Court Opinion

ID: 9626042
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 08:00:00.114887+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:06:19.962408
License: Public Domain

*546ANDERSON, Judge
(concurring in a separate opinion):
I concur with the decision to reverse the trial judge. In my opinion, the sanction imposed by the judge under Rule 37, SCRCP, for failure to comply with the discovery order was too severe and constituted an abuse of discretion.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

“The imposition of sanctions is generally entrusted to the sound discretion of the Circuit Court.” Downey v. Dixon, 294 S.C. 42, 45, 362 S.E.2d 317, 318 (Ct.App.1987). The burden is upon the appealing party to show that the trial court abused its discretion in imposing sanctions for the violation of a discovery order. Kershaw County Bd. of Educ. v. U.S. Gypsum Co., 302 S.C. 390, 396 S.E.2d 369 (1990). “An abuse of discretion may be found where the appellant shows that the conclusion reached by the trial court was without reasonable factual support and resulted in prejudice to the rights of appellant, thereby amounting to an error of law.” Id. at 395, 396 S.E.2d at 372.

RULE 37, SCRCP

Rule 37(b)(2), SCRCP, provides in pertinent part that, if a party fails to obey an order for discovery, the court “may make such orders in regard to the failure as are just,” including (A) ordering that certain matters or designated facts be deemed established in accordance with the claim of the party obtaining the order; (B) prohibiting the party from supporting or opposing designated claims or defenses, or prohibiting him from introducing certain matters into evidence; (C) striking the pleadings or parts thereof, dismissing all or part of the action, or rendering a judgment by default against the disobedient party; and/or (D) treating the violation as a contempt of court. In addition, the court may order the party to pay the reasonable expenses, including attorney’s fees, that were caused by the failure to comply with the discovery order.
In the case before us, the judge struck Ogden Teck’s answer, counterclaim, and cross-claim, and ordered that default be entered against it for failing to comply with the discovery order. This remedy is one of the alternatives *547available to the judge under Rule 37(b)(2)(C). However, in my opinion, it was an abuse of discretion for the judge to impose this harsh alternative because the remedy was a “shotgun blast” aimed at the transgression of Ogden Teck which foreclosed a decision on the merits of the case:
[T]he sanction imposed should be reasonable, and the Court should not go beyond the necessities of the situation to foreclose a decision on the merits of a case. Societe Internationale Pour Participations Industrielles et Commerciales, S.A. v. Rogers, 357 U.S. 197, 78 S.Ct. 1087, 2 L.Ed.2d 1255 (1958). The sanction should be aimed at the specific misconduct of the party sanctioned. In other words, the sanction should be a rifle-shot, not a shotgun blast. In the instant case, the sanction was a hydrogen bomb. The defendants were denied the opportunity to present a defense. “The courts have generally held that Rogers requires some element of bad faith, willfulness, or callous disregard of the rights of other litigants in order to justify imposition of such a sanction.” 4A J. Moore, J. Lucas & D. Epstein, Moore’s Federal Practice ¶ 37.03[2], at 89 (2d ed. 1990).
Balloon Plantation, Inc. v. Head Balloons, Inc., 303 S.C. 152, 154, 399 S.E.2d 439, 440 (Ct.App.1990).
“A dismissal under Rule 37(b)(2)(C) is not mandatory; rather, the trial court is allowed to make such orders as it deems just under the circumstances, and the selection of a sanction is within the court’s discretion.” Kershaw County, 302 S.C. at 395, 396 S.E.2d at 372. “Whatever sanction is imposed should serve to protect the rights of discovery provided by the rules.” Id. See also Pioneer Elecs. (USA), Inc. v. Cook, 294 S.C. 135, 137, 363 S.E.2d 112, 113 (Ct.App.1987) (“One of the actions authorized under 37(b)(2)(C) is the dismissal of the action, however this is not mandatory. The court is allowed to make such orders as it deems just under the circumstances and the selection of a sanction is discretionary with the court.”).
A sanction which results in a default or dismissal is harsh punishment which should be imposed only if there is some showing of wilful disobedience or gross indifference to the rights of the adverse party. See generally Baughman v. American Tel. & Tel. Co., 306 S.C. 101, 410 S.E.2d 537 (1991).
*548“The sanction of striking pleadings should not be lightly-used, since it can amount to judgment against the delinquent party without an opportunity to be heard on the merits.” 23 Am.Jur.2d Depositions and Discovery § 390 (1983). “[A] default judgment is clearly a drastic remedy and should be resorted to only in extreme situations, as where it is determined that counsel or a party has acted willfully or in bad faith in failing to comply with rules of discovery or with court orders enforcing the rules or in flagrant disregard of those rules or orders or persists in an outright refusal to comply with discovery obligations, or where there is a series of episodes of nonfeasance on the part of counsel amounting to a near total dereliction of professional responsibility and going well beyond ordinary negligence.” 23 Am.Jur.2d Depositions and Discovery § 391 (1983) (discussing the federal rule).
