that the questions the grand jury sought to ask here, see majority op. App. A, did not pertain to “confidential” communications. So saying, I would not go so far as to find that all nonverbal acts are excluded from the privilege; rather, I accept the majority rule that all acts intended to convey a message are privileged. See Note, Developments in the Law — Privileged Communications, 98 Harv.L.Rev. 1450, 1572 & nn. 67-69 (1985). The questions propounded here seem to me to relate either to non-communicative acts (e.g., did Robert Carter ever pay you a salary or lend or give you money?), to information not involving a communication (e.g., when was the last time you saw Robert Carter?, did Robert Carter use your address to register a motor vehicle?), or to communications which involved third party disclosure and hence lost their confidentiality, id. at 1573-74 (e.g., did Robert Carter pay any insurance premiums on your behalf?, did you ever have any credit card accounts with Robert Carter?, do you know how Robert Carter was employed?, but see Hipes v. United States, 603 F.2d 786, 788 & n. 1 (9th Cir.1979)). Accordingly, I fail to see how any of the questions calls for revelation of a confidential communication. See generally 8 J. Wigmore, Evidence § 2337 (McNaughton rev. 1961). Hence I concur in the judgment, recognizing that were the majority of the panel to agree with my approach to the case argument on remand directed more specifically to the individual questions might conceivably reveal elements of communication or confidentiality or both not presently visible to this observer.