Poole v. Textron, Inc.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

I. INTRODUCTION

This is a product liability case in which the plaintiff, Ryan W. Poole (“Poole”), has sued Textron, Inc. (“Textron”) for alleged defects in a golf car, which resulted in serious injuries to him. The trial judge referred the undersigned all discovery disputes. By Memorandum and Order dated May 20, 1999, after a hearing, I granted plaintiffs three discovery motions in part, ordered, inter alia, Textron to do substantial additional investigation to respond to Poole’s discovery requests, and held sub curia the request for attorneys’ fees or other sanctions pending further submissions and completion of the specified remedial actions. Textron filed with the trial judge objections to several of the discovery rulings, which the trial judge rejected, affirming the discovery rulings below. At the request of Textron, a further hearing was held on the request for attorneys’ fees, costs and other sanctions, after which the parties submitted affidavits on the time expended and the appropriate hourly rate for the requested attorneys’ fees. The matter is now ripe for decision.

*497Before the Court is plaintiffs request for attorneys’ fees and other expenses related to the three substantive discovery motions and other sanctions: the motion for sanctions raising six instances of discovery abuse,1 the motion to compel production of documents and the motion to determine sufficiency of answers and objections to requests for admissions. This Court has already ruled on the merits of these three motions. The current issue facing the Court is whether an award of expenses including attorneys’ fees or other sanction is justified under the governing rules and case law and if so, the amount of expenses or sanction.

Textron acknowledges this Court’s authority to assess sanctions to punish discovery abuses under Fed.R.Civ.P. 37, Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(g) and the inherent authority of the Court. (Paper No. 63 at 6). However, Textron argues that an award of fees is inappropriate for several reasons. Chiefly, Textron argues that its collection and investigative efforts to comply with the Court’s May 20, 1999 Order were both extensive and expensive — costing Textron $23,260 in attorneys’ fees and expenses. That “sanction” is, in Textron’s view, sufficient. Alternatively, Textron argues that plaintiffs request for expenses, including fees, in the amount of $50,346.89 is grossly excessive, under governing law. Specifically, Textron objects to the hourly rate charged by the plaintiffs counsel as not in line with those prevailing in the community for similar services by lawyers of reasonably comparable skill, experience and reputation.

For the reasons stated below, the Court awards $37,258.39 in expenses, including attorneys’ fees, but declines to award any other sanction under the rules or its inherent power.

II. GOVERNING LAW ON ENTITLEMENT TO SANCTIONS AND EXPENSES, INCLUDING ATTORNEYS’ FEES

As Textron acknowledged, this Court has authority to redress discovery misconduct under the Federal Rules as well as under its inherent powers, and can impose a range of sanctions from award of expenses against both a party and its counsel to an entry of a default judgment. The sanction, of course, depends on the nature of the discovery abuse.

The Court’s inherent authority is not displaced or limited by the sanctioning scheme of the Federal Rules. Chambers v. NASCO, Inc., 501 U.S. 32, 46, 111 S.Ct. 2123, 115 L.Ed.2d 27 (1991). However, the Supreme Court has stated that “a finding [that counsel’s conduct ... constituted or was tantamount to bad faith] ... would have to precede any sanctions under the Court’s inherent powers.” Roadway Express, Inc. v. Piper, 447 U.S. 752, 767, 100 S.Ct. 2455, 65 L.Ed.2d 488 (1980); see also Chambers, 501 U.S. at 47, 111 S.Ct. 2123. (“The narrow exceptions to the American Rule effectively limit a court’s inherent power to impose attorney’s fees as a sanction to cases in which a litigant has engaged in bad-faith conduct or willful disobedience of a Court’s orders... ”). The Supreme Court has cautioned restraint in the exercise of the inherent powers “[b]ecause of their very potency,” Chambers, 501 U.S. at 44, 111 S.Ct. 2123 and “[b]ecause inherent powers are shielded from direct democratic controls.” Roadway Express, 447 U.S. at 764, 100 S.Ct. 2455. Accordingly, whether default judgment2 or some lesser punitive sanction, such as an award of attorneys’ fees,3 is imposed under the inherent powers, courts require evidence of misconduct, usually characterized as “contuma*498cious,” “fraudulent” or “bad faith,” with some courts requiring that the misconduct be shown by “clear and convincing” evidence.4 As will be more fully discussed below, this Court finds the sanctioning scheme of Rules 37 and 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure sufficient to redress the violations here without exercise of the inherent powers.

