9th Cir.;
12-17718
The court of appeals affirmed a district court’s sanction order. The court held that a district court acted within its discretion in invoking its inherent power to sanction a tort defendant and its counsel for their long-term discovery fraud that was not discovered until after the action had settled. The court held further that the district court did not abuse its discretion finding that the defendant and its attorneys each acted in bad faith. The court also held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in awarding as sanctions all the attorney’s fees and costs incurred by the plaintiffs after the defendant and its attorneys served the first discovery responses proving that they did not intend to cooperate in discovery in good faith.
