United States of America v. $338,492.00 in United States Currency, et al et al

Filing 60

ORDER granting 57 Motion to Strike Claims and Answers and for Entry of an Order of Forfeiture. Signed by Judge Samuel H. Mays, Jr on 2/5/2014.

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE
WESTERN DIVISION

United States of America,
Plaintiff,
v.
Three Hundred Thirty-Eight
Thousand Four Hundred NinetyTwo Dollars ($338,492.00),
et al.,
Defendants.

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No. 11-3072

ORDER

Before the Court is plaintiff United States of America’s (the
“Government”) November 21, 2013 Motion to Strike Claims and Answers
and for Entry of an Order of Forfeiture (the “Motion”).
No. 57.)

On December 6, 2013, claimant Elizabeth Keys (“Keys”)

responded (the “Response”).

(Resp., ECF No. 58.)

Taylor (“Taylor”) has not responded and
passed.

(Mot., ECF

Claimant Vernon

the time to do so has

For the following reasons, the Motion is GRANTED.

On February 11, 2013, the Government served Keys and Taylor a
set of interrogatories, requests for production of documents, and
requests for admission to be answered within 30 days of service.
(Mot., ECF No. 57 at 1.)

Taylor never responded.

(Id.)

Keys

responded on August 28, 2013, objecting to the majority of the

requests and providing incomplete answers to the others.
September

30,

2013,

discovery

of

the

the

Government

unanswered

filed

and

a

(Id.)

motion

to

incompletely

On

compel

answered

interrogatories and requests for production, and for an order that
the unanswered requests for admission be deemed admitted for the
purposes of this case.
Court

referred

determination.

the

(ECF No. 53.)
motion

(ECF No. 54.)

to

On October 1, 2013, this

the

Magistrate

Judge

for

On October 24, 2013, after receiving

no response from Keys or Taylor, the Magistrate Judge entered an
order granting the motion.

(ECF No. 55.)

The order gave Keys and

Taylor 20 days from the date of entry to respond to the outstanding
discovery requests “fully and completely.”

(Id. at 3.)

The order

“warned that failure to comply with this order or cooperate in
discovery

may

result

in

the

imposition

of

sanctions,

including

monetary sanctions and dismissal of their claims on the seized
property.”

(Id.)

Taylor and Keys have not complied with

the

Magistrate Judge’s order and continue to frustrate discovery.
The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provide that a district
court may sanction a party for failure to respond to discovery
requests by “striking pleadings in whole or in part” and “rendering
default judgment against the disobedient party.”
37(b)(2).

A

disclosure.

“failure”
Id.

at

to

respond

37(a)(4).

includes

Although

Fed. R. Civ. P.
an

courts

incomplete
have

broad

discretion to impose Rule 37 sanctions, an order to enter default
judgment

should

only

be

made

“if

2

noncompliance

with

discovery

orders is due to willful or bad faith disregard for those orders.”
United States v. Certain Real Property Located at Route I, Bryant,
Ala.,

126

F.3d

1314,

1317

(11th

Cir.

1997).

Federal

courts

commonly strike pleadings and enter default judgment in forfeiture
actions in which claimants fail to comply with discovery orders.
See, e.g., United States v. 49,0000 Currency, 330 F.3d 371, 377
(5th Cir. 2003).
Here, Taylor and Keys have acted in bad faith in their failure
to

participate

in

discovery

and

failure

Magistrate Judge’s discovery order.

to

comply

with

the

It has been nearly a year

since the Government made its discovery requests and both parties
have failed to respond.
all

and

Keys’

Taylor has not engaged in the process at

participation

has

been

incomplete.

Both

have

willfully failed to comply with the Magistrate Judge’s order to
fully respond to the discovery requests, despite the warning that
sanctions may follow their continued frustration of discovery.
For the foregoing reasons, the Motion to Strike Claims and
Answers and for Entry of an Order of Forfeiture is GRANTED.
So ordered this 5th day of February, 2014.

s/ Samuel H. Mays, Jr.______
SAMUEL H. MAYS, JR.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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