Vadnais v. United States of America

Nature of the Filing

The filing is a letter from counsel for the United States requesting a conference about possible discovery sanctions. The court’s order states only that it will discuss the matter at the upcoming case-management conference scheduled for July 25, 2023, at 2:45 p.m. The opinion text does not show that the court granted or denied any requested sanction.

Background

The case is a tort action brought under the Federal Tort Claims Act arising from a car accident involving Carlene Vadnais and a United States Postal Service vehicle. Plaintiff’s medical expert, Dr. Jason Arora, was scheduled for a deposition on several occasions. Plaintiff’s counsel canceled the deposition on April 17, May 15, and June 27, 2023. The court granted extensions of the expert-discovery deadline after those cancellations.

On July 10, 2023, the court ordered that Dr. Arora’s deposition take place on July 17 and warned that Plaintiff would be precluded from relying on his testimony if the deposition did not take place that day. The Government also stated several times that it did not agree to limit the deposition to two hours and that Dr. Arora should be available for the full deposition period allowed by the federal civil rules.

Dr. Arora appeared 15 minutes late on July 17. After less than two hours, he said he had to leave because patients were waiting to see him. After a break, Plaintiff’s counsel stated that Dr. Arora had to leave to treat his patients, and the deposition was suspended. The Government said it had obtained only about 1.5 hours of testimony and could not complete its examination.

Arguments About Sanctions

The Government asked the court to preclude Plaintiff from relying on Dr. Arora’s testimony under the federal rules governing violations of discovery orders. It argued that preclusion would be a fair sanction because the July 10 order directly addressed Dr. Arora’s deposition and warned of that consequence. The Government also argued that the repeated cancellations and early end to the deposition impeded its defense, caused delays, and required changes to the schedule for its expert, Dr. Charla Fischer.

As an alternative, the Government requested an order requiring Dr. Arora to complete the remaining 5.5 hours of his deposition in one uninterrupted sitting at Plaintiff’s expense, with preclusion as a consequence of noncompliance. It also asked that Dr. Fischer’s deposition be postponed until the court resolved these requests.

Court Action

Judge Katharine H. Parker ordered that the court would discuss discovery sanctions at the scheduled July 25 case-management conference. Based on the text provided, the court did not yet impose, deny, or otherwise resolve the requested sanctions.