National Abortion Federation v. Center for Medical Progress

ORDER REGARDING FIFTH AMENDMENT RIGHTS OF CORPORATE ENTITIES

Defendants Center for Medical Progress (“CMP”) and Biomax Procurement Services (“Biomax”) (collectively, “defendants”) seek to assert Fifth Amendment rights in response to plaintiff National Abortion Federation’s (“NAF”) discovery requests. At issue is whether corporate entities may assert Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination on the basis that their opponent has alleged that they are sham “alter ego” corporations that have no existence separate from an individual or individuals. Although defendants do not themselves contend that they are alter egos, they argue that NAF’s allegations conclusively establish that they may invoke the Fifth Amendment. I heard argument on this issue on September 18, 2015.

This is not a close question. Defendants would have me adopt NAF’s allegations in the Complaint that defendants are alter ego corporations to conclude that they may invoke the Fifth Amendment, while at the *1201 same time allow defendants to continue to dispute this fact for other purposes in this litigation. CMP and Biomax hold themselves out as corporations to the federal government, the state of California,…