Benitez-Garcia v. Gonzalez-Vega

• Citation: 468 F.3d 1
• Decision Date: 03 November 2006
• Docket Number: No. 06-1026.,06-1026.
• Parties: Israel BENITEZ-GARCIA; Damaris Diaz; Israel Benitez-Diaz; Sonia Laguer-Morales; Sonia I. Diaz-Laguer; Neftaly Carrasquillo-Carrasquillo; Carmen Milagros Amaral-Lopez; Gianna M. Carrasquillo-Amaral; Esther Hernandez-Garcia; Draska Machelly Casillas-Hernandez; Nelson Gonzalez; Milagros Laboy; Marie Ann Gonzalez-Laboy; Luis Javier Rosa-Davila; Natalia Alisha Rosa-Nieves; Sonia Cruz-Gonzalez; Elvis Alexis Maldonado-Cruz; Luis H. Mendoza-Rodriguez; Mary Luz Montanez-Serran; Lesly Ann Mendoza-Montanez; Victor Manuel Martinez-Torres; Betty Vega-Rivera; Victor Rafael Martinez-Vega; Bernard Santiago; Ivette S. Duclere; Bernard A. Santiago-Duclere; Luis R. Santiago-Torres; Arlene J. Ruiz-Diaz; Celeste Coral Santiago-Ruiz; Eliudes Camps-Marcano; Marisol Hernandez-Millan; Leishla M. Camps-Hernandez; Jorge M. Jimenez-Martinez; Frances L. Carrero-Roman; Kryst M. Jimenez-Carrero, Plaintiffs, Appellants, v. Adalberto GONZALEZ-VEGA; Jane Doe; Conjugal Partnership Gonzalez-Doe; Commonwealth Of Puerto Rico, Represented by Hon. Sila Maria Calderon, Governess of Puerto Rico; Department of Education of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Represented by Hon. Cesar Rey; John Doe; Richard Roe; A-Z Insurance Co., Defendants, Appellees.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (1st Circuit)

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468 F.3d 1

Israel BENITEZ-GARCIA; Damaris Diaz; Israel Benitez-Diaz; Sonia Laguer-Morales; Sonia I. Diaz-Laguer; Neftaly Carrasquillo-Carrasquillo; Carmen Milagros Amaral-Lopez; Gianna M. Carrasquillo-Amaral; Esther Hernandez-Garcia; Draska Machelly Casillas-Hernandez; Nelson Gonzalez; Milagros Laboy; Marie Ann Gonzalez-Laboy; Luis Javier Rosa-Davila; Natalia Alisha Rosa-Nieves; Sonia Cruz-Gonzalez; Elvis Alexis Maldonado-Cruz; Luis H. Mendoza-Rodriguez; Mary Luz Montanez-Serran; Lesly Ann Mendoza-Montanez; Victor Manuel Martinez-Torres; Betty Vega-Rivera; Victor Rafael Martinez-Vega; Bernard Santiago; Ivette S. Duclere; Bernard A. Santiago-Duclere; Luis R. Santiago-Torres; Arlene J. Ruiz-Diaz; Celeste Coral Santiago-Ruiz; Eliudes Camps-Marcano; Marisol Hernandez-Millan; Leishla M. Camps-Hernandez; Jorge M. Jimenez-Martinez; Frances L. Carrero-Roman; Kryst M. Jimenez-Carrero, Plaintiffs, Appellants, v. Adalberto GONZALEZ-VEGA; Jane Doe; Conjugal Partnership Gonzalez-Doe; Commonwealth Of Puerto Rico, Represented by Hon. Sila Maria Calderon, Governess of Puerto Rico; Department of Education of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Represented by Hon. Cesar Rey; John Doe; Richard Roe; A-Z Insurance Co., Defendants, Appellees.

No. 06-1026.

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

November 3, 2006.

Carlos Rodrguez-Garca and Maza & Green on brief for appellants.

Susana I. Peagarcano-Brown, Assistant Solicitor General, Salvador J. Antonetti-Stutts, Solicitor General, Mariana Negrn-Vargas, Deputy Solicitor General, and Maite D. Oronoz-Rodrguez, Deputy Solicitor General, on brief for appellees Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the Department of Education of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Before BOUDIN, Chief Judge, STAHL, Senior Circuit Judge, and LYNCH, Circuit Judge.

LYNCH, Circuit Judge.

By order dated November 16, 2005, the district court dismissed plaintiffs' civil rights action as a sanction for violations of three deadlines set in an oral Initial Scheduling Conference (ISC) discovery order. The order of dismissal was entered despite the fact that under the district court's local rules, plaintiffs had at least until November 18, 2005 to respond to the defendants' motion requesting this drastic sanction. The court then did not accept plaintiffs' motion for reconsideration in this very active case, as it denied plaintiffs permission to file a motion that exceeded the page limit in the local rules. As best one can tell, the court never considered plaintiffs' explanation for their failure to meet the ISC deadlines. On these and other facts presented, we reverse.

I.

On September 13, 2004, plaintiffs filed an action against the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, its Department of Education, a particular high school teacher, and various officials and other parties, alleging that plaintiffs had been victims of gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and quid pro quo exchange of higher grades for sexual favors. In the early months of the litigation, the district court granted a number of extensions to various defendants to file their answers, and then allowed supplemental answers asserting new defenses as late as July 19, 2005. Even so, two of the defendants did not timely file their answers and default judgment was initially entered against them.¹

The case proceeded to discovery. By order dated March 18, 2005, the district court notified the parties that they should prepare for the ISC. The order informed the parties that all orders issued during the ISC would be effective immediately, even if the ISC order were not formally entered until a later date. The March 18, 2005 order also notified the parties that failure to comply with that order would "result in stiff penalties, including but not limited to the entry of default, the dismissal of one or more claims or defenses, barring of witnesses or evidence, or monetary sanctions."

