United States v. Pushkal
- Cathy Seibel
- 7:23-cv-06288
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In United States v. Pushkal, Judge Seibel ordered defendants to explain why they should not face sanctions for failing to obey a financial-discovery order.
Jennifer Vanover, Thomas Pushkal, and Maplewood Warmbloods, LLC, who were ordered to explain why they should not be sanctioned for failing to comply with the Court’s financial-discovery order.
What happened
In United States v. Pushkal, the government said Jennifer Vanover, Thomas Pushkal, and Maplewood Warmbloods, LLC failed to provide financial information required by the Court’s June 11, 2024 order. The information concerned possible penalties under the Clean Water Act.
The government asked the Court to bar the defendants from offering evidence that their financial condition should limit the government’s requested relief and to impose other sanctions, including monetary sanctions. The Court did not decide whether to impose those sanctions in this order.
Judge Cathy Seibel ordered the three defendants to appear on June 28, 2024, and explain why they should not be sanctioned under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 37 or 16 for failing to comply with the June 11 order.
The detailed version
- United States v. Pushkal · No. 7:23-cv-06288
- Cathy Seibel
- June 24, 2024
Background
The United States sought financial discovery from Jennifer Vanover, Thomas Pushkal, and Maplewood Warmbloods, LLC. The government said the information was relevant to determining penalties for alleged Clean Water Act violations, including the economic benefits resulting from the violations and the economic effect of a penalty on the defendants.
The government first served financial discovery requests on January 12, 2024. After disputes about the requests and whether discovery should be postponed until after other issues were resolved, the parties agreed to a protective order. The government then narrowed its requests to tax returns or forms allowing the government to obtain those returns, along with completed financial disclosure forms.
On June 11, 2024, the Court denied the defendants’ request to postpone financial discovery and ordered them to respond to the narrowed requests by June 18, 2024. The government said the defendants did not produce the requested materials by that deadline. It also said that, although two defendants provided incomplete financial disclosure forms on June 7, none of the forms was completed, no form was provided for the third defendant, and no defendant provided tax returns.
Government’s Request
The government asked for a discovery sanction under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37. Specifically, it requested an order preventing the defendants from offering evidence that their financial condition should limit the government’s requested relief. It also requested any other appropriate relief, including monetary sanctions.
Court’s Action
The Court ordered Jennifer Vanover, Thomas Pushkal, and Maplewood Warmbloods, LLC to show cause—meaning to explain why sanctions should not be imposed—at a hearing scheduled for June 28, 2024, at 2:30 p.m. The order cited Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 37 and 16 and the defendants’ alleged failure to comply with the June 11 discovery order.
The opinion does not impose the requested sanctions or decide the government’s request for a bar on financial-condition evidence. It only orders the defendants to explain why they should not be sanctioned.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.