People ex rel. Owen v. Media One Direct, LLC

Opinion

McINTYRE, Acting P. J. In this case we hold that California’s Corporations Commissioner (the Commissioner) properly exercised her statutory authority to issue an administrative subpoena duces tecum (SDT) and subpoena witnesses for the purpose of investigating possible violations of the Corporate Securities Law of 1968 (CSL) (Corp. Code, § 25000 et seq.), which regulates the offer and sale of securities in California. (Undesignated statutory references are to the Corporations Code.) We conclude the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it found that appellant failed to comply with the Commissioner’s discovery requests.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The Commissioner is head of the Department of Corporations (the Department). The Department is responsible for administering and enforcing the CSL. Believing that appellant Media One Direct, LLC (Media One), might be engaged in violations of the CSL, the Department issued an SDT on Media One requiring the production of certain documents and information relevant to the Department’s investigation. When Media One allegedly failed to produce all of the documents and information required in the SDT, the Department issued another administrative subpoena requiring Media One to produce its custodian of records for administrative testimony relevant to the Department’s investigation. Media One, however, refused to provide an individual for administrative testimony as requested in the subpoena.

[1483]The Commissioner petitioned the superior court for an order to show cause requesting that Media One be “order[ed] to produce a person most knowledgeable for administrative testimony and, or alternatively, produce all the documents and information requested” in the SDT. In support of its petition, the Commissioner presented the declaration of Agnes Dougherty, a Department employee, and attached to the declaration the SDT, the subpoena, and correspondence between the parties regarding the requests. After considering argument, the trial court issued an order requiring Media One to produce by a certain date and without objection, all documents and information requested in the SDT and produce a witness as requested in the administrative subpoena. Media One timely appealed.