As to plaintiffs motions to compel and to test the sufficiency of the answers and objections to the request for admission, Fed. R.Civ.P. 37 governs both the entitlement to expenses and the amount of such expenses. If such a motion is granted, the Rule provides, in pertinent part:

[T]he Court shall ... require the party or deponent whose conduct necessitated the motion or the party or attorney advising such conduct or both of them to pay to the moving party the reasonable expenses incurred in making the motion, including attorneys’ fees, unless' the Court finds that the motion was filed without the movant’s first making a good faith effort to obtain the disclosure or discovery without court action, or that the opposing party’s nondisclosure, response or objection was substantially justified, or that other circumstances make an award of expenses unjust.

Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(a)(4)(A) (emphasis added). Where, as here, the motion is granted in part and denied in part, the court shall “apportion the reasonable expenses incurred in relation to the motion among the parties and persons in a just manner.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(a)(4). The Court has determined that there was no

substantial justification for Textron’s non-disclosure, responses and objections and that there were no circumstances that made an award of expenses unjust.

Similarly, Rule 26(g)(3) provides, in pertinent part, that “if without substantial justification a certification is made in violation of the rule, the Court, upon motion or upon its own initiative shall impose upon the person who made the certification, the party on whose behalf the disclosure request, response, or objection is made, or both, an appropriate sanction which may include an order to pay the amount of reasonable expenses incurred because of the violation, including a reasonable attorney’s fee.” (emphasis added). By its language, Rule 26(g)(3) does not limit a court to the award of expenses only, but gives the Court latitude to fashion an “appropriate sanction,” in addition to an award of expenses. Nevertheless, an award of attorneys’ fees appear to be the sanction most commonly imposed in reported decisions. See Gregory P. Joseph, Sanctions: The Federal Law of Litigation Abuse § 44(B)(3d. ed.2000).5 The Court has determined that while counsel for Textron signed the various discovery responses,6 counsel had not conducted the requisite “reasonable inquiry” and that the quality of the responses suggested an improper purpose, specifically “to cause unnecessary delay or needless cost of litigation.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(g). Accordingly, there was no substantial justification for the certifications in violation of the rule. Thus, in the absence of certain findings *499(which the court does not make here), the rules direct the imposition of a sanction.

Following is a discussion of the violations found as a result of the several motions and the sanction appropriate to each violation.

III. PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR DETERMINATION OF SUFFICIENCY OF ANSWERS AND OBJECTIONS TO PLAINTIFF’S REQUEST FOR ADMISSIONS

Regarding plaintiffs motion for determination of the sufficiency of Textron’s answers and objections to plaintiffs request for admissions, the Court finds under Rule 37, in conjunction with Rule 36, that Tex-tron’s responses or objections were not substantially justified. To the contrary, with one exception, the responses and objections appeared crafted to sabotage the legitimate use of request for admissions. Under the plain language of the rule, a party must either lodge an objection or an answer to a request, but cannot do both.

Pursuant to the requirements of Rule 36(a), the answering party that objects to a request for admissions does so at its own peril. That is, Rule 36(a) mandates that a “matter is admitted unless ... a written answer or objection” is served on the requesting party. (Emphasis added). Rule 36 also states, in detail, the requirements for denials, objections, partial admissions, and qualified answers. Failure to adhere to the plain language of this statute requires that the fact in question be admitted. See Asea, Inc. v. S. Pac. Transp. Co., 669 F.2d 1242, 1245 (9th Cir.1981).

Rule 36 expressly permits a party to qualify an answer, but only “when good faith requires.” See Thalheim v. Eberheim, 124 F.R.D. 34, 35 (D.Conn.1988) (“Though qualifications may be required where a request contains assertions that are only partially correct, a reviewing court should not permit a responding party to undermine the efficiency of the rule by crediting disingenuous, hairsplitting distinctions whose unartieulated goal is unfairly to burden an opposing party.”) (citations omitted); Havenfield Corp. v. H & R Block, Inc., 67 F.R.D. 93, 96 (W.D.Mo.1973) (“Such a qualification or part denial must be clear.”).

