11.

Things To Remember

Coordination With Civil Rights Division. No investigation into potential civil or criminal FACE violations may be initiated without notification to the Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, or his/her designee. This is particularly important with regard to the civil enforcement of the statute as there is a need to coordinate these investigations and potential lawsuits with any ongoing criminal investigation or potential prosecution. Furthermore, no civil or criminal FACE lawsuit may be filed without the approval of the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. NOTE: All civil FACE investigations and litigation must be coordinated with Mellie H. Nelson, (202) 514-6220, Deputy Chief, Special Litigation Section, Civil Rights Division. B. Discovery. During the investigatory stage, the FBI will often generate numerous documents pertaining to the defendants, such as interview notes ("302's") and teletypes. Much of this information is discoverable. Thus far, the Special Litigation Section has followed a procedure whereby all FBI documents in the Section's possession are provided to the FBI's Civil Discovery Unit prior to responding to discovery requests. These documents are accompanied by a copy of the complaint, if filed (otherwise, a brief description of the allegations and the names of the defendants in the proposed complaint), and a copy of the discovery requests to which the documents may be responsive. Any information that should be redacted on the basis of relevance or other appropriate grounds should be so marked by the litigating attorney. The FBI will then review the documents and make further necessary redactions based upon privileges such as the law enforcement privilege. Also at this time, the Civil Discovery Unit will search the FBI's files for any additional documents in its possession, custody, or control that may be relevant to the allegations to be asserted in the complaint. Any responsive documents located by the FBI will be reviewed and redacted by the Civil Discovery Unit. Once the appropriate redactions have been made by the FBI, all documents will be returned to the litigating attorney, including the identification of the basis for each redaction. With respect to documents located by the FBI, both a redacted and unredacted version of the document will be provided to the litigating attorney. C.Relationship Between the Department and "Aggrieved Persons." Once the complaint is filed, a letter should be sent to the clinic owner and each individual who at the time of the filing of the complaint is known to the United States potentially to be an aggrieved person, as defined by the legislative history. NOTE: A sample letter informing individuals of their right to intervene has been created by the Special Litigation Section. The purpose of this letter is to inform these individuals, as well as the clinic owner, that a lawsuit has been filed and that they have a right to intervene. It is important to remember that the United States does not represent the clinic or any aggrieved persons. In other words, there is no "attorney-client" relationship between the United States and these individuals. Therefore, any conversations or correspondence between the United States and the clinic and any "aggrieved persons," as well as documents or other information they provide to the United States, may be discoverable.