Evidence keyed to Fisher
United States v. Zolin
Facts
The Criminal Investigation Division of the I.R.S. sought access to 51 documents as part of its investigation into the tax returns of Mr. Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology. The documents were filed with the Los Angeles County Superior Court in connection with a case involving the Church of Scientology of California v. Armstrong. The Armstrong case involved an allegation by the Church, that one of its former members had unlawfully obtained materials relating to Church activities, including two tapes. The I.R.S. served a summons on the Clerk of the Court and was granted permission to inspect and copy some of the materials, including the tapes. The Church secured a restraining order requiring the I.R.S. to return all materials to the District Court. The I.R.S. sought to enforce its summons and the Respondents objected on the grounds of lack of evidence and attorney-client privilege. The Petitioner argued that the tapes fell within the crime-fraud exception to the attorney-client privilege. The Petitioner also requested the District Court to listen to the tapes in-camera before makings its ruling. The District Court ruled that the tapes did not fall under the attorney-client privilege and that the fraud-crime exception did not apply. On appeal, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (“Ninth Circuit”) affirmed the determination that the I.R.S. had failed to establish the applicability of the crime-fraud exception.
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