SARAH NETBURN, Magistrate Judge.
On December 4, 2017, the Plaintiffs' Executive Committees ("PECs") filed a motion to compel Defendant Yassin Abdullah Al Kadi to produce additional documents and a revised privilege log. ECF Nos. 3823, 3830. The motion to compel is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.
The PECs allege that Kadi "co-founded the Muwafaq Foundation with Khaled Bin Mahfouz for the purpose of serv[ing] as a vehicle for funding and otherwise supporting terrorist organizations, including al Qaida."
In April 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated the District Court's decision dismissing Plaintiffs' claims against Kadi and remanded the case "for the prompt commencement of a course of judicially-supervised jurisdictional discovery."
On May 6, 2015, the PECs sent Kadi a letter that raised various inadequacies in his production and enclosed a second set of document requests. ECF Nos. 3831-2, 3877-4. Kadi and his counsel later produced approximately 171,000 additional pages of documents. ECF No. 3876 at 2-3. According to Kadi, at that point in the discovery process, he produced documents that he had previously withheld based on objections to the PECs' document requests and only withheld documents on the basis of privilege and two other categories of objections that the parties apparently do not contest.
Nevertheless, on December 4, 2017, the PECs filed a motion to compel Kadi to produce additional documents and a revised privilege log. ECF No. 3830. The PECs state that "Kadi claims, once again, that he has produced all responsive documents, save for the 277 documents listed on a privilege log and similar redactions made to approximately 429 other documents created before September 11, 2001." ECF No. 3831 at 2. But "[b]ased on the circumstances and characterizations of missing documents, Plaintiffs contend that documents that clearly existed at some point in time are missing from Kadi's productions."
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(1) states that "[p]arties may obtain discovery regarding any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any party's claim or defense and proportional to the needs of the case." Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). "A party may serve on any other party a request" to produce documents within the scope of Rule 26(b). Fed. R. Civ. P. 34(a). "The responding party must produce documents sought in each request or `state an objection to the request, including the reasons.'"
First, the PECs argue that there must be more documents that Kadi has not yet produced regarding Rowad Development and Investment Company ("Rowad"). ECF No. 3831 at 3-6. For the most part, the PECs have not pointed to any concrete evidence showing that Kadi possesses additional documents that he failed to produce. For example, the PECs believe that Kadi has copies of minutes of corporate meetings of Rowad's directors and shareholders, but they do not cite any evidence to suggest that any such minutes exist or that Kadi possesses copies of them.
The liquidation committee's final report does reference two documents that are likely to be in Kadi's possession, custody, or control. The report mentions "a final report on [Rowad's] performance while working in South Darfur" and "a report to the Board on or before 15 February 1996."
The PECs also ask the Court to compel Kadi to produce additional documents regarding three other entities with which Kadi was allegedly affiliated: Solano Limited; KA Stan; and Maram Travel Limited. ECF No. 3831 at 6-7, 11-14. But the PECs have not pointed to any concrete evidence suggesting that additional documents regarding these entities even exist. The PECs' mere speculation that "[t]here had to be more records" does not constitute grounds for granting a motion to compel.
Following Kadi's designation as a supporter of terrorism shortly after September 11, 2001, Kadi's counsel wrote to various offices and officials of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia seeking their assistance in having him de-listed. ECF No. 3831-5 at 64-97. The PECs note that Kadi has produced several letters from Kadi's counsel to Saudi officials as well as a letter from the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority indicating that it found no connections between Kadi and terror financing. ECF No. 3831 at 8. The PECs complain that no other documents relating to the Saudi government's investigations have been produced.
For many of these documents, the PECs cite the wrong pages of their own submission in support or reference material that does not appear on the cited pages. For example, the PECs discuss "a file" supposedly referenced in correspondence that Kadi sent to the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority. ECF No. 3831 at 9. But the page the PECs cite for this correspondence does not appear to be included in the PECs' submission. Although Kadi seeks to direct the Court to the appropriate page in the record,
Despite these shortcomings in the PECs' submission, however, the Court has painstakingly sorted through the PECs' citations to look for any evidence demonstrating that the documents the PECs have requested actually exist. The PECs have offered sufficient evidence to suggest that the following documents exist:
These documents relate to a government investigation that was commenced on Kadi's behalf based upon requests that he filed with the Saudi government. Some of the documents were even prepared and submitted by Kadi's legal team. Therefore, it seems likely that Kadi's counsel possessed these documents or received copies of the documents in connection with the Saudi government's investigation. Kadi contends that he does not have access to these documents because "the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is not forthcoming with documents." ECF No. 3876 at 8. But the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a codefendant in this matter and is currently engaging in jurisdictional discovery on a parallel track. Thus, to the extent that Kadi and his counsel do not possess copies of these documents, Kadi should immediately contact his codefendant and seek assistance in obtaining them. Within 30 days of this Opinion and Order, Kadi is ORDERED to search his records and his counsel's records and request any documents that are in the custody of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and produce the 11 documents listed above. If he is unable to produce all of the 11 listed documents, Kadi is ORDERED to produce a sworn declaration in accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 1746 describing in detail his efforts to locate and obtain the documents.
