Frame v. S-H, Inc.

Citation
Frame v. S-H, Inc., 967 F.2d 194 (5th Cir. 1992) (full-text).

Appellate Court Proceedings
Following a lengthy and protracted series of discovery requests and obstruction of discovery, the district court ordered an individual the plaintiff and her various businesses into receivership. The receiver filed a series of increasingly negative reports with the court, including a finding that the plaintiff had erased all general ledger information from computers after filing the lawsuit.

Based on further actions by a plaintiff described by the district court as "a 'disingenuous, obstreperous, obfuscating pain,'" the district court struck the plaintiff's pleadings and entered judgment against her, awarding treble damages to the defendants and attorneys fees totaling over $10 million.

The Fifth Circuit upheld the sanctions, ruling that the "draconian remedy of last resort" of striking pleadings under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 37(b)(2) was justified under the circumstances, and remanded for determination of damages.