United States v. Morton Salt Company

• Citation: 216 F. Supp. 250
• Decision Date: 20 November 1962
• Docket Number: No. 4-61 Civ. 162.,4-61 Civ. 162.
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. MORTON SALT COMPANY, International Salt Company, and Diamond Crystal Salt Company, Defendants.
• Court: United States District Courts. 8th Circuit. United States District Court of Minnesota

216 F. Supp. 250

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. MORTON SALT COMPANY, International Salt Company, and Diamond Crystal Salt Company, Defendants.

No. 4-61 Civ. 162.

United States District Court D. Minnesota, Fourth Division.

November 20, 1962.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

NORDBYE, District Judge.

The defendants filed a post verdict motion on July 30, 1962, in 4-61 Criminal 65 seeking the return and suppression of certain Grand Jury documents. Briefs were filed and arguments presented on September 7, 1962. At the hearing the Court suggested that, in that the criminal case had terminated by a verdict of not guilty, and the Court being informed that the documents in question impounded by court order were in the possession of the Clerk of this Court and the United States Marshal, and that the Government intended to proceed in the civil proceeding against the moving defendants and move under an appropriate rule of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for leave to inspect certain of the documents, the better plan would be to await the Government's motion.

John W. Neville, Herbert F. Peters and Jerome A. Hochberg, Attys., Antitrust Division, Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., appeared in behalf of plaintiff.

Oppenheimer, Hodgson, Brown, Baer & Wolff, St. Paul, Minn., and McBride, Baker, Wienke & Schlosser, Chicago, Ill., for Morton Salt Co.

Neville, Johnson & Thompson, Minneapolis, Minn., and Putney, Twombly, Hall & Skidmore, New York City, for International Salt Co.

Bowen, Bowen, Preus & Farrell, Minneapolis, Minn., and Dickinson, Wright, McKean & Cudlip, Detroit, Mich., for Diamond Crystal Salt Co.

On October 11, 1962, the Government filed its motion under Rule 34, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, setting forth in detail the exact documents it desired to inspect. Some of the documents were defendants' business papers. Other documents belonged to other salt companies and salt industry associations. They all were obtained originally by way of subpoenas duces tecum issued out of the office of the Clerk of Court of the Southern Division of the Southern District of Illinois at Springfield, Illinois, on December 28, 1959. The subpoenas were returnable at Springfield on January 25, 1960. On January 21st the defendants obtained an extension of time from one of the Judges of the Southern Division of the Southern District of Illinois whereby the return date of the subpoenas was extended to May 23, 1960. On January 25, 1960, an impounding order by the Springfield court placed these documents and others when produced in the care and custody of the Chicago office of the Antitrust Division, Department of Justice. A Grand Jury was impaneled at Springfield on February 17, 1960, and on that date evidence in the salt industry investigation was introduced before that Grand Jury. On May 23, 1960, defendants, in compliance with the court's order, delivered some 100,000 documents to the Chicago office of the Antitrust Division.

On June 28, 1961, an indictment was returned against the defendants by a Grand Jury sitting in the District of Minnesota, at St. Paul, Minnesota. Subsequently, and after the St. Paul indictment, the impounding order placing the documents in the Antitrust Division at Chicago was amended by the District Court of Illinois at Springfield whereby these documents and others were impounded into the care and custody of the Antitrust Division, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C., for use in preparation for the trial of the criminal case growing out of the indictment returned by the St. Paul Grand Jury. On January 23, 1962, this Court, upon motion of the defendants, ordered the Government to transfer the documents from Washington, D. C., to Minneapolis, Minnesota, in order to permit the defendants to copy and inspect them in order to prepare for the impending criminal trial. The jury in the criminal proceedings against these defendants found them not guilty on June 7, 1962.

