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Reed v. Furr's Supermarkets8/22/2000
n-page affidavit that gets quite specific as to times dates . . . which explains or tries to explain away all of the previous misrepresentations.
I just think that the whole process goes right to the integrity of the function of a trial court. If we can't have honesty in discovery, then we're not going to have an honest result. I'm going to grant the motion, with prejudice[,] for abuse of the discovery process.
Propriety of Dismissal
Sanctions for False Answers to Interrogatories or Deposition Questions
Rule 1-037(D) NMRA 2000 authorizes the district court to impose sanctions upon a party for failure to attend a deposition or to answer interrogatories. The type of sanctions available to the district court are authorized by Rule 1-037(B)(2). Dismissal is among the sanctions available. See id. This Court has previously held that false answers to interrogatories were equivalent to, if not worse than, failing to answer at all. See Sandoval v. Martinez, 109 N.M. 5, 8, 780 P.2d 1152, 1155 (Ct. App. 1989). As a result, dismissal can be an appropriate sanction for false answers to interrogatories under Rule 1-037(D). See Sandoval, 109 N.M. at 11-12, 780 P.2d at 1158-59.
Although we have held that false answers to interrogatories warrant the sanction of dismissal in appropriate circumstances, this Court has not specifically held that false answers to deposition questions may be subject to sanctions under Rule 1-037(D). See Bustillos v. Construction Contracting, 116 N.M. 673, 676-77, 866 P.2d 401, 404-05 (Ct. App. 1993) (" e leave to another day the issue of whether [dismissal as a sanction] applies to a false answer to a deposition question."). The premise for allowing the district courts to impose sanctions for false answers during depositions would follow the rationale allowing sanctions for false answers to interrogatories; that is, a false answer in a deposition is akin to a " ailure . . . to attend . . . deposition." Rule 1-037(D); see also Sandoval, 109 N.M. at 8, 780 P.2d at 1155 (a false answer to an interrogatory "is worse than no response"). Both forms of discovery abuse undermine the discovery process and demonstrate either "a willful, intentional and bad faith attempt to conceal evidence or gross indifference to discovery obligations." Medina v. Foundation Reserve Ins. Co., 117 N.M. 163, 166, 870 P.2d 125, 128 (1994). Thus, for the purpose of sanctions under Rule 1-037(D), we do not see any reason to distinguish false answers to deposition questions from false answers to interrogatories. See Sandoval, 109 N.M. at 9, 780 P.2d at 1156 ("District courts have a duty to enforce compliance with rules of discovery, and they should not shirk from imposition of the sanction of dismissal."). We will not analyze the answers to the deposition questions in this case differently from the answers to the interrogatories.
Standard for Dismissal
Dismissal is an appropriate sanction for false answers during discovery when a party's misrepresentations are made willfully or in bad faith. See Medina, 117 N.M. at 166, 870 P.2d at 128. "A willful violation of [Rule] 1-037 occurs when there is a conscious or intentional failure to comply with the rule's requirements." Id. "When a party has displayed a willful, bad faith approach to discovery, it is not only proper, but imperative, that severe sanctions be imposed to preserve the integrity of the judicial process and the due process rights of the other litigants." United Nuclear Corp. v. General Atomic Co., 96 N.M. 155, 241, 629 P.2d 231, 317 (1980).
We review a district court's dismissal of a plaintiff's case for discovery violations for a
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