U.S. Industries, Inc. v. United States District Court for the Southern District of California, Centraldivision

This is a petition for writ of prohibition and for writ of mandate (either or both, in the alternative). Petitioners seek to reseal a government memorandum which the district court has determined to be a proper object of federal discovery proceedings. This court’s jurisdiction to grant the requested relief is derived from the “All Writs” statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1651 .

The government document in dispute has been ordered unsealed for the use of plaintiffs in presently pending civil, antitrust actions involving the concrete and coated steel pipe industry. The document had previously been prepared for sentencing purposes in the criminal antitrust proceeding from which these civil actions originate. Petitioners are corporations and corporate officers who had been indicted for violations of Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1 , as well as other individuals who assert they testified before the grand jury which returned the indictments.

The indictment against a portion of the present petitioners had been returned on March 10, 1964. On March 30, 1964, the defendants, over objection by the government, were permitted to plead nolo contendere. Upon acceptance of these pleas, Honorable…