In denying Ogden Teck’s motion for reconsideration, the judge stated, “The only things submitted [by Ogden Teck] are a self-serving letter from Mr. Ogden himself asserting he was not an officer at the time the action was filed and a letter from an alleged physician stating, without explanation or comment, that Mr. Ogden could not travel because of age and illness. This very simply will not suffice. At the very least, the Defendant could have produced Articles of Incorporation showing that Mr. Ogden was or was not an officer at the alleged times.”
The judge’s frustration at Ogden Teck’s sluggish and incomplete response to the discovery order is absolutely justified, and I agree that Ogden Teck should be sanctioned for its failure to timely abide by the trial court’s order for the scheduling of a deposition and the provision of certain documents. However, the judicial chastisement imposed was excessively punitive. The sanction consisted of a “Scud missile” when a “rifle shot” would have been efficacious. Indubitably, the court was faced with an obstreperous party; however, the record is exiguous in regard to conduct calling for the ultimate penalty. Instead of striking Ogden’s pleadings and holding them in default, I believe the judge should have imposed one of the alternative sanctions for its inadequate response, such as assessing them costs for the delay, or holding them in contempt for failing to adequately comply with the discovery order. These remedies have been implemented in situations *549involving similar misconduct, and I believe any of these alternatives are more appropriate than imposing the “ultimate sanction” of striking Ogden’s answer and holding it in default. Denying a party the opportunity to be heard should be carefully invoked and reserved for the most egregious cases.
For example, in Orlando v. Boyd, 320 S.C. 509, 466 S.E.2d 353 (1996), a medical malpractice case, the trial judge ruled the plaintiffs could not use a particular doctor as their expert witness because they had failed to abide by a scheduling order for his deposition. The judge also denied the plaintiffs’ request to allow them to name and depose another expert. These rulings precluded the plaintiffs from having an expert witness, and the judge next granted the defendants’ summary judgment motion because without a medical expert, the plaintiffs could not establish a deviation from the proper standard of care. Our Supreme Court found the trial judge abused his discretion in precluding the plaintiffs’ named doctor from testifying, stating the judge effectively dismissed the case for the plaintiffs’ failure to follow a scheduling order.
In Ball v. Canadian American Express Co., 314 S.C. 272, 442 S.E.2d 620 (Ct.App.1994), this Court upheld a finding of contempt as an appropriate sanction where counsel for Canadian American freely admitted his clients had refused to comply with discovery orders before a certain date and had still not complied with certain discovery requests by the time of trial.
In Downey, 294 S.C. 42, 362 S.E.2d 317, we found a $50 fine was too lenient a sanction for a party’s failure to answer interrogatories or attend a deposition and reversed for a new trial. However, in reversing we noted that we were not requiring the specific sanctions sought by Downey to be imposed against the other party, i.e., exclusion of the witness at trial. We stated, “Exclusion of a witness is a sanction which should never be lightly invoked.” Id. at 46 n. 4, 362 S.E.2d at 319 n. 4 (quoting Moran v. Jones, 281 S.C. 270, 276, 315 S.E.2d 136, 139 (Ct.App.1984)).
In Hathcock v. Navistar Int’l Transp. Corp., 53 F.3d 36 (4th Cir.1995), the Fourth Circuit reversed the district court’s imposition of a $6 million default judgment against Navistar as a sanction for the violation of discovery orders. In addressing *550the propriety of a default sanction under Rule 37 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the court stated:
While the imposition of sanctions under Rule 37(b) lies within the trial court’s discretion, “[i]t is not ... a discretion without bounds or limits.” Wilson v. Volkswagen of Am., 561 F.2d 494, 503 (4th Cir.1977), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 1020, 98 S.Ct. 744, 54 L.Ed.2d 768 (1978). In the case of default, the “range of discretion is more narrow” than when a court imposes less severe sanctions. Id. In particular, this court has emphasized the significance of warning a defendant about the possibility of default before entering such a harsh sanction. As we recently noted in a slightly different context, a party “is entitled to be made aware of th[e] drastic consequence[s] of failing to meet the court’s conditions at the time the conditions are imposed, when he still has the opportunity to satisfy the conditions and avoid” the sanction. Choice Hotels Int’l v. Goodwin & Boone, 11 F.3d 469, 473 (4th Cir.1993). In Lolatchy v. Arthur Murray, Inc., 816 F.2d 951 (4th Cir.1987), reversing a default sanction as an abuse of discretion, a panel of this court considered the failure to warn a “salient fact” which distinguished that case from those in which default was appropriate. Id. at 954 n. 2. According to the Lolatchy court, if a warning had been given, “another case would be presented.” Id. Because the court had issued only general scheduling orders in the case at bar, the lack of any advance notice is especially problematic.
Id. at 40.
The majority focuses on the striking of Ogden’s cross-claim against Terrazzo and the “overbreadth” of the sanction. However, I find striking Ogden’s answer and holding it in default too severe a sanction in itself, especially without warning of the impending default, and I would reach this conclusion even if the judge had not additionally struck Ogden’s counterclaim and cross-claim.

CONCLUSION

Accordingly, because a sanction which precludes a decision on the merits should not be lightly invoked, I agree with the decision to reverse the trial judge.