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Civilized Proceedings, Discovered on Demand, Litigation of Business | Business of Litigation

Monday Morning Subpoena Blues

Not the Best Way to Start Your Week

(Monday Morning 8:07 a.m.)

our receptionist walks in and hands you an envelope. As you open it up, you recognize the format and see the word SUBPOENA printed on the first page. The receptionist says someone just handed it to her and left . . . didn’t say a word.061314_1453_MondayMorni1.png You know you have no lawsuits going on. The last one settled last month. You paid the lawyer’s invoice. That pain is still vivid. It’ll be a hundred bucks just to call him about this! And then he’ll answer every question with a question. Twist it around and into a question.

Duces Tecum

(Monday Morning 8:12 a.m.)

Scanning the crisp paper quickly, your glasses slip down your nose. You focus on the names. Bold. Black. Names. Don’t know who they are. Looking it over closer, you see something is scheduled? A deposition? Not again! Oh, the custodian‘s deposition? Must mean the janitor. Isn’t “maintenance man” more correct? Luke? Yeah, Luke.Wonder what he did? Custodian! He cleans and maintains – He doesn’t custody! The stark letters form words that look like English, just not the everyday kind of English. Subpoena Duces Tecum. Must be some special subpoena.

 Duces Tecum? D-u-c-e-s Tecum. Duces T-e-c-u-m. D-u-c-e-s- T-e-c-u-m?

Duke’s Dilemma

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(Monday Morning 8:15 a.m.)

Oh, wait. The maintenance guy’s name is Duke. Not Luke! Duke Tayler . . . or something or other? Dukes Tatum? Deuces Takem? Ducks Teacup? You toss the envelope aside—not you this time.When Duke gets in you must tell him. Poor guy. After staring at it for far too long, you give in and pick up the envelope again. You pull the papers out and iron them flat. Date and time. Only a week away. Hope Duke can find a lawyer by then.

Records Recalled

(Monday Morning 8:17 a.m.)

Flipping the page, there’s a description of what’s wanted. Sounds like a project you did a year ago. Sounds the same. Maybe longer than a year? Why would the janitor have a project file like this? Moonlighting? Stealing company secrets? Yeah right.061114_0714_MondayMorni2.png It sure is specific. Horowitz & Associates. Horowitz? Horowitz? The Horowitz file! “To Custodian of Records: You are commanded to appear with all documents in your possession and under your control, relating in any way to the transaction between . . . .” Custodian of Records? Of Records! It wasn’t the janitor. It’s like custody. The Custodian of The Records! It’s not Duke. It’s you. Again. Damn it. Alright. You get it now. But where would that file be? And a week? Only a week? And if not? Then what? Duces Tecum! 

Confidences Collide

(Monday Morning 8:20 a.m.)

The way the subpoena is worded it seems like they want documents that are not related to the project too. Some documents listed are full of confidential information. Your confidential information. No one sees that except you and some ofTop_Secret_glossy the senior managers. And only when they need to. Need-to-know basis only. Some of it i s the client’s financial records. You can’t just hand that over . . . Can you? Do you have to? Maybe you should call Horowitz first? Is that legal? Duces Tecum?

Publicly Proprietary

(Monday Morning 8:22 a.m.)

Oh boy. This covers more than finances. It covers Horowitz’ processes too. Didn’t you sign something saying you would not disclose that information? And if you did there’d be hell to pay? Horowitz’ competitors would love to see this stuff. Proprietary systems and designs. The procedures and process. The underlying data. Trade secrets. Hell, your competitor’s would like to see your stuff in that file too. It’s not like Horowitz’ records, but . . . If it’s a lawsuit it’s public, right? Anyone can see it? That can’t be allowed. Can it? They can’t just do this! Or can they? Damn lawyers.

Disrupted

(Monday Morning 8:37 a.m.)image

Last time you spoke to Horowitz was the day the deal closed. It was fourteen-sixteen-some months ago. You don’t know if you can, or should, or want to call him. Just look through the files first. Figure out what’s really in there. It might not be nothing. Maybe you’re the wrong custodian and don’t have the right records? Maybe it’s a mistake? Know soon enough. Duke’s on his way out to the off-site storage. But it will still take time to find the file. You could just call the lawyer who signed the Subpoena? Won’t have to pay for that. Can you trust him? What if he tricks you? Not good. Dunce To-sum? It’s already disruptive and may jeopardize your relationship with a good client. This is the last thing you want to deal with right now. What do they think gives them a right to do this? You did nothing wrong. Horowitz? Maybe. But the deal is closed. Done. Over with. Maybe you should have returned the original file to him? Maybe that should be the new policy. And who’s paying for this wasted time? Duke doesn’t work for free! And he bills his mileage at the IRS rate. Twenty five miles to the gallon at fifty six cents per mile? Gas ain’t $14.00 a gallon! And he takes the long way back every time, too.

