Jack Haney, and Michael Haney, Who Sues by His Next Friend, Jack Haney v. Woodward & Lothrop, Inc., and Peter F. Gordon

Discovery proceedings and not the merits of this personal injury action pose the decisive question here: whether a judgment by default should have been directed against the defendant-appellees for their refusal to produce records as ordered by the District Judge. We think the refusal unwarranted. The trial court’s failure to impose sanctions upon the defendants, we think too, deprived the plaintiff-appellant of substantial rights, requiring us to set aside the verdict against him.

The truck of defendant Woodward & Lothrop, driven by its employee, defendant Peter F. Gordon, struck six-year-old…