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How Civil Investigative Demand Targets Can Avoid Common Mistakes and Missteps
March 21, 2024
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How Civil Investigative Demand Targets Can Avoid Common Mistakes and Missteps
Based on the search results, here is a summary of key information and advice for civil investigative demand (CID) targets to avoid common mistakes and missteps:
Contents
What is a Civil Investigative Demand (CID)
- A CID is like an administrative subpoena used by government agencies like the DOJ, FTC, and CFPB to obtain evidence during civil investigations before litigation.
- CIDs allow compelling documents, interrogatory answers, oral testimony and more from witnesses, suspects and investigation targets.
- Failing to properly respond can lead to contempt charges, obstruction prosecution and significant civil fines and penalties.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
1. Failure to Preserve Documents
- A legal hold must be immediately implemented to prevent any routine document/data destruction. Failing to preserve evidence risks spoliation charges.
2. Overdisclosure of Information
- Be careful not to provide unnecessary documents or testimony outside the scope of the CID. This can increase exposure or lead to criminal charges.
3. Ignoring or Avoiding the CID
- Simply ignoring a CID will likely spur contempt charges, on top of demands for information and penalties for noncompliance.
4. Waiting Too Long to Engage Legal Counsel
- Experienced CID and FCA defense lawyers are crucial from the start to avoid missteps and mitigate risks. Don’t delay getting qualified representation.
Key Steps When Served a CID
- Assess if you are a witness, suspect or investigation target to gauge risks.
- Negotiate the scope if overly broad or unduly burdensome. Courts give agencies wide latitude however.
- Meet response deadlines which are typically only 20-30 days. Extensions can sometimes be negotiated.
- Protect privileges and sensitive information through redactions and procedural objections.
- Weigh challenging the CID if grounds exist around scope, possession of requested information by agency, etc. But courts tend to side with agencies.