Court Opinion

ID: 9470678
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:13:05.949902+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:38:57.807129
License: Public Domain

MESKILL, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
I concur with the majority’s decision to affirm on the merits the order denying the request of Local 478, International Union of Operating Engineers (Union), for an inventory and return of documents presently held by the Special Grand Jury. I dissent, however, from the majority’s decision insofar as it dismisses the Union’s appeal from the order denying its motion to terminate the grand jury investigation and to quash the subpoenas ad testificandum.
Since early 1980, successive federal grand juries have been investigating possible embezzlement, 29 U.S.C. § 501(c) (1976), and record-keeping violations, 29 U.S.C. § 186 (1976), by the Union. Over the course of the investigation thirty five subpoenas have been issued to officials and employees of the Union compelling their testimony and allegedly requiring the production of hundreds of thousands of documents. At issue in this case are sixteen subpoenas ad testifi-candum issued to every secretary and file clerk in the Union’s headquarters. These subpoenas were issued after the custodian of the Union records refused to authenticate documents by asserting his Fifth Amendment privilege. Although none of the subpoenaed secretaries or file clerks moved to quash, the district court permitted the Union, as their employer, to intervene under Fed.R.Civ.P. 24(aX2) to challenge the subpoenas. The Union’s standing was premised on its “property interest in the contracted-for services of its employees.” On more general grounds, the district court recognized that the Union had “an interest in the matter of the subpoenas, which interest may not be protected by the employees who may not share the interest of the union in maintaining normal business operations.” In re Subpoenas to Local 478, No. N82-191, slip op. at 2 (D.Conn. May 13, 1982).
The Union in its Motion to Quash and for Other Relief asserted a due process right to protection from harassment. Also, the Union claimed a property interest in the time and services of its employees. In its motion and supporting memorandum of law, the Union alleged that the government was using the Special Grand Jury as an instrument of harassment. It claimed that the many waves of subpoenas were burdensome and repetitive and that the government had gone out of its way to make compliance difficult. As a result, the investigation has allegedly cost the Union heavily in employee time, copying costs, disruption of records and accountant and attorneys’ fees. The Union characterized the sixteen subpoenas ad testificandum as a concrete manifestation of grand jury abuse that would distract its employees and disrupt its operations. The Union asked that the district court quash the subpoenas and terminate the investigation. Although the motion papers and the majority treat the motion to terminate and the motion to quash separately, each motion is grounded upon the same allegations; they differ only as to the relief sought.
Judge Burns denied the requested relief on the merits. She found “no merit to the claim that the government has abused the investigatory powers vested in the grand *75jury to harass the union.” In re Subpoenas to Local 478, slip op. at 4. In addition, “the union [had] not shown that the grand jury investigation [had] been undertaken in bad faith, that the 16 subpoenas [ad testifican-dum] were intended to harass the union or that the information sought is wholly irrelevant to the investigation. See In re Libera-tore, 574 F.2d 78, 83 (2d Cir.1978).” Id. at 5. I agree and would affirm on the merits.
The majority holds that the denial of the Union’s motion to terminate the grand jury investigation is a nonappealable interlocutory order. With respect to the Union’s motion to quash, the majority concludes that the Union is without standing to appeal. I do not agree with either of these positions. I believe the issues of standing and appeala-bility are distinct and should be so treated. Standing
One basis for the majority’s decision to dismiss the Union’s appeal is that the Union’s assertion of injury premised- on its property interest in the time and' attention of its employees is too “amorphous” to confer standing to appeal. Standing has a constitutional and a prudential component. The constitutional aspect of standing requires simply “injury in fact.” Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Inc., 454 U.S. 464, 472, 102 S.Ct. 752, 758, 70 L.Ed.2d 700 (1982). Among the prudential considerations that bear on standing is the requirement that the “plaintiff’s complaint fall within ‘the zone of interests to be protected or regulated by the ... constitutional guarantee in question.’ ” Id. at 475, 102 S.Ct. at 760, quoting Association of Data Processing Service Organizations, Inc. v. Camp, 397 U.S. 150, 153, 90 S.Ct. 827, 830, 25 L.Ed.2d 184 (1970). I believe that the Union satisfies both of these standing requirements. As to the requirement of injury in fact, the Union alleges that the repeated waves of subpoenas have disrupted its operations and have caused it to incur great cost. In addition, it alleges that the subpoenas ad testificandum addressed to its employees will deprive the Union of their time and attention. The injury alleged by the Union is not de minimis; it is concrete and particularized.
