Federal Circuit Vacates and Remands Death-penalty Sanctions under Rule 37

Ethics

In Loops, LLC v. Phoenix Trading, Inc. (Fed. Cir. Nov. 13, 2014), in a non-precedential opinion authored by Judge Dyk (with Judges Taranto and Chen), the court affirmed in part the striking of an answer due to several issues.  First, the patentee had testified falsely at her deposition about a key document.  Second, it held that a key document should have been produced in discovery, but had been withheld. However, the district court improperly based its sanction on other conduct, requiring remand.

There’s not a lot new here, but because rule 37 orders are not appealable before final judgment, it is unusual to see them even discussed by the court, and so I note the case for you here.

(And, yes, the Reines matter will be up soon. It’s been a busy week.)

About David

Professor of Law, Mercer University School of Law. Formerly Of Counsel, Taylor English Duma, LLP and in 2012-13, judicial clerk to Chief Judge Rader.

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One thought on “Federal Circuit Vacates and Remands Death-penalty Sanctions under Rule 37”

  1. 1

    They probably spent more on the appeal than the judgment and sanctions. Interesting how deep CAFC can go into the record of a case like this. Not having a great deal of experience with the other circuits, but I sort of doubt that the regional circuits would plunge this deep into the record in such a matter.

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