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Reed v. Furr's Supermarkets8/22/2000
buse of discretion. See Medina, 117 N.M. at 166, 870 P.2d at 128; see also United Nuclear Corp., 96 N.M. at 239, 629 P.2d at 315 (reviewing propriety of a default judgment against the defendant for discovery abuse). Dismissal is a severe sanction, but the district court is justified in imposing the sanction and does not abuse its discretion "when a party demonstrates flagrant bad faith and callous disregard for its [discovery] responsibilities." Medina, 117 N.M. at 166, 870 P.2d at 128. Furthermore, despite the severity of dismissal as a sanction, the district court is "not required to impose lesser sanctions before it imposes the sanction of dismissal." Id.
District Court's Application of the Standard in this Case
FSI sought Plaintiff's answers to interrogatories and attendance at depositions on many occasions. Plaintiff continually rebuffed FSI's efforts. FSI then sought the district court's assistance in gaining Plaintiff's participation in the discovery process by filing a motion to compel. The district court granted the motion in part. FSI then sought dismissal after a comparison between Plaintiff's answers to deposition questions and interrogatories and her medical and employment records revealed discrepancies. FSI explained these discrepancies to the district court in its motion to dismiss. Plaintiff attempted to explain her discovery answers in the affidavit she submitted to the court.
The district court was not persuaded by the explanations in Plaintiff's affidavit. Plaintiff's explanations did no more than describe her understanding of the questions and present her rationale for the inconsistencies between her answers and the information provided in her medical records. Her misperception of the depth of the questions was inadequate to refute FSI's allegations that she misrepresented her health and employment history.
The design of the discovery process is to avoid surprise in trial preparation and promote the opposing party's ability to "obtain the evidence necessary to evaluate and resolve dispute." 6 James Wm. Moore, Moore's Federal Practice § 26.02, at 26-25 (Daniel R. Coquillette et al. eds., 3d ed. 1997). By continually shading her answers to discovery requests to mask her previous medical conditions, Plaintiff's deception undermined the discovery process.
Plaintiff's discovery abuse, moreover, was not a situation of isolated instances of vague and unresponsive answers to a discovery request. Rather, Plaintiff repeatedly misrepresented her past medical history, demonstrating her "intentional failure to comply with the . . . requirements [of Rule 1-037]." Medina, 117 N.M. at 166, 870 P.2d at 128. This type of behavior indicates a pattern of providing false and misleading answers and establishes willfulness and bad faith and opens the door to the sanction of dismissal. See id.; see also 8A Charles Alan Wright et al., Federal Practice and Procedure § 2281, at 595 (2d ed. 1994) (" ny party or person who seeks to evade or thwart full and candid discovery incurs the risk of serious consequences."). As a result, the district court did not abuse its discretion in dismissing Plaintiff's case because Plaintiff willfully abused the discovery process. See Medina, 117 N.M. at 166, 870 P.2d at 128.
Plaintiff's Arguments
District Court as Fact Finder
Plaintiff argues that the district court abused its discretion because it improperly sat as a fact finder at the hearing on FSI's motion to dismiss. Plaintiff essentially advances two arguments in this regard. First, Plaintiff challenges the district court's authority to decide facts that might be an issue at trial while the court is decid
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