Jean Reidhead v. Joseph Meyers

MEMORANDUM

Jean Reidhead, Patrick Kent Reid-head, and Reidhead Sand & Rock, Inc. (RS & R), (collectively the Reidheads) appeal the district court’s entry of a default judgment against them and in favor of Caribbean Financial Corporation (CFC) on counterclaims that, at root, arose out of a contract dispute. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.

(1) The Reidheads first claim that the district court erred when it entered a default judgment against them as a sanction. We disagree.

The district court made it plain that it based its decision on its inherent power, although it also made some reference to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b). See Ferdik v. Bonzelet, 963 F.2d 1258, 1260-61 (9th Cir.1992); Thompson v. Hous. Auth. of L.A., 782 F.2d 829, 831 (9th Cir.1986) (per curiam). Even though the last straw was the violation of a discovery order, the district court properly relied upon its inherent power because the violation was simply part and parcel of what the district court denominated the Reid-heads’ “pattern of unreasonable delay [and] their disregard for the Court’s case management schedule.” Moreover, we have generally used the same five factors in analyzing…