In almost every response, Textron impermissibly lodged both an objection and an answer. Moreover, when Textron filed an answer, its complexity “undermine[d] the efficacy of the rule by crediting disingenuous, hair-splitting distinctions whose unarticulated goal is unfairly to burden an opposing party.” Thalheim, 124 F.R.D. at 35 (citations omitted).

Accordingly, this Court believes the defendant’s responses and objections lacked substantial justification. As the Court granted relief as to 12 out of the 13 contested requests (or 92% of the requests), the Court grants that percentage of the attorney time and expenses reasonably related to this motion. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(a)(4).

IV. PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR SANCTIONS

In his motion for sanctions filed pursuant to Rule 37 and the inherent powers of the Court, plaintiff charged that defendant Tex-tron engaged in “improper discovery tactics [which] were willful, inexcusable and not in good faith” (Paper No. 29) and asked for a finding of liability, or alternatively certain relief tailored to each of the alleged instances of discovery abuse. (Id.). The Court found that many of plaintiffs complaints of discovery abuse were meritorious, and ordered considerable relief in terms of further investigation and production of discovery responses.7

*500A. Textron’s Lack of Diligence in Providing Keg, Requested Information

The conduct this Court has found sanctionable violates Fed.R.Civ.P. 37, and, in some instances, Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(g) as well. Particularly egregious was Textron’s lack of diligence in providing key, requested information, such as prior litigation involving the golf car model or testing whether in its response to requests for production of documents or its identification of designees for the corporation’s deposition on these same subjects.8

*5011. Textron’s Responses to Plaintiffs Requests for Production

This Court has concluded, as plaintiff states, that “Textron did not perform an even minimally-adequate search for documents prior to Plaintiffs Motion for Sanctions.” (Paper No. 69 at 6). At the Court’s request, Textron described its efforts to locate documents and information requested by plaintiff. (Paper No. 14). Review of Textron’s seven page single space letter showed half-hearted, scatter-shot inquiries prior to the court-ordered investigation and inquiry efforts — often times only reacting to leads that plaintiffs counsel provided about Textron’s prior litigation involving the same or similar golf cars or testing of the golf car type at issue. That letter did not dispel the Court’s previously held impression that Textron’s initial inquiry in response to written discovery requests (as well as Rule 30(b)(6) corporate designation) started and largely, if not entirely, stopped with an inquiry to Mr. Gerald W. Powell, a Textron reliability engineer and E-Z-Go’s designee in golf car litigation since 1981 and with a review of the official corporate records of Textron.9 It appears that Textron did not even contact its own employees in other corporate departments, such as the manager of Textron’s Commercial and Media Relations, see infra, to respond to the document requests or requests attached to the corporate designee notice. While Tex-tron did contact some prior counsel to locate documents in prior lawsuits (but not to prepare Mr. Powell to testify more knowledgeably on prior lawsuits), it appears that those contacts were in response to information that plaintiffs counsel provided, not the result of any systematic inquiry to fully answer the discovery.

Plaintiff asserts that “documents in the possession, custody or control of a party’s attorney or former attorney are within the party’s ‘control’ for the purposes of Rule 34.” (Paper No. 29 at 27). This Court agrees. Moreover, “[a] party is charged with knowledge of what its agents know or what is in the records available to it.” 8A Charles A. Wright, Arthur R. Miller & Richard L. Marcus, Fed. Practice and Procedure: Civil 2d, § 2177.- It is well established that ‘control’ under Fed.R.Civ.P. 34 is to be broadly construed so that a party may be obligated to produce documents requested even though it may not actually possess the documents. In re Folding Carton Antitrust Litigation, 76 F.R.D. 420, 422-23 (N.D.Ill.1977). As long as the party has the legal right or ability to obtain the documents from another source on demand, that party is deemed to have ‘control.’ See Searock v. Stripling, 736 F.2d 650, 653 (11th Cir.1984); The Resolution Trust Corp. v. Deloitte & Touche, 145 F.R.D. 108, 110 (D.Colo.1992); Camden Iron & Metal, Inc. v. Marubeni America Corp., 138 F.R.D. 438, 441 (D.N.J.1991); Scott v. Arex, Inc., 124 F.R.D. 39, 41 (D.Conn.1989); M.L.C., Inc. v. North American Philips Corp., 109 F.R.D. 134, 136 (S.D.N.Y.1986); Hanson v. Gartland S.S. Co., 34 F.R.D. 493, 496 (ND.Ohio 1964) (explaining that the determination of whether documents in the possession of a party’s attorney are under the control of the party depends on the origin of the documents) (citing with approval to 4 Moore’s Federal Practice 2471 (2d ed.1950)). It appears that Textron defined as documents within its “control” as whatever documents were within the files of Mr. Powell, longtime litigation point person for Textron and defined its “knowledge” as the personal knowledge of Mr. Powell. The lassitude of the defendant is unacceptable.

