Cine Forty-Second Street Theatre Corp. v. Allied Artists Pictures Corp.
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
602 F.2d 1062 (1979)
Cine Forty-Second Street Theatre Corp. (plaintiff) sued Allied Artists Pictures Corp. and others (defendants) for antitrust damages but repeatedly gave late, inadequate discovery responses over nearly four years, disobeying two magistrate orders compelling proper responses and never producing a method for calculating the bulk of its claimed damages despite repeated requests. The magistrate found the disobedience willful and recommended precluding Cine from introducing damages evidence, effectively dismissing that claim, but the district court found it could not confirm the conduct was willful rather than merely grossly negligent, and certified an interlocutory appeal.
Whether a grossly negligent failure to obey a discovery order, without a conscious disregard of court orders, justifies dismissal of the complaint under Rule 37 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.