Gonzalez v. San Mateo County

Background

The plaintiffs—a father and his minor son—brought claims against the San Mateo County Department of Family and Children Services and related individual defendants concerning dependency proceedings that the County initiated to investigate allegations that the son’s mother abused him. The claims included intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

After efforts to schedule independent medical examinations, the court ordered the plaintiffs to complete the examinations by February 3, 2021. The examinations were to take place by Zoom. The plaintiffs agreed through counsel to examination dates, but one plaintiff canceled shortly before the first examination, and the plaintiffs did not appear for the second examination. The County paid $3,850 to the examining doctor, and defense counsel claimed $1,331 for preparing the sanctions submission, for a total of $5,181.

Legal standards

The court discussed sanctions under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 37(b) and 37(d), which allow a court to require payment of reasonable expenses caused by a failure to obey a discovery order unless the failure was substantially justified or other circumstances make an award unjust. The court also discussed terminating sanctions—case-dispositive sanctions such as dismissal—but explained that such sanctions are severe and generally require consideration of several factors, including prejudice, docket management, lesser sanctions, and prior warning. The court also noted that sanctions based on the court’s inherent authority require bad faith or conduct equivalent to bad faith.

Ruling

The court found no sufficient excuse for missing the examinations. It rejected the asserted pandemic concern because the examinations were to occur by Zoom and concluded that indigency did not establish that awarding expenses would be unjust. The court found that the submitted costs and fees were reasonable under the lodestar method, which calculates fees by multiplying reasonable hours by a reasonable hourly rate.

The court granted the motion for sanctions and awarded $5,181 in expert costs and fees against the plaintiffs, but not their counsel. The award was subject to clarification: if the County’s agency paid defense counsel’s fees, the full $5,181 could be awarded; if not, the court stated that only the expert costs should be awarded, given the plaintiffs’ indigency. The court ordered the parties to have a scheduling call within three business days, settle on examination dates, and update the court.

The court did not recommend terminating sanctions at that time because it had not previously warned the plaintiffs that failure to attend the examinations could lead to dismissal. It warned, however, that failure to schedule and attend the examinations could result in dismissal of claims five and six, for intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The court also noted that the effect of the examinations on the negligent-infliction claim had not been fully briefed and could be revisited if terminating sanctions later became appropriate.