Our Tally Shows Over $1.66 Million In Sanctions Sustained On Appeal.
If our readers want to read a truly wild case on discovery abuse (especially regarding electronic discovery, deposition noncandidness, and third-party witness tampering), you gotta read Robin Singh Ed. Services v. Blueprint Test Preparation, Case No. B204775 et al. (2d Dist., Div. 7 Jan. 23, 2013) (unpublished). To pique your curiosity, here is one quote from a principal of the sanctioned side: “I thought I should tell you that that worthless fuck’s Robin’s Boston thugs lawyers are coming to ass-rape depose me in a couple of weeks. . . . They’ll have better luck getting sperm from a cow [or] blood from a stone than they will getting any more info out of me.”
Russell Lee, photographer. May 1940. Library of Congress.
What then happened in two convoluted discovery abuse proceedings is that the lower court issues monetary sanctions in terms of attorney’s fees exceeding $1.66 million, monetary sanctions for a court-appointed computer expert and future costs related to the expert/court reporters/videographers, and eventually imposed issue and evidentiary sanction that impeded the defense and helped plaintiffs greatly at a 25-day trial producing a verdict against the defense.
The defense appealed the discovery abuse sanctions, but to no avail. Substantial evidence supported the lower court’s sanctions, given extremely detailed rulings of a lengthy nature. Unlike some federal decisions, California does not require an evidentiary hearing with live testimony, with only a nonevidentiary hearing allowing an opportunity to be heard required–something accomplished here. Finally, the monetary sanctions were compensatory rather than punitive in nature.
