Defendant’s Repeated Discovery Abuse and Delay Tactics Warrant Terminating Sanctions, Treble Damages, Attorney Fees and Permanent Injunction

​ The court granted plaintiff's motion for terminating sanctions, including treble damages, attorney fees, and an injunction, for defendant's repeated disregard of court orders. "[Defendant] refused to produce documents relevant to the design, manufacture, and sale of the allegedly infringing products. . . . Defendant failed to produce documents reflecting sales of the allegedly infringing products, and produced a single page summary of sales along with heavily redacted invoices that made it impossible for [plaintiff] to identify customers. . . . [Defendant's] corporate representative failed to appear at the scheduled deposition. . . . In addition to the flagrant discovery abuse and contemptuous behavior exhibited by [defendant], the Plaintiff details in their Motion for Sanctions the numerous attempts by [defendant] to derail this litigation by repeatedly attempting to stay the proceedings, and by filing a last minute emergency motion for a protective order. . . . The undersigned agrees with [the magistrate judge's] assessment of the Defendant’s intentional obstructionist behavior. . . . The Court finds that Defendant . . . engaged in the above-described misconduct with the subjective intent to abuse the judicial process. . . . The Court finds the imposition of these sanctions to be necessary to adequately punish [defendant] for its wanton and repetitive disregard of this Court’s orders and as a consequence of its willful abuse of the discovery process. The imposition of lesser sanctions would underrepresent the seriousness of the offensive conduct."

TASER International, Inc. v. PhaZZer Electronics, Inc. et al, 6-16-cv-00366 (FLMD July 21, 2017, Order) (Byron, USDJ)