United States District Court, N.D. Mississippi, Oxford Division
ANGEL MARTINEZ, on his own behalf and on behalf of all others similarly situated, PLAINTIFF
v.
TRI-STATE ENTERPRISES, LLC; REGINA BROCK; LEE BROCK; and MICHAEL BROCK, DEFENDANTS
ORDER
JANE
M. VIRDEN JUDGE
This
matter is before the Court on Plaintiff's Fifth Motion
for Contempt [80]. For the reasons stated below, the motion
is granted in part, denied in part, and held in abeyance in
part.
Background
The
relevant history of this case is as follows:
Plaintiff
filed the complaint [1] on February 12, 2016. Defendants
filed their answer [10] to the complaint on April 1, 2016.
Counsel for defendants, Graves, Smith, Palmertree, &
Shaw, PLLC, moved to withdraw from the case on May 4, 2016.
On May 5, 2016, a case management conference (CMC) was held,
and the case management order (CMO) was entered the same day.
The CMO required that initial disclosures of Rule 26
documents be exchanged within seven days following the CMC.
On May
23, 2016, Plaintiff filed his first motion for sanctions [18]
for defendants' failure to comply with the initial
disclosures obligation. The defendants retained Attorney
Stephen Livingston on the same date to act as counsel for
them. On May 24, 2016, the undersigned granted Graves,
Smith's motion to withdraw. See Doc. [19].
On July
6, 2016, the court granted Plaintiff's unopposed motion
for sanctions, see Doc. [23], and by separate Order
[25] entered August 11, 2016, awarded fees of $425.00 against
the defendants, jointly and severally. The August 11 Order
required that defendants complete initial disclosures within
five days of service of that Order and pay the sanction to
Plaintiff's counsel within fourteen days of service.
Though Mr. Livingston had been retained as early as May 23,
2016, he had not entered an appearance in the action.
On
September 26, 2016, a Show Cause Order [28] was entered by
District Judge Mills because no response to a motion [21] for
provisional class certification had been filed on behalf of
the defendants. No response to the Show Cause Order was
thereafter filed, and an Order [30] granting provisional
certification was entered on October 13, 2016. Not until
November 10, 2016, did Mr. Livingston file a notice [37] of
appearance as counsel for the defendants--though, as noted,
he had originally been retained in the action as early as May
23, 2016.
On
October 28, 2016, Plaintiff filed a motion to compel
responses to discovery [32] and a motion for contempt [33],
and a hearing on those motions was held November 14, 2016.
During the hearing, however, the parties announced that they
had reached an agreement. The agreement reiterated the
defendants' earlier imposed obligation to pay a sanction
of $425.00.[1]
On
February 13, 2017, Plaintiff filed a Second Motion for
Contempt [43] related to defendants' alleged failure to
comply with certain requirements of the Order granting
conditional certification. Later, on March 10, 2017,
Plaintiff filed a motion [47] to compel discovery responses.
On March 13, 2017, during a hearing, the undersigned granted
both the motion for contempt and the motion to compel, and
awarded fees against the defendants. See Doc. [48].
Mr. Mike Brock was present for the hearing. Plaintiff's
counsel was required to file an itemization of fees incurred
in bringing the motions. Id. The itemization [50]
was unopposed, and an Order [53] awarding fees and expenses
of $4, 954.81 was entered against the defendants.
On May
26, 2017, Plaintiff filed a third motion for contempt [54],
and on June 21, 2017, a hearing was held on the motion. By
Order [57] dated June 22, 2017, defendants were granted
additional time to pay the prior sanction award, and a
sanction of $400.00 was assessed against Mr. Livingston
because his failures, as opposed to any failure of his
clients, had occasioned the third motion for contempt. Mr.
Livingston had announced during the hearing on the motion
that a very serious health condition in combination with his
failure to keep the Court apprised of his contact information
contributed to defendants' failure to comply with the
Court's orders. Mr. Livingston was allowed sixty days
from the date of that Order to pay the sanction.
On July
21, 2017, the undersigned denied a motion [58] to withdraw
filed by Mr. Livingston on July 12 because Mr. Livingston had
not complied with the Court's Order dated June 22,
2017--namely he had not certified on the record that he had
provided all of his clients with copies of all orders entered
in the case. See Doc. [63]. He was given until July
26 to do so. Id.
On July
24, 2017, Mr. Livingston certified he had delivered all
orders to his clients, and on August 2, 2017, an Order [72]
was entered allowing Mr. Livingston's withdrawal, but
reminding him of his obligation to satisfy the $400.00
sanction award against him by no later than August 21, 2017.
On
August 28, 2017, Plaintiff filed yet another motion for
contempt [73], but the motion was denied for insufficient
briefing. On September 7, however, the individual defendant,
Mr. Mike Brock, said to be acting on behalf of the Defendant
LLC, wrote a letter to the Court [75], advising, among other
things, that around the end of July 2017 at the request of
Mr. Livingston, he had written a check to Mr. Livingston for
$400.00, presumably to satisfy a putative award of sanctions
against the defendants. The $400.00 was never transmitted to
Plaintiff or his counsel in satisfaction of the $400.00
sanction award, which was against Mr. Livingston, not his
clients. On September 27, 2017, Plaintiff filed a fifth
motion ...