Opinion
CIVIL ACTION NO. 07-227, SECTION "M" (2).
July 23, 2007
ORDER ON MOTION
XXX: DENIED, subject to the order contained herein. The draconian sanction of dismissal is reserved exclusively for contumacious and continuing discovery misconduct. Federal Deposit Ins. Corp. v. Connor, 20 F.3d 1376, 1381 (5th Cir. 1994); Ginther v. Sea Support Servs. L.L.C., No. 00-2928, 2002 WL 1213601, at *4 (E.D. La. June 4, 2002) (Duval, J.). While plaintiff's conduct in providing discovery responses has been dilatory, I cannot find that willful disobedience has occurred yet. Accordingly, dismissal as a discovery sanction is not appropriate at this time. Under the circumstances described in plaintiff's opposition memorandum, Record Doc. No. 15, imposition of any sanctions, much less the ultimate sanction of dismissal, is inappropriate. The phenomenon of temporarily missing or relocated litigants is common in this district these days. Plaintiff's counsel has acted diligently and responsibly in connection with this discovery. No schedule of any sort, including no trial date or discovery deadline, has yet been established in this case, so that no prejudice to defendant has occurred by plaintiff's delay in responding to the previous order. The opposition memorandum represents that a conference between plaintiff and his counsel is set for July 26, 2007. Accordingly, while this motion is denied in all respects, IT IS ORDERED that plaintiff must provide full and complete responses to all of the discovery that is the subject of this motion no later than August 8, 2007.