Although the Due Process Clause does not insulate an employer from the legitimate scope of a grand jury investigation, see In re Grand Jury Proceedings (FMC I), 604 F.2d 804, 805 (3d Cir.1979) (“employer does not have the authority to prohibit an employee from complying with a subpoena”); In re Grand Jury Investigation, 459 F.Supp. 1335, 1340 (E.D.Pa.1978) (appearance before grand jury is “a public duty owed by all citizens to the government”); In re Morgan, 377 F.Supp. 281, 285 (S.D.N.Y.1974) (“For the public good, the scales must tip in favor of the duty of the Special Grand Jury ‘to inquire into offenses against the criminal laws of the United States’ 18 U.S.C. § 3332, except where the burden cast upon the witness is oppressive in terms of overbreadth of the subpoena or he has a recognized privilege.”), it is established that the Constitution does protect against abuse of the grand jury process, including instances of grand jury harassment. See United States v. Dionisio, 410 U.S. 1, 11, 93 S.Ct. 764, 770, 35 L.Ed.2d 67 (1973) (“a grand jury subpoena is [not] some talisman that dissolves all constitutional protections”); United States v. Doe (Schwartz), 457 F.2d 895, 899 (2d Cir.1972) (“[O]n occasion, a grand jury may overstep bounds of propriety either at its own or the prosecutor’s instance, and conduct an investigation so sweeping in scope and undiscriminating in character as to offend other basic constitutional precepts. When this occurs courts are not without power to act .... ”), cert. denied, 410 U.S. 941, 93 S.Ct. 1376, 35 L.Ed.2d 608 (1973); In re Grand Jury Investigation, 459 F.Supp. at 1340 (“courts have exercised the power to quash or modify ... only where there has been a clear showing of unreasonableness or oppressiveness”).
If this were a case where an employer had moved to quash a subpoena ad testifi-candum issued incidentally to one of its employees, I would question its standing to do so. Although an employer does possess a property interest in the time and attention of its employees, society’s interest in effec*76tive and unhampered grand jury investigations would probably outweigh the minor disruption caused the employer. In this case, however, the Union’s motion to quash alleges far greater injury and more serious deprivations of, constitutional rights. The Union complains of injury to its protected interests. Where there are interests threatened, there is standing. Assuming there is standing, it is still possible that the protected interests are not sufficiently threatened or deprived to warrant relief. However, this question is appropriately resolved on the merits. See Association of Data Processing Service Organizations, Inc. v. Camp, 397 U.S. 150, 153 & n. 1, 90 S.Ct. 827, 829, & n. 1, 25 L.Ed.2d 184 (1970) (“existence or nonexistence of a ‘legal interest’ is a matter quite distinct from the problem of standing”); In re Grand Jury Applicants (C. Schmidt & Sons, Inc.), 619 F.2d 1022, 1026 (3d Cir.1980) (“degree or value [of property interest] goes not to ... standing, ... but to the appropriateness of affording relief”). Appealability
I have no quarrel with the majority’s insistence on finality as a prerequisite to appealability. The policy of finality embodied in 28 U.S.C. § 1291 admits to few exceptions. Unlike the majority, however, I believe this case presents an appeal over which we have jurisdiction. Orders denying motions to quash are not final orders under 28 U.S.C.A. § 1291 (West Supp.1982) or interlocutory orders appealable as of right under 28 U.S.C.A. § 1292(a)' (West Supp.1982). The Supreme Court has explained that “one to whom a subpoena is directed may not appeal the denial of a motion to quash that subpoena but must either obey its commands or refuse to do so and contest the validity of the subpoena if he is subsequently cited for contempt on account of his failure to obey.” United States v. Ryan, 402 U.S. 530, 532, 91 S.Ct. 1580, 1582, 29 L.Ed.2d 85 (1971), citing Cobbledick v. United States, 309 U.S. 323, 60 S.Ct. 540, 84 L.Ed. 783 (1940); see Alexander v. United States, 201 U.S. 117, 121, 26 S.Ct. 356, 357, 50 L.Ed. 686 (1906). Recognizing that a grand jury subpoena can impinge directly and concretely on the fundamental rights of a third party, immediate review of an order denying a motion to quash is available to a third party who asserts a privilege or property right in the subject matter of a subpoena. See Perlman v. United States, 247 U.S. 7, 12-13, 38 S.Ct. 417, 419-420, 62 L.Ed. 950 (1918); Wm. T. Thompson Co. v. General Nutrition Corp., 671 F.2d 100, 103 (3d Cir.1982); United States v. Raineri, 670 F.2d 702, 712 (7th Cir.), cert. denied,-U.S.