Adkins v. Mid-American Growers, Inc.

143 F.R.D. 171, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13073, 1992 WL 212096
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedAugust 31, 1992
DocketNo. 88 C 980
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 143 F.R.D. 171 (Adkins v. Mid-American Growers, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Adkins v. Mid-American Growers, Inc., 143 F.R.D. 171, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13073, 1992 WL 212096 (N.D. Ill. 1992).

Opinion

ORDER

NORGLE, District Judge.

Before the court are plaintiffs’ objections to Magistrate Judge Joan B. Gottschall’s June 14, 1991, February 21, 1992, and June 10, 1992 Reports and Recommendations (“Reports”).1 For reasons stated below, the court rejects both the June 14,1991 and the February 21, 1992 Reports and accepts the Magistrate Judge’s June 10, 1992 Report. The court denies Mid-American Growers, Inc.’s (“Mid-American”) motions to dismiss the parties named in the June 14, 1991 and February 21, 1992 Reports and denies plaintiffs’ motion for Rule 11 sanctions. The court recommits the matter to the Magistrate Judge for further proceedings.

BACKGROUND

This litigation arises from a dispute over overtime wages a class of past and present hourly workers at a Mid-American greenhouse claim they are entitled under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq. (“FLSA”). Harold Adkins filed the action as a representative suit under section 216(b) of FLSA, notices were sent to potential plaintiffs, and a number of parties have opted in the suit by filing consent [173]*173forms. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1), the court referred all pretrial matters to the magistrate judge.

Because the class members are often difficult to locate and some appear to be disinterested in the suit, the discovery has been complicated. The Magistrate Judge has issued various orders and submitted various recommendations throughout this nearly four-year-old case. The Magistrate Judge issued orders allowing individualized discovery, none of which were appealed. The Magistrate Judge submitted two reports, one dated June 14,1991 (attached as Exhibit A) and one dated February 21, 1992 (attached as Exhibit B), each recommending the dismissal of various party plaintiffs for their failure to respond to discovery requests. No objections were filed to these two recommendations and this court has not entered an order ruling on the two recommendations.

On the other hand, this court modified a January 24, 1992 Report after objections were filed. The court held, in a March 1, 1992 order, that discovery sanctions were not appropriate under the circumstances. In reaching this conclusion the court determined de novo that the parties should not have conducted discovery on an individualized basis and determined that “class-wide discovery was more appropriate.” Adkins v. Mid-America Growers, Inc., 141 F.R.D. 466, 468 (N.D.Ill.1992).

On June 10, 1992, the Magistrate Judge issued a seven page Report (attached as Exhibit C) recommending that the court deny plaintiffs’ motion for Rule 11 sanctions. In this report, the Magistrate Judge also concluded from the March 1 order that this court had a different view as to the direction of the litigation. As a result, instead of ruling on plaintiffs’ motion for reinstatement, the Magistrate Judge allowed plaintiffs to file a year later objections to the June 14, 1991 Report and four months later objections to the February 21, 1992 Report, each recommending dismissal of some sixty-six party plaintiffs, although the objections are technically untimely. The court will address each issue in turn.

DISCUSSION

Regarding the June 14, 1991 and February 21, 1992 recommendations, this court is reluctant to revisit the Magistrate Judge’s dismissal of the various parties for failure to reply to discovery requests because plaintiffs failed to contest the motions to dismiss or object to the recommendations. Nonetheless, the court is concerned with the harsh result ensuing from the recommended dismissal.

More importantly, however, this court has not ruled on the Magistrate Judge’s recommendation. A magistrate judge cannot order the dismissal of parties; he or she merely recommends dismissal after considering the motion and the district court retains final authority over the dispositive motion. Delgado v. Bowen, 782 F.2d 79 (7th Cir.1986). But unless objections are filed to a magistrate judge’s recommendation, the district court may be unaware of the necessity of acting on the recommendation. See Associates Fin. Servs. v. Mercantile Mortgage Co., 727 F.Supp. 371, 376 (N.D.Ill.1989) (discussing result where parties fail to object to or move to implement a magistrate judge’s recommendation). In any event, the court must address the earlier Reports despite the failure to object.

Normally, upon the submission of a report and recommendation on a motion for discovery sanctions, the district judge shall make a de novo determination upon the record and may accept, reject or modify the recommended decision. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1); Fed.R.Civ.P. 72(b); Local Rule 1.70c.l(c). A de novo determination is mandatory if any party files an objection to a recommendation on a dispositive motion. Delgado, 782 F.2d at 82. Even without a timely objection, the district court has the power to make a de novo determination. Id. In light of the unusual posture of the case, and because the Magistrate Judge has allowed plaintiffs to raise untimely objections to the previous Reports, this court will make a de novo determination.

Mid-American served written interrogatories on each of the individual party plain[174]*174tiffs to this action. The Magistrate Judge subsequently recommended the dismissal of forty plaintiffs when they failed to respond to the interrogatories. Mid-American later sought to depose all of the plaintiffs in the case. The Magistrate Judge, having found that twenty-six of the plaintiffs failed to present themselves, recommended their dismissal.

The court finds that dismissal is an inappropriate sanction. In the absence of a “clear record of delay or contumacious conduct,” a court should resort to dismissal as a sanction only “when other less drastic sanctions have proven unavailing,” or where the failure to comply is wilful. Powers v. Chicago Transit Authority, 890 F.2d 1355, 1362 (7th Cir.1989). See also Diehl v. H.J. Heinz Co., 901 F.2d 73, 74-75 (7th Cir.1990) (unexcused failure to comply with discovery on an agreed timetable is wilful and justifies dismissal). Dismissal is generally seen as the sanction of last resort or for extreme circumstances. E.E.O.C. v. Troy State Univ., 693 F.2d 1353, 1354 (11th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 463 U.S. 1207, 103 S.Ct. 3538, 77 L.Ed.2d 1388 (1983). Here, there is no clear record of delay or contumacious conduct. Instead, the least severe sanction adequate to achieve the purpose of the sanction is more appropriate.

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143 F.R.D. 171, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13073, 1992 WL 212096, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/adkins-v-mid-american-growers-inc-ilnd-1992.