Marani v. Cramer

Background

Kevin Marani alleged that eleven defendants had carried out “a sophisticated international investment fraud and money laundering scheme” against him. The opinion states that Marani lives in California and that most defendants live in Canada. Michael Cramer represented himself and had participated only infrequently. The court had twice ordered Cramer to respond to Marani’s first set of written discovery. Cramer responded to both that set and a second set, but Marani contended that the responses were deficient.

Marani moved to compel further discovery from Cramer, amend the scheduling order to allow depositions after the written-discovery responses, and recover attorney’s fees and costs. Cramer did not respond to the motion.

Ruling on Discovery

The court granted the motion to compel. It explained that discovery generally permits parties to obtain nonprivileged information relevant to a claim or defense and proportional to the needs of the case. The court emphasized that Cramer had not opposed the motion and stated that he must participate in the litigation and could face sanctions if he failed to do so.

Scheduling Deadlines

Marani requested extensions of the fact-discovery deadline and the deadline for responding to the trial court’s order to show cause. The court recommended to the trial court that those deadlines be extended to about two months from March 28, 2024, to allow the additional written discovery and depositions. The opinion describes this as a recommendation rather than an order directly amending those deadlines.

Attorney’s Fees and Costs

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(a)(5)(A) generally requires an award of reasonable expenses, including attorney’s fees, when a motion to compel is granted, subject to stated exceptions. The court noted that Marani had not identified the amount of fees and costs incurred or submitted supporting materials required by the local rule. The court adopted Marani’s proposal that he first attempt to confer with Cramer and then file a separate motion if necessary. The court therefore did not award fees and costs in this order.

Order to Show Cause and Possible Sanctions

The court set a hearing for April 11, 2024, at 9:30 a.m. Cramer was required to appear through the court’s Zoom webinar and show cause why he had stopped communicating with Marani. The court warned that Cramer risked sanctions, including monetary sanctions and default judgment, if he did not participate. The order also asked Marani’s counsel to email Cramer a courtesy copy and file a short update before the hearing.

The order resolved Marani’s motion identified as ECF No. 180.