Standards for Imposition of Discovery Sanctions

The adoption of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in 1938 marked a major change in the theory of the trial system in the federal courts. The new procedures of the Rules were designed to eliminate disposition of cases based on technical errors and encourage resolution on the merits of each controversy. The pleading rules were greatly simplified and full discovery provisions were incorporated to inform the parties regarding the basis of each adversary's claim or defense and to provide greater access to evidence bearing on the dispute. The optimal use of pre-trial discovery under the Rules, however, depends upon enforcement of the discovery procedures at the trial level. Federal Rule 37 gives the trial court the power to demand compliance with the full disclosure system but leaves imposition of particular sanctions to the discretion of the trial court. The proper exercise of this discretion is critical. Failure to secure compliance by the parties defeats the purposes of the discovery rules by reducing the access of the moving party to relevant evidence and leaving the actual grounds of the controversy ill-defined prior to trial. Harsh enforcement through imposition of unwarranted sanctions, on the other hand, results in disposition of cases for failure to comply with the technicalities of the Federal Rules procedural system. The factors which must be considered in skillful use of discovery sanctions are complex. At present, the constitutional analysis of the problems involved in use of sanctions is predicated upon historical anomaly, and because of this the limits on the use of sanctions remain unclear. The case law, on the other hand, has produced an extensive guide to the proper use of sanctions. This Comment reconsiders the limits on enforcement of the discovery provisions in light of the recent cases and offers an alternative analysis of the problem. The operation of Rule 37 is outlined immediately below, followed by a discussion of the constitutional problems of discovery sanctions. The proper application of the suggested analysis to the specific facts of particular cases is treated in the concluding sections.