The ISC order was not formally entered until August 24, 2005, though it was apparently orally communicated to the parties at the ISC on June 16, 2005. The written ISC order also provided that non-compliance might "result in the imposition of sanctions . . . includ[ing] the imposition of a fine, or the elimination of any of the allegations of the complaint, the answer, or any pleading." In the middle of discovery, on November 3, 2005, two of the defendants filed a motion requesting that plaintiffs' case be dismissed with prejudice as a sanction for plaintiffs' failure to comply with the ISC order.

The court order dismissing the case, signed by the district judge on November 16, 2005, was entered before plaintiffs had filed a response to the defendants' motion. The district court stated it was dismissing the action with prejudice because plaintiffs had failed to meet three of four discovery deadlines in July and August of 2005. The three deadlines, listed under the heading "Preliminary Orders" in the ISC order, were: (1) that plaintiffs were to provide, by July 8, 2005, either the name of the person in charge of a previous investigation against the teacher co-defendant or copies of complaints previously filed against that co-defendant; (2) that plaintiffs' expert was to tender his report by July 26, 2005; and (3) that plaintiffs were to provide their medical records and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) consent forms by August 17, 2005.² All three of these deadlines predated the written ISC order's formal date of entry.

The district court, citing Damiani v. Rhode Island Hospital, 704 F.2d 12, 17 (1st Cir.1983), found that this was "a case of extreme misconduct that warrants the sanction of dismissal with prejudice" because the plaintiffs had: (1) violated discovery orders; (2) failed to seek consent; and (3) failed to seek approval for non-compliance based on a truly valid reason. The court did not order plaintiffs to show cause, and it noted that plaintiffs had not opposed the motion. The court order was entered on November 17, 2005—one day after the date it was signed by the district judge.

Plaintiffs filed a motion for reconsideration on November 28, 2005. Because the motion exceeded 25 pages in length, the limit set by the local rules, it was accompanied by a motion for leave to file an over-length document. Both motions were denied the next day, November 29, 2005. There is no indication that the district court ever reviewed the merits of the motion or gave the plaintiffs a later opportunity to file a conforming motion.

At the time the court dismissed the case for plaintiffs' failure to comply with the ISC deadlines there was a pending motion from the plaintiffs to amend the ISC order. This motion was filed on October 9, 2005 and was raised again in a filing on November 3, 2005. There was also activity by a previously defaulted defendant seeking to enter the case. And throughout discovery the plaintiffs had filed numerous motions to compel defendants to comply with discovery, arguing that the defendants were stalling and foot-dragging. At least some of plaintiffs' allegations apparently had merit: on August 9, 2005 the court granted the plaintiffs' motion to compel defendants to produce certain documents, and it also partially granted plaintiffs' motion to quash several of the deposition notices on the grounds that the defendants had not provided notice to all parties.

II.

A district court may dismiss an action for noncompliance with a discovery order. Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(b)(2)(C).³ When a district court invokes this power, our review is for abuse of discretion. See Nat'l Hockey League v. Metro. Hockey Club, Inc., 427 U.S. 639, 642, 96 S.Ct. 2778, 49 L.Ed.2d 747 (1976) (per curiam); Bachier-Ortiz v. Colon-Mendoza, 331 F.3d 193, 194 (1st Cir.2003) (per curiam).

The sanction imposed here was dismissal with prejudice, the harshest sanction, other than contempt, which may be visited on a party. It has been used where the plaintiff has failed to prosecute his case. See Link v. Wabash R.R. Co., 370 U.S. 626, 629, 82 S.Ct. 1386, 8 L.Ed.2d 734 (1962); see also Pomales v. Celulares Telefonica, Inc., 342 F.3d 44, 48-49 (1st Cir. 2003) (reversing a dismissal with prejudice for lack of prosecution); Ortiz-Anglada v. Ortiz-Perez, 183 F.3d 65, 66-67 (1st Cir. 1999) (same). In that context, the sanction is reserved for cases of "extremely protracted inaction (measured in years), disobedience of court orders, ignorance of warnings, contumacious conduct, or some other aggravating circumstance." Cosme Nieves v. Deshler, 826 F.2d 1, 2 (1st Cir. 1987). This case does not involve a failure to prosecute. Indeed, the plaintiffs zealously prosecuted the action. The docket sheet shows over 100 entries at the time of entry of dismissal.

Still, zealous prosecution is no shield against sanctions for violations of court discovery orders. Dismissal with prejudice for violation of such orders is well within the arsenal of the trial judge. See Tower Ventures, Inc. v. City of Westfield, 296 F.3d 43, 46 (1st Cir.2002) (noting that disobedience of a court order can constitute extreme misconduct warranting dismissal); Robson v. Hallenbeck, 81 F.3d 1, 4 (1st Cir.1996) (explaining that successive violations of court scheduling orders can justify dismissal with prejudice, and admonishing parties who "treat scheduling orders as optional and [who] conduct trial preparations at their own convenience"); see also Young v. Gordon, 330 F.3d 76, 81 (1st Cir.2003).

Where dismissal with prejudice is involved, it has long been our rule that a case should not be dismissed with prejudice except "when a plaintiff's misconduct is particularly egregious or extreme." Benjamin v. Aroostook Med. Ctr., Inc., 57 F.3d 101, 107 (1st Cir.1995); see also Tower Ventures, 296 F.3d at 46 (explaining that not "every breach of a scheduling order warrants" dismissal with prejudice, and noting that we will not "rubber-stamp the use of dismissal as a sanction"). In addition, "fairness requires that some limits be...