Malloy v. WM Specialty Mortgage LLC

This is an appeal from the district court’s dismissal of a civil case, with prejudice, based on plaintiffs’ failure to respond to defendants’ discovery requests. In addition to the propriety of that sanction, the appeal also presents a threshold issue of appellate jurisdiction.

The sequence of events relevant to the jurisdictional issue was as follows: After plaintiffs failed to respond to defendants’ discovery requests, even after being ordered to do so in response to defendants’ motion to compel, defendants moved for relief under Rule 37(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, including…