This is a case decided by the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois.  The plaintiff filed the lawsuit but did not show up for his deposition, participate in discovery or respond to the discovery sanctions motion.  The decision is unpublished but is available on the Google search engine.

The district court explained its reasoning as follows:

“Pursuant to F.R.C.P 37(b)(2)(C), when a party fails to obey a court order to provide discovery, the court has discretion to dismiss the action. Federal Rule 37(d) allows a similar sanction when a party fails to appear for his deposition when it has been properly noticed. Here, there was proper notice, but the plaintiff failed to appear at the deposition. The facts demonstrate the willfulness and bad faith on the part of the plaintiff which justifies dismissal of this action pursuant to F.R.C.P. 37(d). See also Hindmon v. National-Ben Franklin Life Insurance Corp., 677 F.2d 617, 620, 621 (7th Cir. 1982). Alternatively, F.R.C.P. 41(b) allows for a dismissal with prejudice when a plaintiff fails to prosecute his lawsuit or does not comply with the federal rules or a court order. See Ball v. City of Chicago, 2 F.3d 752, 760-761 (7th Cir. 1993). Accordingly, the Court finds that it is appropriate to allow Defendants’ Motion for Sanctions [27] by dismissing Plaintiff’s complaint. As a result, the Court also finds that Defendants are entitled to an award of the expenses, including attorney fees, resulting from Plaintiff’s failure to attend the scheduled deposition.”

The decision can be found here.

Comment:

This result is to be expected where litigants do not make the effort to comply with the court’s rulings.