Blake Associates, Inc. v. Omni Spectra, Inc.

118 F.R.D. 283, 9 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1346, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17904, 1988 WL 1365
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedJanuary 12, 1988
DocketCiv. A. No. 81-3187-S
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 118 F.R.D. 283 (Blake Associates, Inc. v. Omni Spectra, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Blake Associates, Inc. v. Omni Spectra, Inc., 118 F.R.D. 283, 9 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1346, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17904, 1988 WL 1365 (D. Mass. 1988).

Opinion

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION THAT SANCTIONS BE IMPOSED AGAINST PLAINTIFF AND ITS PRINCIPALS PURSUANT TO RULE 37(b)(2)(D), F.R.CIV.P.

ROBERT B. COLLINGS, United States Magistrate.

Rule 37(b)(2)(D), F.R.Civ.P., provides, in pertinent part, as follows:

(b) Failure to Comply with Order.
(2) Sanctions by Court in Which Action is Pending. If a party or an officer, director, or managing agent of a party ... fails to obey an order to provide or permit discovery, including an order made under subdivision (a) of this rule ..., the court in which the action is pending may make such orders in regard to the failure as are just, and among others the following:
(D) ... [A]n order treating as a contempt of court the failure to obey any orders except an order to submit to a physical examination.

I RECOMMEND that the District Court impose sanctions pursuant to Rule 37(b)(2)(D), F.R.Civ.P., on the plaintiff, Blake Associates, Inc., and its principals, Joseph P. Blake and Eileen Blake on account of the plaintiff’s blatant and willful violation of the Court’s Order pursuant to Rule 37(a)(2), F.R.Civ.P. (# 118) entered November 14, 1986 and a further Order of the Court entered April 27, 1987. Mindful of the importance of specifying with some precision the nature of the contempt sanction to be imposed pursuant to Rule 37(b)(2)(D), F.R.Civ.P., United States v. Westinghouse Electric Corp., 648 F.2d 642, 651 (9 Cir., 1981), I RECOMMEND that the District Judge to whom this case is assigned issue an order, pursuant to Rule 37(b)(2)(D), F.R.Civ.P. and Rule 42(b), F.R.Crim.P., to the plaintiff, Blake Associates, Inc., and its principals, Joseph P. Blake and Eileen Blake, to show cause why they should not be held in criminal contempt and punished as a sanction imposed pursuant to Rule 37(b)(2)(D) for willful violation of the above-specified Court Orders.

The Order (# 118) of November 14, 1986 required compliance by December 31, 1986. A motion for reconsideration (# 123) of the November 14th Order was denied by the District Judge to whom this case is assigned on February 24, 1987. Evidently, some extensions of the December 31st deadline were granted to the plaintiff by defendant, Omni Spectra (hereinafter, “Omni”). However, on March 23, 1987, Omni filed a motion to compel compliance with discovery order (# 135). On April 27, 1987, the motion was endorsed “The motion is ALLOWED” and the following Order issued:

Plaintiff Blake Associates is ORDERED to comply with the Order of Magistrate Collings by May 8, 1987.

Plaintiff served three pleadings in purported compliance with the Court’s Orders. These have been recently filed at the direction of the undersigned. They are:

(1) Plaintiff[’s] ... Further Response To ... First Request For Production Of Documents (# 189);
[286]*286(2) Plaintiff’s] ... Further Answers To Interrogatories, Etc. (# 190);
(3) Letter from John B. Connarton, Jr., P.C. to Attorney Lisa C. Wood dated 5/29/87 with attachment of eighteen pages (# 195).

First, with respect to production of documents, the Court’s Order was not to serve additional responses; the Order specifically required the plaintiff “to produce copies of additional documents on or before the close of business on Wednesday, December 31, 1986" Order, Etc. (# 118) at p. 7. The Court’s April 27th Order required the plaintiff to comply with the November 14th Order, i.e. to produce copies of additional documents, by May 8, 1987. Production did not occur by May 8. Evidently, one box of copies was produced on September 17, 1987, another on September 21, and a third delivery of documents occurred on September 28, 1987. Further deliveries were made on October 15, 1987, November 3, 1987, November 6, 1987 and December 8, 1987. No motion to alter the Court’s Order or to extend the time for compliance was ever made. Plaintiff plainly violated both the November 14, 1986 and April 27, 1987 Orders of the Court.

Having noted this violation of the Court’s Orders, I must further state that plaintiff’s failure to comply with the Orders by not producing copies of the documents in a timely manner, without more, would not ordinarily result in a recommendation that such a serious sanction as that contained in Rule 37(b)(2)(D), F.R.Civ.P., be imposed. However, there is more.

Second, several copies of several documents were not produced because they were deliberately withheld by plaintiff’s counsel in violation of the Court’s Orders. Interrogatory # 29 served by Omni reads as follows:

INTERROGATORY NO. 29
Identify every Omni document supplied you by any past or present Omni employee while employed by Omni, including without limitation Brenda Qua-drozzi, George Lovell, Richard Cannistra-ro or Robert LaVoie, other than documents supplied you in the normal course of [sic] and reflecting your purchases of product as an Omni distributor; and identify the person who supplied each such document.
RESPONSE: Blake Associates, Blake [sic] and Eileen Blake object to this interrogatory on the grounds that it calls for the discovery of information which is protected from discovery by the attorney-client and work product privileges. Blake Associates, Blake and Eileen Blake further respond that all such documents are in the possession, custody or control, of Omni.

In addition to the “Response”, there was a number of “General Objections” interposed. In its November 14th Order, the Court ruled on General Objection #2 as follows:

General Objection #2—This objection is OVERRULED. The privileges asserted do not protect facts from discovery nor do they protect against identification of documents or identification of communications. To the extent that the interrogatories seek identification of documents generated before December 16, 19811 or identification of communications occurring before December 16, 1981, the documents and/or communications shall be identified in response to the answers to interrogatories if such identification is necessary in order to respond truthfully and completely to the interrogatory. Documents generated after December 16, 1981 or communications occurring after December 16, 1981 as to which a privilege is asserted do not have to be identified in response to interrogatories.

Order, Etc. (# 118) at p. 1.

The Court’s Order, with respect to Interrogatory # 29 in particular, was as follows:

Interrogatory #29—The motion to compel is ALLOWED to the extent that the plaintiff shall respond in accordance with [287]*287the Court’s ruling on General Objection #2.

Order, Etc. (# 118) at p. 5.

The plaintiff’s further response to this interrogatory, served April 29, 1987, reads as follows:

FURTHER RESPONSE: Plaintiff and counterclaim defendants restate their pri- or response less their previously stated general objections. In addition, the said parties state that pursuant to Rule 33(c), and subject to the Protective Order, they will make available for examination by counsel documents responsive to this interrogatory.

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Bluebook (online)
118 F.R.D. 283, 9 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1346, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17904, 1988 WL 1365, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/blake-associates-inc-v-omni-spectra-inc-mad-1988.