Vehse et al v. Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company

Filing 39

ORDER granting in part and denying in part 32 Motion for Order to Show Cause and for Sanctions. Signed by Magistrate Judge Julie S. Sneed on 12/2/2016. (JR)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
TAMPA DIVISION
GOETZ D. VEHSE,
Plaintiff,
v.

Case No: 8:16-cv-599-T-33JSS

LIBERTY MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE
COMPANY,
Defendant.
___________________________________/
ORDER ON DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SANCTIONS
THIS MATTER is before the Court on Defendant’s Motion for Order to Show Cause and
for Sanctions. (Dkt. 32.) Defendant moves for an order to show cause and sanctions against
Plaintiff’s disclosed expert, Sonny Gulati, P.E., and for an order excluding Mr. Gulati as a witness
in this litigation on the basis that Mr. Gulati twice failed to appear for his deposition. A hearing
was held on this matter on December 1, 2016, before the undersigned. For the reasons stated at
the hearing, it is ORDERED that Defendant’s Motion for Order to Show Cause and for Sanctions
(Dkt. 32) is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. Mr. Gulati is hereby ordered to appear for
his deposition by December 8, 2016. Plaintiff shall pay Defendant its reasonable attorneys’ fees
and costs associated with Mr. Gulati’s failure to appear at his deposition on October 6, 2016, and
November 7, 2016, and the costs and fees incurred in filing the Motion for Order to Show Cause
and for Sanctions. See Valente v. J.C. Penney Corp., 437 F. App’x 858, 860 (11th Cir. 2011)
(providing that matters pertaining to discovery are committed to the sound discretion of the district
court, including orders imposing discovery sanctions); In re Sunshine Jr. Stores, Inc., 456 F.3d
1291, 1304 (11th Cir. 2006) (providing that “[f]ederal courts have the inherent power to impose
sanctions on parties, lawyers, or both” when a party delays or disrupts the litigation); Fed. R. Civ.

P. 45(g) (providing that the court may hold in contempt a person who, having been served, fails
without adequate excuse to obey a subpoena).
DONE and ORDERED in Tampa, Florida, on December 2, 2016.

Copies furnished to:
Counsel of Record

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