Opinion ID: 1435106
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: introduction

Text: Plaintiff/Appellee United States of America commenced this suit on October 27, 2005 in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan, seeking to enjoin Defendant/Appellant Charles Conces from promoting an alleged tax-fraud scheme and engaging in other conduct that allegedly interfered with the administration and enforcement of the federal tax laws. After Conces failed to make the initial disclosures mandated under Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(a), the Government sought, and the district court granted, an order compelling these disclosures. When Conces did not comply with this order, the district court entered a default judgment against him, permanently enjoined him from promoting any scheme to avoid federal tax liability, and granted the Government permission to conduct post-judgment discovery to ensure his compliance with the terms of the court's injunctive award. During post-judgment discovery, the Government served five interrogatories and a document production request upon Conces, who responded by answering only two of the interrogatories and refusing to provide the requested documents. After many delays due to Conces's numerous objections to the interrogatories, and after the entry of two orders directing him to respond to the Government's discovery requests, the district court entered a February 23, 2007 order finding Conces in civil contempt and directing that he be incarcerated until he purged this contempt by complying with the court's prior orders. Conces now appeals from this order, raising a number of challenges to the district court's finding of contempt and to other rulings made in the course of the lower court proceedings. As explained below, we find that certain of the challenges advanced by Conces are not properly before us, and we affirm the district court's rulings as to all remaining issues.