The argument that such documents have little strength is reinforced by the rarity of them ever affecting court cases.
Yucaipa has not signed an agreement, Mr. Burkle said, arguing that such documents typically contain onerous restrictions for potential bidders.
Many older Asian business chiefs have traditionally resisted making a will, fearing that such documents might be a bad omen.
Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., representing the news media, argued that the First Amendment and federal and California case law have established that such documents are in the public domain.
In November, the S.E.C. subpoenaed Andersen for records related to Enron, and the accounting firm told its employees that such documents should be preserved.
Further, the report found that the median length of bank checking account disclosures was shorter, but that such documents generally remain "cumbersome" and hard to understand.
In testimony that was occasionally combative, Mr. Corgel said that such documents -- including e-mail messages, rough drafts of memos and other records -- were misused by plaintiffs' lawyers to paint false pictures of accountants and their clients.
Senior diplomats and intelligence officials involved in the drug war in Colombia at the time cautioned against drawing conclusions from the report, noting that such documents were routinely produced with little vetting or oversight.
But others acknowledge that such documents fall flat and end up forgotten just months after corporate leaders trumpeted the statements, which were often developed during lengthy retreats with high-priced consultants.
The database charges 10 cents a page for documents; activists like Carl Malamud, the founder of public.resource.org, have long argued that such documents should be free because they are produced at public expense.
On other occasions, he was told "to the extent that such documents even exist, they are not in the possession of the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office".