Instruct and Define

(Monday Morning 8:41 a.m.)

cautinAs you’re looking for your good pen on your desk, you notice a page sticking out from the envelope the subpoena came in. Must’ve missed it. Sticking out from the envelope is the stapled corner of another document. Pulling it out while unfolding it, you read the title, “Schedule A—Instructions and Definitions.” Hmm? They already asked for the whole damn file, what more could they want? The boxed up file is all you got. Wondering what more there might be, you read Schedule A’s Instructions and Definitions. The everyday words, “Instructions and Definitions” now sound foreboding.

Every Stupid Item

(Monday Morning 8:44 a.m.)

With your stomach already burning it slowly starts to churn. You look at what is on the last, and almost overlooked, pages. You read through the Instructions and Definitions. Twice. To be certain. Okay, they want every piece of paper related to the file. I get it! But gawd. For real?  There is no way! For the third time, you slowly read the paragraph again (hoping it may have changed):

 . . . all electronically stored information (ESI). You have an obligation to keep all potentially relevant internal and external emails sent or received. Email must be preserved in electronic format, regardless of whether hard copies of the information exist.

      All devices with either magnetic core or solid state random access memories should be immediately placed in a litigation hold and preserved until further notice. Remove all backup drives, tapes or other media out of regular rotation. Due to its format, electronic information is easily deleted, modified or corrupted (i.e., by data compression, disk de-fragmentation, or optimization routines). ESI must be produced to retain the associated metadata. When produced, it should be in native format and include single page TIFF files, Bates Numbered with OPT and DAT load files retaining all associated file. 

serverIT begins

(Monday Morning 8:53 a.m.) Your computers? Okay. You get it. You’ll call the IT guy too! What the hell is TIFF? And OPT DAT? Sounds like some pop star or a military acronym used only during wartime. What is the IT guy’s number filed under? Computer . . . Something … Tech … Something …Team? He’ll know what to do. He’s so damn expensive he better know what to do. Not as expensive as the lawyer. But sometimes the IT guy makes things worse. Way worse. He does make them better, but first it’s worse. Actually, the lawyer does that too. What is it with . . . oh no. You haven’t paid the IT guy’s invoice since . . . shoot! It’s at least ninety days past due. Is he going to even take your call?

So many questions?

got-a-question-1398184097TUB

(Monday Morning 8:56 a.m.)

Where do you even start? What do you have to do and by when? What happens if you don’t do anything or don’t do it on time? Do you have any rights? Can you get more time? Do you really have to give some random attorney access to your company’s trade secrets? To your client’s secrets too? It’s proprietary and valuable. He’ll fire you. Can your client sue you if you comply and hand over his trade secrets? What if you signed an NDA? Is this all public information now? Can all of our competitors can just go take a look and see it? And access to your servers? Are the computers going to be down? How are you supposed to get anything done and meet deadlines? Should you even have your employees come into work? Do you just send everyone home for the next week? Can you even stay open at all? And who is paying for all this down time? And the IT guy? And the lawyer? And the copying? And Duke’s mileage? Do you have any options? How much of this burden do you have to bear ? Do you have any rights at all? Phone-keypad183

What to do? 

(Monday Morning 9:01 a.m.)

The first thing you need to do is take a deep breath. Then call your attorney. And not too deep a breath. You need to call your attorney now. You have rights. You have options. You won’t be ruined by this. But the Rules are particular. You have to know what they are and how they work. The Rules authorizing subpoenas also protect you. But you need to know how to use them. You have no time to dawdle. Call. Your. Attorney. Now.

To be continued . . .

Lawyer Mark Thompson | Top Attorney Litigation

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Appealing Appeals Applied, Technically Lawful

Is Your Cell Phone Private?

“The Right to be Let Alone— the Most Comprehensive of Rights and the Right Most Valued by Civilized Men.”1

An Unreasonable Intrusion upon Seclusion

– William L. Prosser, Legal Scholar (1960)

Tomorrow, the US Supreme Court hears arguments over the constitutionality of searching a person’s cell phone without a warrant. This Fourth Amendment area of law is complex and always nuanced. Warrantless search cases usually boil down to whether or not the person has a reasonable expectation of privacy at the time of the search. If there is a reasonable expectation, then the search may be found unconstitutional because it violates the Fourth Amendment’s protections.

My cell phone is my best friend

– Carrie Underwood, Country Music Star (2013)

In the two cases the Court hears tomorrow, Riley v. California and United States v. Wurie, the former involves a smartphone and the latter a flip phone. The big difference between the two is the amount of data they may store and the advanced functions one is capable of performing. This results in one device conceivably having more confidential and private data than the other. On the flip side, how confidential and private do you consider your phone’s data? Do you ever leave it out of reach? Do you charge it in an open place that’s accessible by others? Is it password protected? Is it encrypted?

