Powerlift Door Consultants, Inc. v. Shepard
- Elizabeth Cowan Wright
- 0:21-cv-01316
- U.S. District Court · District of Minnesota
- 3
In Powerlift Door Consultants v. Shepard, Judge Wright denied Shepard’s extension request and granted Powerlift’s civil-contempt motion against three defendants.
Powerlift Door Consultants, Inc.; Lynn D. Shepard, Jr.; Rearden Steel Manufacturing LLC, doing business as Powerlift Hydraulic Doors of Florida; and Rearden Steel Inc. Shepard’s payment-extension motion was denied, and the three identified defendants were held in contempt and exposed to escalating daily fines and a potential award of Powerlift’s reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.
What happened
Powerlift Door Consultants, Inc. v. Shepard concerned Defendant Lynn D. Shepard, Jr.’s request for more time to pay court-ordered attorneys’ fees and Powerlift’s request to hold defendants in civil contempt for not obeying an earlier order.
Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Cowan Wright recommended denying Shepard’s request and granting Powerlift’s contempt motion. No party objected, so the court reviewed the recommendation for clear error and found none.
Judge Wilhelmina M. Wright adopted the recommendation, denied Shepard’s extension request, and granted Powerlift’s contempt motion. Shepard, Rearden Steel Manufacturing LLC, and Rearden Steel Inc. were held in contempt and could face escalating daily fines, along with an award of Powerlift’s reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs related to seeking compliance.
The detailed version
- Powerlift Door Consultants, Inc. v. Shepard · No. 0:21-cv-01316
- Elizabeth Cowan Wright
- Nov. 8, 2022
Background
The court considered an August 17, 2022 report and recommendation by United States Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Cowan Wright. The recommendation addressed two motions: Defendant Lynn D. Shepard, Jr.’s motion for an extension of time to pay court-ordered attorneys’ fees, and Plaintiff Powerlift Door Consultants, Inc.’s motion for civil contempt.
The contempt motion concerned the defendants’ alleged failure to obey the court’s April 7, 2022 order. The order identifies Lynn D. Shepard, Jr.; Rearden Steel Manufacturing LLC, doing business as Powerlift Hydraulic Doors of Florida; and Rearden Steel Inc. as the defendants subject to the contempt ruling. It does not include ABC Corporation in that ruling.
Court’s Review
No objections to the report and recommendation were filed. Under the applicable standard, the court reviewed the recommendation for clear error, meaning an obvious mistake in the magistrate judge’s analysis or conclusions. The court found no clear error and adopted the report and recommendation.
Rulings
The court denied Shepard’s motion for an extension of time to pay.
The court granted Powerlift’s motion for civil contempt as follows:
- Shepard, Rearden Steel Manufacturing LLC, and Rearden Steel Inc. were held in contempt for failing to obey the April 7, 2022 order. - If the defendants did not purge, or remedy, their contempt within seven days after November 8, 2022, they would jointly and severally incur a daily coercive fine of $100 payable to the court. The fine would continue until they purged the contempt by paying Powerlift $12,816.25 as required by the April 7 order. - If they did not purge their contempt within fourteen days after November 8, 2022, they would jointly and severally incur a daily coercive fine of $500 payable to the court. The fine would continue until they proved full compliance with the April 7 order. - The defendants were ordered, jointly and severally, to pay Powerlift’s reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs incurred in seeking compliance with the April 7 order. - Powerlift was required to file, within seven days after the order, an affidavit identifying those fees and costs. The defendants could object to the amount within seven days after Powerlift filed the affidavit.
Judge Wilhelmina M. Wright signed the order on November 8, 2022.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.