The present motion under Rule 34 lists but a few—some 15 in number— of the documents originally impounded. Their relevancy and pertinency to the issues in the civil proceeding is not challenged. The briefs filed by the parties with reference to defendants' motion of July 30, 1962, will be considered in so far as they are relevant to the Government's motion under Rule 34. Substantially the identical questions presented here were before Judge Devitt prior to and during the trial of the criminal case. His rulings, which were adverse to the defendants, ordinarily would be followed by another Judge of this Court where the same issues are involved. Defendants urge, however, that in view of the verdict of not guilty in the criminal case, they are not able to challenge the validity of Judge Devitt's ruling by way of an appeal. The defendants therefore have requested this Court to rule specifically on the defendants' motion in the criminal case, apparently believing that an appeal would lie if the ruling is adverse. This Court sees no purpose at this time in making a ruling on defendants' motion of July 30, 1962, but the defendants may, upon due notice, move for return of the documents now impounded, other than those covered by the Government's motion herein. This Court, however, will consider anew the matters presented under the Government's motion under Rule 34.

Defendants urge that, in the civil proceeding, this Court should deny plaintiff's motion under Rule 34 because of certain procedure violations of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice which may be listed as follows: (1) In the Grand Jury proceeding wherein the documents were obtained by the Government, the attorneys of the Antitrust Division acted thereunder without proper authority; (2) the documents were obtained by means of illegal procedure in violation of defendants' constitutional rights; (3) the attorneys of the Antitrust Division violated certain secrecy rules applicable to Grand Jury procedure; (4) the shifting of the investigation from the Grand Jury in Springfield, Illinois, to the Grand Jury in St. Paul, Minnesota, violated fundamental rules regarding the functions and usages of Grand Juries; (5) in presenting to the St. Paul Grand Jury the transcript of certain evidence taken before the Springfield Grand Jury, the attorneys of the Antitrust Division were guilty of illegal procedure; and (6) the Grand Jury documents should be returned to the defendants because the documents were all obtained in violation of defendants' constitutional protection against illegal searches and seizures.

It seems obvious that many of the grounds asserted by the defendants in their motion in the criminal case to impound and suppress documents obtained by the Grand Jury subpoenas are not pertinent to the question as to whether the Government's motion under Rule 34 should be granted. We are not concerned here with whether the Antitrust Division has violated certain secrecy rules applicable to Grand Jury procedure or whether or not it had a right to utilize transcripts of evidence obtained before the Springfield Grand Jury in connection with the presentation of its evidence to the St. Paul Grand Jury. Moreover, in view of the admitted circumstances, we necessarily commence with the premise that good cause has been shown in support of the Government's motion under Rule 34, and unless it appears that the criminal procedure by which the documents were obtained originally is so tainted with irregularity that they should not have been made available to the Government at the criminal trial, the defendants do not have any support for their resistance to the Government's motion herein. We do not have a situation where a Grand Jury was utilized for the purpose of obtaining evidence in the civil proceeding now pending. No one questions the bona fides of the Government's attempt to obtain a criminal conviction of these defendants by use of the documentary evidence obtained by Grand Jury subpoenas. The case of In re April Term Grand Jury, 7 Cir., 1956, 239 F.2d 263, is not pertinent here.

Reference has been made by the defendants to the published newspaper statement by the Government of its intention to initiate the investigation of the salt industry before a special Grand Jury to be impaneled for that purpose at Rock Island, Illinois, which is in the Northern Division of the Southern District of Illinois. However, in view of the fact that a Grand Jury was summoned to appear on February 17, 1960, at Springfield, which is in the Southern Division of the Southern District of Illinois, the Government procured the subpoenas duces tecum issued December 28, 1959, from the Clerk of Court of that division. The Rock Island Grand Jury heard no witnesses and examined no documents with respect to the so-called salt industry investigation. No irregularity arises by reason of the claimed change in venue from the Rock Island Division to the Springfield Division. As heretofore stated, the documents to be obtained by the initial subpoenas were impounded by order of the Court in the Southern Division of the Southern District of Illinois in the custody of one Earl Jinkinson, Chief of the Midwest Office of the Antitrust Division at Chicago. This order was duly filed and no objection was voiced by the defendants to the documents being subpoenaed and later impounded before any consideration thereof by the Springfield Grand Jury. Nor was any objection voiced by the defendants to the subsequent delivery of these documents to the Midwest Office of the Antitrust Division. In fact, on May 23, 1960, counsel for the defendants produced the documents subpoenaed to the Midwest Office of the Antitrust Division. It appears that the Springfield Grand Jury was in session in connection with the salt industry investigation in October, November and December, 1960, and the record does not disclose any objection by the defendants to the consideration by that Grand Jury of any documents presented to it under and by virtue...