The federal courts continue to hand out sanctions for discovery noncompliance and to enforce said sanctions, sometimes with the dismissal of the entire case.
Here the plaintiffs filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the Puerto Rico Police Department. They failed to answer discovery, and, after several warnings, the district court dismissed the case with prejudice.
The First Circuit affirmed.
The timeline is a cautionary tale. The interrogatories were served in November 2010. Plaintiffs missed the due date and the discovery cutoff was extended. By March 2011, the district court ran out of patience and dismissed the entire case. The court warned the plaintiffs to answer the requests by February 28, 2011 or the case would be dismissed.
The plaintiffs did not answer and the case was dismissed. Indeed, the plaintiff made no attempt to answer the discovery requests.
Edward X. Clinton, Jr.
fedcivilprocedure 