With respect to the various other documents the PECs seek, the PECs have not provided adequate evidence to suggest that the documents actually exist and are within Kadi's possession, custody, or control. For example, the PECs contend that Kadi should produce additional records relating to Saudi Arabia's "investigation of Kadi, leading to the freezing of his assets and maintaining the freezing of his assets." ECF No. 3831 at 8. But the PECs do not offer any evidence to show that such documents were ever generated or that Kadi had access to them. The PECs also list several telegrams and other correspondence between the Saudi Foreign Ministry, the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C., the Saudi delegation in New York, the Saudi Prime Minister's Office, the Saudi Minister of Interior, and the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh.
The PECs argue that a significant number of entries in Kadi's privilege log "appear to be communications about business matters . . . that do not appear to request or contain legal advice." ECF No. 3831 at 16. The PECs also contend that Kadi has waived the attorney-client privilege with respect to certain documents "created by, sent to or shared with third parties."
Work product immunity "shields materials prepared in anticipation of litigation or for trial."
Attorney-client privilege applies to "(1) a communication between client and counsel that (2) was intended to be and was in fact kept confidential, and (3) was made for the purpose of obtaining or providing legal advice."
In addition, "[t]he attorney-client privilege is not absolute . . . and may be waived through, among other things, the voluntary disclosure of a privileged communication to a third party, especially a litigation adversary."
Courts have also recognized the necessity of corporate employees discussing advice received by one agent of the corporation. "Therefore, although dissemination of privileged information to third parties generally waives attorney-client privilege, the distribution within a corporation of legal advice received from its counsel does not, by itself, vitiate the privilege."
When a party withholds documents on the basis of privilege, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(A) requires the party to "expressly make the claim" and "describe the nature of the documents, communications, or tangible things not produced or disclosed—and do so in a manner that, without revealing information itself privileged or protected, will enable other parties to assess the claim." Likewise, Local Civil Rule 26.2(a)(1) requires a party asserting that a document is privileged to "identify the nature of the privilege (including work product) which is being claimed." The local rule also requires the party asserting the privilege to provide:
Local Civil Rule 26.2(a)(2)(A).
Without reviewing the documents that Kadi has withheld as privileged, the Court cannot effectively assess whether the descriptions in Kadi's privilege log adequately describe the documents or whether Kadi has withheld only those documents that are privileged. Moreover, the Court is not convinced that the parties engaged in a meaningful meet-and-confer process regarding Kadi's privilege log before raising these issues with the Court. Accordingly, within 30 days of this Opinion and Order, the parties are directed to meet and confer and make good faith efforts to resolve the disputes regarding Kadi's privilege log. The parties should discuss specific privilege log entries, rather than dealing in generalities. The parties should also be mindful of the governing law that the Court has summarized above. Kadi should revise his privilege log if the parties determine that greater clarity is necessary. If the parties are unable to reach an amicable resolution, the PECs may file a letter motion requesting an in camera review of no more than 10 exemplars.
Finally, in their motion to compel, the PECs briefly request that the Court order Kadi to "pay for the reasonable attorneys' fees for bringing this motion." ECF No. 3831 at 17. In their reply brief, however, the PECs state that they "have not and do not seek attorneys' fees and costs for bringing this good faith motion." ECF No. 3897 at 10. Accordingly, the Court considers the PECs' request for attorneys' fees withdrawn.
In addition, Kadi asks the Court to order the PECs to pay the attorneys' fees and expenses that he incurred in responding to the PECs' purportedly "frivolous motion." ECF No. 3876 at 18-19. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(a)(5)(B) provides that when a motion to compel is denied, the Court "must, after giving an opportunity to be heard, require the movant, the attorney filing the motion, or both to pay the party or deponent who opposed the motion its reasonable expenses incurred in opposing the motion, including attorney's fees." Here, the PECs' motion to compel has been granted in part. Therefore, the Court will not order the PECs to pay the attorneys' fees and costs that Kadi incurred in connection with the motion to compel.
For the foregoing reasons, the PECs' motion to compel is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. Within 30 days of the date of this Opinion and Order, Kadi is ORDERED to search for and produce the two reports discussed above that were prepared in anticipation of Rowad's liquidation and the 11 documents discussed above regarding Saudi Arabia's investigations of Kadi. If he is unable to locate or obtain all of these reports and documents, Kadi is ORDERED to produce a sworn declaration within 30 days of the date of this Opinion and Order that describes in detail his efforts to locate the reports and documents. Kadi is not required to produce any other documents at this time. In addition, within 30 days of this Opinion and Order, the parties are directed to meet and confer and make good faith efforts to resolve the disputes regarding Kadi's privilege log. Finally, the PECs' request for attorneys' fees is treated as withdrawn, and Kadi's request for attorneys' fees is DENIED. The Clerk of Court is respectfully directed to terminate the motions at ECF Nos. 3823, 3830 in the MDL and ECF No. 872 in 02-CV-6977.