Court Opinion

ID: 9575836
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:17:38.727938+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:50:10.024488
License: Public Domain

RENDELL, Circuit Judge
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent from that portion of the majority’s opinion that affirms the award of costs and attorney’s fees under Fed. R.Civ. P. 16(f) for DaimlerChrysler’s accidental noncompliance with the District Court’s discovery order.23 In not one of the cases cited by the parties, or by the District Court, has a party been ordered to pay expenses under Rule 16(f) based on less than the party’s negligent noncompliance. See Ayers v. City of Richmond, 895 F.2d 1267, 1270 (9th Cir.1990) (reviewing imposition of Rule 16(f) sanctions on attorney who received notice of hearing, but failed to appear because the date “slipped by him”); Matter of Baker, 744 F.2d 1438, 1441 (10th Cir.1984) (noting that the “record reflects not contumaciousness, but a pattern of negligence”); Reilly Foam Corp. v. Rubbermaid Corp., 206 F.Supp.2d 643, 660 (E.D.Pa.2002) (imposing Rule 16 sanctions for plaintiffs “wilful violation of the Court’s scheduling order”); Martin Family Trust v. Heco/Nostalgia Enters. Co., 186 F.R.D. 601, 603 (E.D.Cal.1999) (imposing Rule 16(f) sanctions for plaintiffs unexplained failure to file a status report as required no later than 14 days prior to a specific scheduling conference); Santos v. U.S. Dep’t of Hous. & Urban Dev., Nos. 89-2892, 89-2979 & 89-4824, 1992 WL 165677, at *10 (E.D.Pa. July 2, 1992) (reviewing sanctions imposed by bankruptcy court for counsel’s failure to assist in the preparation of a joint pretrial statement as ordered by that court and noting that “[w]ith adequate notice and opportunity for a hearing, the bankruptcy court may impose a punitive sanction for even negligent noncompliance with Rule 16”). To do so here is, I suggest, unprecedented and unjust.
Here, a Special Master conducted an evidentiary hearing concerning the non*247compliance with the discovery order and, based on the record developed at the hearing, determined that the “DaimlerChrysler attorneys did not intentionally or in bad faith withhold relevant documents from production.” Supp. Appx. 6173. The Special Master found that the most likely explanation for the late production was the careless copying of the documents in question by outside copy vendors. Id. No blame was leveled at DaimlerChrysler by the Special Master, or by anyone else, for that matter.
I have found no authority that supports holding DaimlerChrysler strictly liable under Rule 16(f) for its accidental noncompliance with a court order. While it is regrettable that the copy vendors’ errors were not discovered earlier, it is not “just” within the meaning of Rule 16(f) to punish DaimlerChrysler merely because something went wrong. Only in extreme situations do we penalize without regard to fault and Rule 16 does not allow for the imposition of such a penalty here.
Moreover, the $556,061 penalty assessed was imposed without adequate foundation. The attorney billing records submitted by Tracinda included only the number of hours expended per attorney and each attorney’s billing rate, but did not give a detailed breakdown of what tasks each attorney performed. District Court avoided making a determination as to which hours of work were expended for what purpose by assuming that a 50% reduction in the total amount of claimed attorney’s fees resulted in a “reasonable” sum. Appx. 7782. This only adds to my discontent regarding the award. I therefore would have vacated the award rather than approve of such an unwarranted and unsupported sanction.

. I do not disagree with the majority's rulings with respect to the rest of the District Court’s orders.