U.S. v. Amodeo
| Decision Date | 04 January 1995 |
| Docket Number | AFL-CI,D,967,Nos. 865,AFL-CIO,s. 865 |
| Parties | 148 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2226, 23 Media L. Rep. 1205 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. Anthony R. AMODEO, Sr., "Chick," President and Business Manager of Local 100 of the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees International Union,; Anthony R. Amodeo, Jr., Vice-President of Local 100 of the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees International Union,; Local 100 of the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees International Union,, and Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees International Union,, Defendants. NEW YORK NEWSDAY, INC., Non-Party-Applicant-Appellee, v. MEYER, SUOZZI, ENGLISH & KLEIN, P.C., Affected-Non-Party-Appellant. ockets 94-6194, 94-6212. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Anthony M. Supino, Arkin Schaffer & Supino, New York City, submitted a brief for amicus curiae Mary Shannon Little.
Before: VAN GRAAFEILAND, MINER and McLAUGHLIN, Circuit Judges.
Affected-non-party-appellant-cross-appellee Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein, P.C. ("Meyer, Suozzi"), a law firm, appeals from an order entered in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Patterson, J.) releasing a modified version of a sealed investigative report filed with the court. The report was prepared and filed by Mary Shannon Little who, under the provisions of a Consent Decree, was appointed Court Officer to investigate union-related corruption and take appropriate remedial action. After non-party-applicant New York Newsday, Inc. ("Newsday"), a newspaper publisher, moved to unseal the original report, the Court Officer submitted an edited and redacted copy to the court in camera. The district court ordered the release of the report with the modifications made by the Court Officer. In its cross-appeal, Newsday challenges the district court's reliance on the Court Officer, arguing that the task of editing and redacting must be performed only by the court itself.
In ordering the unsealing and the release of the investigative report, the district court determined that the report was a court record to which the common law right of access applies. The court found that Meyer, Suozzi had not carried its burden of showing that it is in the public interest that the modified report remain under seal. The district court accepted the Court Officer's representation that release of the edited and redacted version would not jeopardize law enforcement interests, including the identity of cooperating witnesses. On appeal, Meyer, Suozzi contends that law enforcement and privacy interests preclude the release of the Court Officer's report, that the mere filing of the report did not extinguish Meyer, Suozzi's privacy interests and that the district court, although recognizing Meyer, Suozzi's privacy right, improperly concluded that this right was surrendered by virtue of its prior conduct.
We affirm in part, reverse in part and remand with instructions.
On October 22, 1992, the United States filed its complaint in a RICO action against Local 100 of the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees International Union ("Local 100") and certain of its officers. According to the complaint, organized crime figures and various corrupt individuals had infiltrated and gained control over Local 100, exploited their control for personal gain and regularly yielded the rights of the union members in return for illicit payoffs. A Consent Decree settling the action was filed on October 23, 1992. The Consent Decree appointed Henry Tamarin as Trustee "[t]o administer, supervise and conduct the daily affairs of Local 100" and conferred upon him numerous other powers in regard to the appointment and election of officers and employees of Local 100, the marshaling of the union's assets, the negotiation of collective bargaining agreements, the supervision of the union's finances and other matters.
The Consent Decree also appointed Mary Shannon Little, whose Report is the subject of the action giving rise to this appeal, as Court Officer "to investigate corruption and oversee the actions of the Trustee of Local 100." Conferred upon Ms. Little were powers to investigate alleged corruption within the union, to investigate alleged misconduct by employers under collective bargaining agreements with Local 100, to supervise and assist the Trustee in recovering assets of Local 100, to review the books and records of the union and to refer possible criminal law violations to the appropriate local or federal law enforcement authorities. The Consent Decree provides Ms. Little with the authority to subpoena witnesses and documents and to take testimony under oath in carrying out her duties. It also provides her with "all of the powers, privileges and immunities of a person appointed pursuant to Rule 66, Fed.R.Civ.Pro. and which are customary for court appointed offices [sic] performing similar assignments." (Rule 66 is entitled "Receivers Appointed by Federal Courts.").
According to the Consent Decree, the Court Officer may "apply to the Court for such assistance as may be necessary and appropriate" to execute her powers. Her term of office is eighteen months, unless extended, and she may be removed for cause. If any party to the Consent Decree applies for enforcement of, or relief from, any of the provisions of the Decree, the court may grant equitable and just relief, "consider[ing] the record of all proceedings ... to the date of the application." In the discharge of her duties, the Court Officer already has subpoenaed and reviewed hundreds of documents and interviewed hundreds of witnesses. She has received information from confidential informants and has shared information with the office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the office of the New York County District Attorney and various federal agencies. She advises that she has uncovered violations of criminal law which have been referred to the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney's office.
Although she is not required to do so, the Court Officer "deem[s] it prudent to keep the Court apprised of [her] investigation." Accordingly, it has been her custom to file reports from time to time with the Clerk of the district court to inform the court of the status of her activities. On occasion, Ms. Little has felt the need for confidentiality in reporting on her activities. She has included the information she deems confidential in addenda, designated Exhibit A, to the publicly filed reports. The public reports refer to the confidential reports, which are delivered directly to chambers with a request that they be placed under seal. These addenda also are made available to an Assistant United States Attorney and to federal law enforcement agents involved in the ongoing investigation conducted by the Court Officer. Ms. Little has been afforded access to certain grand jury materials and, presumably, some of those materials have found their way into the confidential reports.
Report III deals with Ms. Little's inquiry into various providers of services to Local 100. This report, consisting of seven pages, is dated July 30, 1993 and was filed publicly on August 2, 1993. Exhibit A to Report III is a fifty-seven page document. According to Ms. Little, it contains names of individuals and organizations she has contacted, the substance After concluding this phase of her investigation, Ms. Little found that "neither [Meyer, Suozzi] nor Mr. Ickes committed any illegal acts or misconduct that would require [her] to take further action under the Consent Decree." This conclusion apparently was included in Exhibit A to Report III. Ms. Little reiterated this conclusion in a telephone conversation with William Cunningham, a Meyer, Suozzi partner, in November of 1993. Mr. Cunningham immediately thereafter released to the press a memorandum concerning the Court Officer's statement. Mr. Ickes, whose nomination to an important position in the administration of President Clinton had been the subject of widespread speculation and discussion, was named Deputy Chief of Staff to the President shortly after the circulation of Mr. Cunningham's memorandum.
of her conversations with various targets, witnesses, and informants, documentary proof, a description of certain matters referred to law enforcement authorities and her conclusions. Because Meyer, Suozzi provided legal services to Local 100 during the period 1983-1991, and because Harold Ickes was the principal attorney in the firm handling the union's business, Ms. Little decided that "it was appropriate to inquire into the legitimacy and propriety of the services rendered by Mr. Ickes and his firm to Local 100."
Perceiving the information to be a matter of public interest, involving as it does the activities of a confidante of the President of the United States, a Newsday reporter wrote to Judge Patterson in March of 1994 to request access to the portions of the sealed report that pertain to Mr. Ickes' representation of Local 100. Judge Patterson replied that a motion demonstrating legally sufficient grounds for disclosure would be required. Thereafter, Newsday moved as Intervenor to unseal Exhibit A to Report III. In responding to the motion, the Court Officer averred that she never intended that the public have access to the confidential status reports and that, had she known that the reports would be accessible to the public, she would not have filed them at all.
With respect to the portion of Exhibit A pertaining to Mr. Ickes, Ms. Little notes that it "reflect[s] the identities of cooperating witnesses and other persons involved in [her] investigation, as well as confidential information provided to [her] by the Federal Bureau of...
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