Doe 1 v. McAleenan

Background

On September 6, 2019, the court ordered the defendants to address documents involved in a dispute over the law-enforcement and deliberative-process privileges. On September 23, the court ordered the defendants to show cause—meaning to explain why sanctions should not be imposed—for failing to comply with the September 6 order.

The defendants filed a response and appeared at a hearing. They represented that they had produced the documents covered by the September 6 order. The court noted that the defendants had previously represented that the documents submitted for privilege review were not classified, but later declined to produce them as ordered. The court found that the defendants had not provided a substantial justification for their failure to comply and that their explanation did not persuade the court that the failure was justified or in good faith. The court also noted repeated and unreasonable delays in providing jurisdictional discovery that had first been ordered more than a year earlier.

Ruling

The court recognized authority under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(b) and its inherent authority to impose sanctions for violating a discovery order. It nevertheless exercised its discretion not to sanction the defendants because the plaintiffs were not materially prejudiced and the defendants promptly produced the disputed documents after the court’s further order. The court discharged the order to show cause and cautioned the defendants that it would not tolerate deliberate noncompliance with discovery orders in the future.