Use technology rather than being used by it

– Neil Postman, Cultural Critic (1996)

I am unsure if the Court is well-equipped to decide technology cases. It was only 4 years ago they decided a sexting case involving a warrantless search of a government employee’s pager. City of Ontario vs. Quon, 130 S.Ct. 2619 (2010). Yes, a pager in 2010. Last summer Justice Sotomayor stated the Justices do not use e-mail – even internally (but their staff does). In another technology case involving streaming TV earlier this month, Justice Scalia didn’t seem to understand HBO is not a broadcast TV channel you must pay to obtain. Chief Judge Roberts, whose initial drafts of decisions are written longhand in pen and on paper instead of with a word processor on a computer, asked during oral arguments in the 2010 pager case what is the difference between an email and a pager.

042914_0240_IsYourCellP4.png  

Google policy is to get right up to the creepy line and not cross it 

    – Eric Schmidt, CEO Google

In prehistoric technological times, the Court decided we had a lower expectation of privacy in our gas powered, internal combustion vehicles (Motor Vehicle Exception) than in our homes. Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132 (1925). Armed with only probable cause, a search of your car without a warrant is permitted. Id. More recently, but still in a technologically antiquated time, the Court decided a person in a telephone booth had a reasonable expectation of privacy (Hey, does anyone remember telephone booths? Or payphones?). Katz v. U.S., 389 U.S. 347, 350 (1967). But a person does not have a reasonable right to privacy in the actual numbers they have dialed to call someone on the phone. Smith v. Maryland, 442 U.S. 735 (1979).

A business cannot expect privacy. California Bankers Ass’n v. Schultz, 416 U.S. 21, 65 (1974). However, the government is not allowed to gather evidence against you via surgery—yes—medical surgery. Winston v. Lee, 470 U.S. 753, 758 (1985). Reasonably expecting your garbage is private would be a mistake. California v. Greenwood, 486 U.S. 35 (1988). In 1990, the Court said sobriety checkpoints are a reasonable way to search and seize (and catch drunks driving). Michigan Dept. of State Police v. Sitz, 496 U.S. 444 (1990). If you work for the government, your office is not private if your are suspected of work-related misconduct. Samson v. California, 547 U.S. 843 (2006). Although the rule established may be a “freedom-destroying cocktail” that encourages “malevolent” tipsters to make false reports, an anonymous tipster can now call 911 and the cop is authorized to stop you and search your car (despite your obedient driving skills) without anything more. Navarette v. California, __ U.S. __ (2014).

noeye

You already have zero privacy – get over it

– Scott McNealy, Co-Founder Sun Microsystems

You have to wait until sometime around June 2014 to find out if the US Supreme Court thinks your cell phone data is private. But in the meantime, below is a poll to indicate how private you believe your cell phone is. Let’s at least find out how people that actually use computers, cell phones, the internet and all kinds of modern electronic wizardry believe the right to be let alone is.

 

1 Olmstead v. U.S., 277 U.S. 438, 478 (1928) (Brandeis,J., dissenting) and see The Right to Privacy, “Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis, 4 Harvard L.R. 193 (Dec. 15, 1890)

 

MKT

 

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Appealing Appeals Applied, On Lines & Inner Nets, Publicly Recorded

A Daughter’s $80,000 Facebook Post

From the “Think Before You Post” File

Secrets Suck

A daughter violated the confidentiality clause in her father’s Settlement Agreement with a braggadocio posting on Facebook. Inevitably, the young lady’s post eventually drew the attention of the defense counsel in the employment discrimination case.

 “Mama and Papa … won the case against Gulliver,” she wrote referencing the  the employer. “Gulliver is now officially paying for my vacation to Europe this summer. SUCK IT.”

Broken Promise

The trial court did not find the post a breach of the agreement. However, on appeal to Florida’s Third Circuit Court of Appeal, the appellate court reversed the trial court stating, “[B]efore the ink was dry on the agreement, and notwithstanding the clear language … mandating confidentiality, [he] violated the agreement by doing exactly what he had promised not to do.”  Apparently, the daughter had 1200 friends on the site so there was no claiming it was a private message or not intended for public consumption.

Unambiguously Expen$ive

After finding the terms of the agreement clear and unambiguous, the Court held:

In this case, the plain, unambiguous meaning of … the agreement between [the father] and the school is that neither [he] nor his wife would “either directly or indirectly” disclose to anyone (other than their lawyers or other professionals) “any information” regarding the existence or the terms of the parties’ agreement.

They disclosed it to their daughter and she disclosed to at least 1200 other people on-line with the Facebook post. This is a real expensive way to learn the internet is a public forum. It also is an expensive way to find out how easily a confidentiality agreement is breached.

Read the appellate decision here and more info from the news story is below.

MKT

Daughter’s Facebook boast costs former Gulliver Prep headmaster $80,000 discrimination settlement – Schools – MiamiHerald.com.

 

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Attorneys & Lawyers & Counselors, Discovered on Demand

Feds move to block discovery in NSA lawsuit

Alternate headlines:

  • Feds Move To Keep NSA Secrets Secret
  • No Discovery Into What NSA Has Discovered
  • NSA Litigation: Move To Block Gathering Information About Information Gathering     And yours? . . .

Feds move to block discovery in National Security Agency surveillance lawsuit.

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