Pop Top Corp. v. Rakuten Kobo Inc.

Background

Judgment had been entered against Rohit Chandra. Rakuten Kobo Inc. served discovery requests on Chandra and noticed a debtor examination. On October 7, 2025, the court ordered him to provide substantive responses to requests for documents and interrogatories and to produce documents by November 7, 2025. The court also ordered him to participate in a debtor examination by November 14, 2025. The court warned that failing to comply could lead to sanctions or a finding of civil contempt.

Chandra served responses on November 7, but the responses primarily repeated boilerplate objections and did not provide substantive information or documents. At the November 14 debtor examination, he also refused to answer many basic questions and relied on objections that the court described as inapposite. Kobo then moved to hold Chandra in civil contempt and sought three forms of relief: a coercive daily fine until he complied, another debtor examination, and payment of the attorney’s fees and costs associated with seeking compliance.

Court’s analysis

The court concluded that Chandra failed to obey the discovery orders. It stated that his conduct likely amounted to contempt, but it did not need to make a contempt finding to resolve the motion. The court emphasized that the contempt power must be exercised with restraint and discretion.

The court denied Kobo’s request for a coercive daily fine. Such a fine is intended to force future compliance, but the court found that additional discovery did not presently make sense because Kobo appeared to have obtained the information needed to identify Chandra’s assets through another proceeding concerning liquidation of assets. The court also denied the request for another debtor examination for the same reason.

The court granted Kobo’s request for reasonable expenses related to bringing the motion. It awarded those amounts as a discovery sanction, not as a contempt sanction. Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(b), the court stated that it was required to order payment of reasonable expenses caused by the failure to obey a discovery order. The court therefore ordered Chandra to pay Kobo’s reasonable attorney’s fees and other costs associated with the motion.

Disposition

The court granted Kobo’s motion in part and denied it in part. It denied the requested coercive daily fine and another debtor examination, and granted the request for reasonable attorney’s fees and other costs associated with bringing the motion.