Lake Village Healthcare Center, LLC Perennial Health Care Management, LLC and James Santarsiero v. Richard Hatchett…

Summary

The court affirmed the order striking portions of the defendants' answers as a discovery sanction. It held that the defendants' failure to produce court-ordered emails, combined with their failure to timely raise specific objections or provide adequate information about compliance, supported the sanction under an abuse-of-discretion standard. The court lacked jurisdiction over the interlocutory recusal issue and declined to reach the purported punitive-damages issue because the order addressed recklessness rather than punitive damages. Justice Danielson and Chief Justice Hannah each concurred, emphasizing that the email noncompliance independently justified the sanction, while Chief Justice Hannah additionally stressed that striking pleadings should be used sparingly.