157
FILED
JAN 18 1990
8 44 AM
U.S. DISTRICT COURT
NEW HAVEN, CONN
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT
ALFRIEDA SLEE, Administratrix
Of the Estate of Jack Andrew Slee
v.
WERNER ERHARD, ET AL.
CIVIL ACTION NO. 84 497 JAC
Plaintiff, by counsel, hereby moves This Honorable Court for judgment by default pursuant to Rule 37 (b) (2) (c) and for other sanctions against the defendants for failing to comply with discovery, failing to comply with a direct Order of This Honorable Court, and for committing a fraud upon this Court and plaintiff.
Respectfully submitted,
[signature]
Gerald F. Ragland, Jr. 526 King Street, Suite 214 Alexandria, VA 22314 (703) 836-2166 COUNSEL FOR PLAINTIFF
William F. Gallagher
Gallagher and Gallagher
1377 Boulevard
New Haven, Connecticut 06511
(203) 624-4165
CONNECTICUT COUNSEL
This motion is based upon the defendants’ actions in withholding information and documents pertaining to incident reports and reports of “severe emotional upsets”. The discovery requests and Order of this Court in question date to 1985. Consequently, al discovery subsequent to early 1985, all preparation of plaintiff’s expert witnesses, all depositions of defense witnesses, all depositions of defendants’ experts, and all trial preparation have been based upon the false representation that defendant had no records pertaining to prior incidents of “severe emotional upsets” or of emotional distress in the est training, an issue central to plaintiff’s theory of liability. This representation is clearly false in light of documents received by plaintiff’s counsel from an outside source in the past few days. More detail pertaining to this issue is contained in the attached Memorandum.
Because of the scope of the fraud and the years of reliance upon defendants’ false responses, plaintiff seeks the following sanctions:
Judgment by default against defendants on the issue of liability and/or an order that it be conclusively presumed for purposes of the upcoming trial as follows: 1. That the defendants negligently caused the death of Jack Slee. 2. That the defendants intentionally inflicted emotional stress which caused the death of Jack Slee. 3. That the defendants had prior notice of the emotional intensity of their trainings due to the large number of severe emotional upsets which occurred in the standard est training prior to the death of Jack Slee. 4. That the defendants’ denial of paragraphs 23, 24, 25, 26, 34, 35, 36, 37(a), 37(b), and 38 contained in plaintiff’s second Amended Complaint shall be stricken and that said paragraphs shall be taken as admitted for purposes of this cause of action.
By way of further sanction, plaintiff requests this Honorable Court to order defendants to reimburse plaintiff’s counsel for his time consumed in either conducting or participating in approximately 28 depositions that have occurred in this case since the initial false denial of the existence of documentation pertaining to severe emotional upsets or “incident reports” filed by the defendants in this case in March, 1985, in the form of answers to interrogatories and replies to requests for production of documents.
By way of further sanction, plaintiff further requests the Court to order defendants to produce all documents pertaining to severe emotional upsets or other emotional or psychological injury from the year 1979 to the present time.
By way of further sanction, plaintiff requests an Order directing defendants to pay the costs of plaintiff’s re-preparation of her expert witnesses based upon these further materials to be provided by the defendants. (Even with liability concluded, plaintiff will produce evidence addressed to punitive damages.)
By way of further sanction, plaintiff requests an order directing defendants to reimburse plaintiff’s counsel for years of transportation to the west coast, to the New England region, to New York, and other places on the basis that the value of counsel’s expenditure of time has been undermined and devalued by the defendants’ fraud in discovery pertaining to severe emotional upsets and/or incident reports in March, 1985, and thereafter.