Opinion ID: 440417
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Propriety of the Sanction

Text: 13 Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(b)(2) describes sanctions of varying severity which the district court may impose on one who defies a discovery order. A sanction must be just and specifically related to the particular claim at issue in the discovery order. Insurance Corporation of Ireland v. Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee, 456 U.S. 694, 707, 102 S.Ct. 2099, 2107, 72 L.Ed.2d 492 (1982); Professional Seminar Consultants, Inc. v. Sino American Technology Exchange Council, Inc., 727 F.2d 1470, 1474 (9th Cir.1984). 14 Default is not warranted in the absence of willfulness, bad faith, or fault. Societe Internationale v. Rogers, 357 U.S. 197, 212, 78 S.Ct. 1087, 1095, 2 L.Ed.2d 1255 (1958); Professional Seminar Consultants, supra. The district court found no willfulness or bad faith, E.R. 113, so the question is whether the INS's noncompliance constitutes fault sufficient to sustain the default judgment. The INS showing regarding the expense necessary to improve its filing system or undertake a search by hand, coupled with its partial compliance with the discovery order and its showing of alternate sources for Munoz-Santana to obtain the information necessary and sufficient to prove his point, precludes a finding of agency fault sufficient to sustain the default judgment.