Santiago v. Nissan North America, Inc.

• Court: District Court, E.D. California
• Decided: June 12, 2024
• Docket: 1:24-cv-00531
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10

11 MARIO M. BOBADILLA SANTIAGO, Case No. 1:24-cv-00531-CDB

12 Plaintiff, ORDER REQUIRING DEFENDANT TO PAY SANCTIONS OF $100 PER DAY 13 v. (Doc. 8) 14 NISSAN NORTH AMERICA, INC.,

15 Defendant. 16 17 On May 4, 2023, Plaintiff Mario M. Bobadilla Santiago (“Plaintiff”) initiated this action in 18 Superior Court of the State of California, County of Kern. (Doc. 1). Defendant Nissan North 19 America, Inc. (“Defendant”) removed the action to this Court on May 3, 2024. Id. 20 On May 6, 2024, the Clerk of the Court issued case opening documents. (Doc. 4). The 21 documents included an order of the undersigned directing the parties to complete and return the 22 provided “Consent / Decline of U.S. Magistrate Judge Jurisdiction” form within 14 days of removal 23 of the action. (Doc. 4-1 at 2). The order further provided: “The parties are strongly encouraged to 24 submit their consent forms before the filing of any motion, so the motion can be noticed before the 25 proper judge. Failure to do so may result in the court vacating a hearing or declining to resolve the 26 motion until all consent designations have been submitted.” Id. 27 On May 21, 2024, Plaintiff filed a motion to remand. (Doc. 6). On June 3, 2024, Defendant 28 filed an opposition to Plaintiff’s motion. (Doc. 7). Because neither party complied with the Court’s 1 order directing return of the aforementioned consent/decline forms, on June 5, 2024, the Court 2 entered a minute order directing the parties to review the case opening documents, complete the 3 consent/decline forms, and return them within five days. (Doc. 8). Although the undersigned is 4 unable to review filed consent/decline forms, he is informed that Plaintiff timely complied with the 5 Court’s order. See (Doc. 9). More than five days have passed since entry of the Court’s order and 6 Defendant has failed to file a consent/decline form. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 6(a)(1). 7 The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provide that the underlying purpose of the rules is to 8 secure the just, speedy and inexpensive determination” of an action. Fed. R. Civ. P. 1. To effectuate 9 this purpose, the rules provide for sanctions against parties that fail to comply with court orders or 10 that unnecessarily multiply the proceedings. See, e.g., Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(f); Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(b). 11 Relevant here, Rule 16(f) authorizes the Court to issue any just order if a party or attorney fails to 12 obey a scheduling or other pretrial order. 13 The Court also possesses inherent authority to impose sanctions to manage its own affairs 14 so as to achieve the orderly and expeditious disposition of cases. Chambers v. NASCO, Inc., 501 15 U.S. 32, 43 (1991). The Court’s inherent power is that which is necessary to the exercise of all 16 others, including to protect the due and orderly administration of justice and maintain the authority 17 and dignity of the Court. Roadway Exp., Inc. v. Piper, 447 U.S. 752, 764 (1980). In order to 18 compel a party to comply with the Court’s orders, the Court may issue daily sanctions until 19 compliance is obtained. See Lasar v. Ford Motor Co., 399 F.3d 1101, 1110 (9th Cir. 2005) 20 (discussing court’s authority to impose civil sanctions “intended to be remedial by coercing the 21 defendant to do what he had refused to do.”). 22 Similarly, the Local Rules of the Eastern District of California provide that “[f]ailure of 23 counsel or of a party to comply with these Rules or with any order of the Court may be grounds for 24 imposition by the Court of any and all sanctions authorized by statute or Rule or within the inherent 25 power of the Court.” E.D. Cal. L.R. 110. Further, “[i]n the event any attorney subject to these 26 Rules engages in conduct that may warrant discipline or other sanctions, any Judge or Magistrate 27 Judge may initiate proceedings for contempt under 18 U.S.C. § 401 or Fed. R. Crim. P. 42, or may, 28 after reasonable notice and opportunity to show cause to the contrary, take any other appropriate 1 | disciplinary action against the attorney.” E.D. Cal. L-R. 184(a). “In addition to or in lieu of the 2 | foregoing, the Judge or Magistrate Judge may refer the matter to the disciplinary body of any Court 3 | before which the attorney has been admitted to practice.” Id. 4 Here, despite the Court’s May 6 order directing the parties to timely return a consent/decline 5 | form and the Court’s June 5 order directing the parties to remedy their noncompliance, Defendant 6 | has failed to comply with the Court’s orders. See (Docs. 4-1, 8). Accordingly, the Court finds that 7 || monetary sanctions are appropriate to compel Defendant to comply with this Court’s orders. 8 | Therefore, to gain Defendant’s compliance, a $100 sanction shall be imposed on Defendant 9 | commencing on the date of this order and shall continue to be imposed each day thereafter until 10 | Defendant returns a consent/decline form. Defendant’s filing of the consent/decline form on the 11 | date of this order will not relieve Defendant of the sanction imposed commencing on this date. 12 | Further, the daily deadline shall expire at the close of business each day at 5:00 pm. 13 Based on the foregoing, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, Defendant shall pay the Clerk of the 14 | Court $100 per day, beginning on the date of this order, until Defendant’s consent/decline form is 15 | filed with this Court. 16 | IT IS □□ ORDERED. '7 | Dated: _ June 12, 2024 | br Pr 18 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28