-, 103 S.Ct. 446, 74 L.Ed.2d 601 (1982); In re Grand Jury Applicants (C. Schmidt & Sons, Inc.), 619 F.2d 1022, 1024-25 (3d Cir.1980); In re Grand Jury Proceedings (FMC I), 604 F.2d 798, 800 (3d Cir.1979); United States v. Guterma, 272 F.2d 344 n. 1 (2d Cir.1959). This exception to the rule of finality rests on the assumption that the subpoenaed witness is unlikely to risk a contempt citation in order to protect the rights of a third party to an immediate appeal. See In re Grand Jury Matter Impounded, 703 F.2d 56, 58-59 (3d Cir.1983). More important, however, is the recognition that exceptions to the rule of finality should be limited strictly to circumstances where the denial of immediate review would result in a permanent loss of fundamental rights. Cobbledick v. United States, 309 U.S. 323, 329, 60 S.Ct. 540, 543, 84 L.Ed. 783 (1940) (“Due regard for efficiency in litigation must not be carried so far as to deny all opportunity for the appeal contemplated by the statutes.”); see Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. v. Risjord, 449 U.S. 368, 376-77, 101 S.Ct. 669, 674-675, 66 L.Ed.2d 571 (1981).
As explained earlier, the Constitution protects against grand jury abuse and deprivations of property without due process. The Union has alleged that both protections are threatened by the grand jury investigation, now over two years old, that produced the subpoenas ad testificandum at issue here. These same allegations were deemed sufficient by the district court to allow intervention and are sufficient to confer standing. Although the subpoenas were addressed to employees of the Union, the majority inexplicably concludes that “the Union can seek review by standing in con*77tempt.” It cannot. Only the subpoenaed witnesses have that option available and they are unlikely to exercise it. If review is denied at this time, the alleged harassment might continue unabated.
I wholeheartedly agree with the majority that the mere assertion “that a ruling is or may be effectively unreviewable absent immediate appeal is not a sufficiently concrete assertion of fundamental rights the legal and practical value of which will be destroyed if not vindicated on collateral review.” But the Union’s allegations go beyond mere assertions and are, in my judgment, sufficient to warrant appellate review. The majority is concerned that by allowing appeals in situations like that before us, we open the gate to a flood of challenges to legitimate grand jury investigations. I do not envision this scenario. Standing is a formidable barrier to third party intervention and stiff measures are available to penalize those who abuse the judicial process. United States v. Potamkin Cadillac Corp., 689 F.2d 379, 381-82 (2d Cir.1982) (per curiam); Fed.R.App.P. 38. I would adhere to the general rule that orders denying motions to quash are interlocutory and nonreviewable. As Judge Friendly said in In re Grand Jury Investigation of Violations of 18 U.S.C. § 1621 (Perjury), 318 F.2d 533 (2d Cir.), cert. dismissed, 375 U.S. 802, 84 S.Ct. 25, 11 L.Ed.2d 37 (1963), “the policy of avoiding undue delay in grand jury proceedings, which the Supreme Court has stressed in Cobbledick and DiBella [369 U.S. 121, 82 S.Ct. 654, 7 L.Ed.2d 614 (1962) ], requires that the applicant be satisfied for the time being with the determination of the district judge ... . ” Id. at 538 (on petition for rehearing). Where, as here, however, an employer’s legitimate interest in the operation of its business is allegedly threatened by a grand jury investigation bent on harassment, an appeal to the supervisory powers of this Court should be allowed. We must not forget that:
While the historical powers of the grand jury are broad, since the panel operates in secrecy and to a great extent under the guidance of the prosecutor, opportunities for abuse of the subpoena power are ever present. The grand jury, an integral component of the judicial branch of government, has the power of compulsory process, a power the Congress has not chosen to grant to the investigative offices of the executive branch. The courts must be vigilant against abuse of the grand jury power, for any such abuse would tend to erode the division between the separate and independent branches of the federal government.
In re Wood, 430 F.Supp. 41, 47 (S.D.N.Y. 1977).
I am convinced that the Union has standing and that it has alleged a threat to its fundamental rights which, if not remedied now, might result in irreparable harm. I would affirm the judgment of the district court on the merits in its entirety for the reasons spelled out in Judge Burns’ memorandum of decision.