The importance of following deadlines

I used to appear before a federal judge who told lawyers that he did not issue discovery deadlines for his health. He expected people to comply with the deadlines. Other judges have told us never to request deadline extensions after the deadline has passed. This case highlights those rules. Missing a deadline can be deadly and expensive.

The case is Mindling v. Stiegler, a summary order issued on December 1. This is a sex abuse case; plaintiff alleges the defendant sexually abused her as a child. The complaint alleges that defendant married plaintiff's mother, and plaintiff alleged -- and the jury must have believed -- that defendant sexually abused her for years. This of course caused plaintiff to suffer significant emotional damages, including PTSD.

It looks like counsel for defendant missed the deadline for his expert disclosures. The deadline was December 16, 2019, but counsel requested the extension on February 28, 2020. The case went to trial in May 2022. A few months prior to that, defendant asked the court for reconsideration of the prior discovery extension ruling. The plaintiff won the trial, and the verdict exceeded $10 million, including punitive damages. 

The standard of appellate review from discovery orders is very deferential to the trial court. This allows trial judges to run their courtrooms as they see fit, and -- let's face it -- appellate judges do not want to get involved in the day-to-day affairs of the district court.

The size of the jury verdict is enough to convince any losing party that they can overcome that standard of review. But the appeal fails. The judgment stands because, according to the Court of Appeals (Kearse, Nathan and Calabresi), "Defendant failed to provide 'good cause for not filing a motion to extend the time' months after the December 16, 2019 deadline to disclose his expert witness had passed. Defendant fails to explain why he did not move for an extension of the time to disclose an expert witness at the status conference held on November 4, 2019."

The docket sheet shows that plaintiff is now trying to enforce the judgment. It cannot be known if defendant's expert report would have made the difference. But that deadline was not imposed for the hell of it. A $10 million judgment in a sexual abuse case is a hell-of-a-price to pay for a missed deadline.