John R. Henry, Jr. v. Amalie Sneiders, and Amalie Sneiders, as Personal Representative of the Estateof Maksis Sneiders, Deceased, Defedant-Appellant

This is an action for fraud and breach of contract arising from the sale of rare stamps through the mail. The plaintiff alleged that the defendants, Amalie Sneiders and Maksis Sneiders, who is now deceased, sold counterfeit stamps, misrepresented by them to be genuine, to the plaintiff. Proceeding under Fed. R.Civ.P. 34, plaintiff sought discovery of certain records concerning the disputed transactions. Following defendant’s repeated refusal to produce these records, the district court entered default judgment in favor of the plaintiff pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(b)(2). Defendant appeals, and we affirm.

We consider appellant’s six assignments of error separately.

1. Were the defendant’s records protected by the privilege against self-incrimination? After the commencement of this civil action, the appellant and her husband were indicted for mail fraud, the indictment being based in part on the sale of stamps to the plaintiff. The indictment against the defendant was dismissed following the death of her husband, but the dismissal was without prejudice. Since the defendant was subject to criminal prosecution for the transaction at issue in the instant civil case, she claims that…