American Board of Internal Med v. Bradley Mittman

MEMORANDUM

Bradley D. Mittman, M.D., DBA Frontrunners Board Review, AKA Frontrunners Publishing, appeals pro se from the district court’s default judgment in the American Board of Internal Medicine’s (“ABIM”) action alleging violations of the Copyright Act and state law. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We review for an abuse of discretion. Patelco Credit Union v. Sahni, 262 F.3d 897, 912-13 (9th Cir.2001). We affirm.

The district court did not abuse its discretion in entering default judgment as a sanction for Mittman’s repeated failure to comply with his discovery obligations. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(b)(2)(A)(vi) (district court may enter default judgment as a sanction for failure to comply with a discovery order); Dreith v. Nu Image, Inc., 648 F.3d 779, 788 (9th Cir.2011) (setting forth factors that a district court must consider before imposing the sanction of default).

The district court did not abuse its discretion in awarding attorney’s fees in connection with ABIM’s motions to compel because Mittman’s nondisclosures in response to discovery requests were not substantially justified. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(a)(5)(A) (district court must require the party whose…