Texas Department of Public Safety Officers Ass'n v. Denton

in which PHILLIPS, Chief Justice, and HIGHTOWER, HECHT, CORNYN and SPECTOR, Justices, join.

We are asked what can a trial court do when a civil plaintiff exercises his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and thereupon refuses to comply with discovery. In answering this question, we clarify that a trial court has the authority to respond to an offensive use of an evidentiary privilege by imposing the sanctions authorized by the rules of procedure. Tex. R,Civ.P. 215. The trial court dismissed Lane Denton’s cause of action when Denton asserted his Fifth Amendment privilege in…