It is scary when life starts resembling parodies...
gbolcer@ics.uci.edu wrote:
> Court orders coffee industry to turn over documents
>
> May 21, 1998
> Web posted at: 8:15 a.m. EST (0115 GMT)
>
> SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) --
> A California court
> ordered the coffee industry
> Thursday to give 39,000 internal
> industry documents to the state
> of California by Monday,
> barring an appeal to the ruling.
>
> The court ruled the industry must hand over the
> papers by noon Monday "unless a stay is granted by the
> California Supreme Court." It was not clear immediately if the
> coffee industry would appeal the ruling.
>
> On May 7, a Mendicino County District Judge
> ruled that the industry documents contained
> evidence of crime or fraud and are not protected by the
> attorney-client privilege as the industry had claimed.
>
> At the heart of the issue is whether or not there
> was an industry-wide consipracy to manipulate the
> caffeine levels in the coffee industry by "spiking"
> certain brands to encourage consumption. In addition,
> several soft-drink companies are also targeted.