Ayers

I. INTRODUCTION

21 Plaintiffs’ filed their Motion for a Determination that Adverse Inferences Lie with 22 the Assertion of the Fifth Amendment by Third-Party Witnesses, seeking the Court to 23 rule on whether an adverse inference should lie as to the testimony by deposition 24 witnesses Roger, Ullo and Timo Ettore who invoked the Fifth Amendment during their 25 depositions. (ECF No. 206-1 at 2.) The Defendant opposes. (ECF No. 212.) The Court 26 will address the substance of their positions as relevant to its analysis. 27 /// 28 II. LEGAL STANDARD “[T]he Fifth Amendment’s protections against self-incrimination can be asserted in any proceeding, be it civil, criminal, administrative, judicial, investigative or adjudicatory.” Doe ex rel. Rudy-Glanzer v. Glanzer, 232 F.3d 1258, 1263 (9th Cir. 2000). “However, in the civil context, the invocation of the privilege is limited to those circumstances in which the person invoking the privilege reasonably believes that his disclosures could be used in a criminal prosecution, or could lead to other evidence that could be used in that manner.” Id. “The only way the privilege can be asserted is on a 9 …