However, another and perhaps greater proof of the inadequacy of the initial inquiry was the productivity of the additional efforts mandated by the Court which conformed with the demands of the rules and case law on the level of inquiry and the broad defini*502tion of “control” under Rule 34.10 First, the sheer volume of documents produced after plaintiffs motions and court order compared to that produced in response to discovery demands under the rules demonstrates the inadequacy of Textron’s initial efforts. Tex-tron initially produced a single page in response to plaintiffs document request. (Paper No. 56,2). After plaintiff served motions to compel and filed one such motion with the Court (which was granted), Textron produced a total of 470 pages of documents. (Paper No. 69, Ex. G at ¶ 3). After plaintiff filed his Motion for Sanctions, Textron produced 20 videotapes and more than 2,900 additional pages of documents that are responsive to the discovery requests. (Id.) Given the results of court-mandated efforts, it is clear that these documents were in the control of Textron and that a reasonable search would have located them.

Second, a review of Textron’s responses to certain of plaintiffs specific discovery requests likewise demonstrates the lack of an adequate inquiry. For example, plaintiff had propounded a request for “[a]ll advertisements and promotional materials that concern or refer to the GX-440, X-440, GX-444, and X-444 for model years 1978 through 1990.” (Request No. 23). Such documents would obviously be relevant to this case, as they would include, for example, photos and/or descriptions of reasonably anticipated uses of the golf cars, such as on grassy slopes similar to the one where plaintiffs accident occurred. In response, Textron produced a single brochure. (Paper No. 69, Ex. G at H 3). When plaintiff moved to 'compel further production on the basis that it was inconceivable that Textron had only used a single brochure to advertise and promote its golf cars, Textron responded curiously that: “[a]n inspection of plaintiffs own exhibits demonstrates that Textron has already produced all such materials concerning this discontinued model line.” (Paper No. 69, Ex. J at 14).

After the Court-ordered investigation, Tex-tron produced 229 pages of advertising and promotional materials, (Paper No. 69, Ex. G at ¶ 4), including photos of the golf cars on grassy slopes much like that on which the accident occurred here. Notably, the Affidavit of Textron’s counsel states:

Produced to plaintiffs counsel contemporaneously with the filing of this Affidavit are true and correct color copies of all documents responsive to Plaintiffs Document Request No. 23. I obtained the originals on Thursday, May 27th, from Ron Skenes, E-Z-Go’s Manager of Commercial & Media Relations. Mr. Skenes advised me that he is the person in the Sales & Marketing Department most knowledgeable about historical advertising of E-Z-Go products. Mr. Skenes stated that he is the only person in the Sales & Marketing Department that keeps a file of old product advertising and promotional materials for the Marathon line of golf cars. However, the oldest material in his file goes back only as far as 1980.

Gendron Aff. at ¶ 44, (Paper No. 63, Ex. 3). No explanation is provided for why Mr. Skenes, the Manager of Textron’s Commercial and Media Relations and thus an obvious person to ask to properly respond to a discovery request for advertising and promotional materials (or a corporate deposition notice covering advertising or promotional areas), was not contacted when the request was served. Such defense approach would have resulted in concealment of these relevant documents without the persistence of plaintiffs counsel.

Similarly, plaintiff had propounded a request for “[a]ll documents that reflect, refer or relate to any tests performed on or concerning the GX-440, X-440, GX-444, and X-444 that pertain to stability, safety, rollovers, and warning labels.” (Request No. 16). Tex-tron’s first response was to object for a host of reasons, including that tests on golf cars other than the GX-440 are not relevant evidence. (Paper No. 69, Ex. J at 4-5). Plaintiff filed a motion to compel citing the considerable authority for discovery of tests on similar models in a products liability action.

