Caesar Electronics Inc. v. Andrews

905 F.2d 287 CAESAR ELECTRONICS INC., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Paul R. ANDREWS, Director, United States Customs Service; Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation; Schlumberger Technologies, Inc., Defendants-Appellees. No. 88-15789. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted April 18, 1990. Decided June 7, 1990. Dean Francis Pace and Wm. John Kennedy, Pace and Kennedy, Los Angeles, Cal., for plaintiff-appellant. James A. Bruen, Richard C. Coffin, and Cydney T. Batchelor, Landels, Ripley & Diamond, Sanford Svetcov, San Francisco, Cal., for defendants-appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Before HUG, SKOPIL, and SCHROEDER, Circuit Judges. SKOPIL, Circuit Judge: 1 In this case we are asked to determine whether under California law a party who cooperates with the government in a criminal investigation is immune from subsequent civil liability in an action brought by the party investigated. We conclude that the cooperating party here is immune under California law from civil liability. We affirm. FACTS AND PRIOR PROCEEDINGS 2 In 1983 Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation ("Fairchild") 1 manufactured…