Enforcing Discovery Rights

Enforcing discovery rights is the chapter that turns discovery from a cooperative ideal into the adversarial reality students will actually meet in practice. It walks through informal enforcement and meet-and-confer obligations; the discovery plan; formal enforcement under Rule 37 (orders compelling, disclosure and discovery sanctions, and failure-to-attend sanctions); and the selection of an appropriate sanction across default and dismissal, contempt, preclusion orders, restriction of further discovery, cost-shifting, and sanctions against attorneys and pro se parties. The chapter closes with discovery malpractice and motion practice. Particularly valuable for advanced pretrial litigation courses or professional-responsibility units focused on discovery ethics.