Borden Co. v. Clearfield Cheese Co.

DUMBAULD, District Judge.

The burden of defending against un-meritorious lawsuits is one of the inescapable concomitants of living in a civilized society, as Justice Brandéis has aptly reminded us.1 Ancillary and incidental thereto, and an integral part thereof, is the burden of discovery procedure, under the rules adopted for the federal court system in 1937 through the efforts of Attorney General Homer Cummings.

There comes a time, however, where the hardship is so severe, and the injustice so manifest, that the courts will exercise their equitable powers in order to prevent abuse of process.…