Dowdell v. Sunshine Biscuits, Inc.

90 F.R.D. 107, 28 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 479, 31 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1608, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11704, 26 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 32,105
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Georgia
DecidedApril 23, 1981
DocketCiv. A. No. 78-26-COL
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 90 F.R.D. 107 (Dowdell v. Sunshine Biscuits, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dowdell v. Sunshine Biscuits, Inc., 90 F.R.D. 107, 28 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 479, 31 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1608, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11704, 26 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 32,105 (M.D. Ga. 1981).

Opinion

OWENS, Chief Judge:

This action was instituted on February 14, 1978, by seven black employees of Sunshine Biscuits, Inc., individually and in behalf of all others similarly situated, against Sunshine Biscuits, Inc., and Local 435, Bakery and Confectionary Workers International Union of America. The complaint alleges, in essence, ten separate claims of discrimination and disparate treatment in violation of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C.A. § 2000e, et seq., and 42 U.S.C.A. § 1981. By order dated September 17, 1980, this court denied certification of the class. The question presently before the court upon repeated motions of both defendants is whether this action should be dismissed pursuant to Rule 37(b) and Rule 41(b), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, for failure of the named plaintiffs to prosecute this action and to comply with orders of this court and with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and for failure to provide discovery.1

FACTS SUPPORTING DISMISSAL

A. Failure of plaintiffs to prosecute and to comply with orders of the court and with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Plaintiffs failed to institute any discovery whatsoever until August 31, 1979, over eighteen months after the February 14, 1978, filing of this Title VII action, although plaintiffs’ counsel represented to the court and opposing counsel on a number of occasions during that time that interrogatories to defendants would be forthcoming. (See, Plaintiffs’ November 17, 1978, motion for protective order; Plaintiffs’ counsel’s letter to court dated January 29, 1979.) Such failure was in violation of this court’s Procedures and Policies requiring discovery to be complete within four months from service of the complaint absent the court’s permission to engage in discovery for a longer period. The court admonished plaintiffs’ counsel by letters dated November 20, 1978, and January 31, 1979, that the burden was upon plaintiffs to proceed with discovery and to prepare their case, and that the court expected them to do so immediately. Pursuant to the court’s directions plaintiffs’ attorneys submitted a “Schedule of Pre-Trial Discovery” which contemplated completion of discovery by May 1,1979, and which the court approved by order dated January 16, 1979. Plaintiffs completely failed to abide by their discovery schedule. See, August 16, 1979, Memorandum of Defendant Sunshine in Support of Motion Opposing a Class Action.

[110]*110Although Rule 23(c), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, calls for determination of the class status “as soon as practicable after the commencement of an action, and although this court, by order dated July 27, 1978, directed the parties to proceed only with the class certification question, plaintiffs took no action to initiate discovery and made no effort to meet their burden of presenting the court with a motion for class certification. In fact, it was the defendants who were forced to take the initiative and moved the court to deny class certification by motion dated August 16, 1979.

Finally, on August 31, 1979, eighteen months after this action was filed, plaintiffs submitted their first interrogatories to defendant Sunshine Biscuits, Inc., along with a request for production of documents and things and entry upon land for inspection. Plaintiffs served upon defendants eighty interrogatories, in violation of this court’s local rule limiting interrogatories to twenty. Defendant Sunshine made legitimate objections to these excessive and overbroad interrogatories and request for production of documents and moved the court for a protective order, and plaintiffs moved for an order compelling discovery. The court held a conference on December 18, 1979, at the request of defendants in order to break up this logjam and give some needed direction to the case.

At this conference the court admonished plaintiffs’ attorneys that the court was concerned with their lack of prosecution of the case and that unless they associated other counsel the court would be obligated to deny certification of the class. (Conf. Tran-, script p. 7). Plaintiffs’ attorneys thereafter failed to obtain any assistance with the case. It was made clear at this conference that the parties were to proceed with discovery on the class issue with a goal of holding an evidentiary hearing on this issue sometime soon after May 1, 1979, a date by which plaintiffs’ attorneys assured the court they would have completed discovery on the class issue. It was also made clear at the conference that defendant Sunshine would allow plaintiffs’ attorneys to tour the plant, which they did on December 28,1979, and would make available to plaintiffs’ attorneys for inspection various documents such as seniority lists, personnel files, bid sheets, disciplinary reports, and grievance files. Plaintiffs viewed samples of these documents on December 28, 1979, with the objective of narrowing the scope of the documents and information being requested. AH of the documents requested by plaintiffs’ attorneys were made available to them for inspection at the Sunshine plant beginning January 14, 1979.

Thereafter a further discovery dispute arose due to plaintiffs' attorneys’ insistence on copying all of the hundreds of documents made available by defendant Sunshine, including all personnel records, a 11 disciplinary reports, etc., rather than merely inspecting all of those documents and copying the relevant portions, which was the procedure discussed at the December, 1978, conference. Plaintiffs’ counsel informed opposing counsel of their intentions to discuss the copied documents with the individual plaintiffs, which the court at the December 1979 conference had expressly ruled would not be allowed. (Conf. Transcript p. 28). Defendants moved the court for a protective order to prevent disclosure of confidential information in the personnel files such as medical reports, financial matters, and criminal records of Sunshine’s employees, etc., matters which the court expressly stated at the December, 1979, conference might necessitate an appropriate protective order. (Conf. Transcript p. 27). In spite of plaintiffs’ attorneys’ promise to be ready on the class issue by May 1, 1981, they failed to inform the court of any discovery problems until May 27, 1980. Although all documents requested by plaintiffs’ counsel were made available at the Sunshine plant for inspection, plaintiffs’ counsel had not reviewed a single document during the four months from January 14th through May 27th. Counsel for plaintiffs also did not move the court for a discovery conference as contemplated by Rule 26(f), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and which the court had invited counsel to do if any problem arose. (Conf. Transcript p. 48). On [111]*111June 23, 1980, plaintiffs moved the court for an order compelling discovery. On that same day defendant Sunshine filed its first motion to dismiss this action under Rules 37(b) and 41(b), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

On September 17, 1980, the court held a pre-trial conference.

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Bluebook (online)
90 F.R.D. 107, 28 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 479, 31 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1608, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11704, 26 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 32,105, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dowdell-v-sunshine-biscuits-inc-gamd-1981.