*503In response, Textron claimed that plaintiffs statement in his motion that Textron refused to produce the test documents pertaining to the X-440, GX-444, and X-444 was “a half-cocked statement” and that “plaintiff may not like the amount of Textron’s document production, but she (sic) has all of the requested documents that Textron has.” (Paper No. 69, Ex. J at 6-7). But, in response to this Court’s Order, Textron has now produced a list of thousands of tests performed by its E-Z-Go Division (Paper No. 69, Ex. K), many appearing to be relevant such as “Golf Car Slope Limits” and “Spring Rate Reduction and Effects on Rolls.” (Paper No. 69, Ex. K at 39). These additional tests, of course, were produced after much, if not all, of the discovery was complete, indeed after the discovery deadline.

Rule 26(g) of the Federal Rules of Procedure defines the duty of counsel in responding to discovery requests. That is, counsel must make “a reasonable effort to assure that the client has provided all the information and documents responsive to the discovery demand.” Advisory Committee Notes to 1983 Amendments to Rule 26(g). “What is reasonable is a matter for the Court to decide on the totality of the circumstances.” Id.11 “[U]nder Rule 26(g)(2) ... [the subject of the inquiry] is the thoroughness, accuracy and honesty (as far as counsel can reasonably tell) of the responses and the process through which they have been assembled.” (G. Joseph § 42(c), p. 541). In this case, it is clear that defendant’s counsel did not make a reasonable effort under the Rule to assure that its client had complied fully with plaintiffs discovery requests and obtained all documents within its possession, custody and control.

2. Textron’s Identification of Designee for Corporate Deposition

Fed.R.Civ.P. 30(b)(6) defines the duty of a corporation, like Textron, when served with a notice of deposition outlining areas of inquiry. The Rule provides that an organization named as a deponent “shall designate one or more officers, directors or managing agents, or other persons who consent to testify on its behalf, and may set forth, for each person designated, the matters on which the person will testify ... a person so designated shall testify as to matters known or reasonably available to the organization.” Id. Thus, a corporation “should make a diligent inquiry to determine what individual(s) is (are) best suited to testify.” Civil Discovery Standards (American Bar Association, Section of Litigation, August 1999) (“ABA Standards”).12

*504Moreover, a corporation served with a Rule 30(b)(6) notice of deposition has a duty to “produce such number of persons as will satisfy the request [and] more importantly, prepare them so that they may give complete, knowledgeable and binding answers on behalf of the corporation.” Marker v. Union Fidelity Life Ins. Co., 125 F.R.D. 121, 126 (M.D.N.C.1989). “Counsel for the entity should prepare the designated witness to be able to provide meaningful information about any designated area(s) of inquiry.” ABA Standards, 19(f) (Duty to Prepare the Witness). The individual(s) so deposed are required to testify to the knowledge of the corporation, not the individual. United States v. J.M. Taylor, 166 F.R.D. 356, 361 (M.D.N.C.1996). See also SEC v. Morelli, 143 F.R.D. 42, 44 (S.D.N.Y.1992) (holding that Rule 30(b)(6) designees need not have first-hand knowledge of the events in question, but if designated must be adequately prepared to field and answer such questions). It necessarily follows that the corporation has a duty “to prepare the designees so that they may give knowledgeable and binding answers for the corporation” and that this duty “goes beyond matters personally known to the designee or to matters in which that designee was personally involved.” Taylor, 166 F.R.D. at 361.

Upon notification of a deposition, the corporation has an obligation to investigate and identify and if necessary prepare a designee for each listed subject area and produce that designee as noticed.

Here, plaintiff made several requests in the form of interrogatories, requests for production of documents, a Rule 30(b)(6) corporate deposition notice and a subpoena duces tecum, for information relating to the following: (1) testing of the golf car (Exs. B, Request No. 6, and C, Interrogatory No. 7, to Paper No. 29); (2) all tort actions against Textron involving rollovers and complaints of instability of the golf car (Exhibit B to Paper No. 52); and (3) the design and testing of the GX-440 and any reports or investigations of accidents involving rollovers or stability problems (Ex. V to Paper No. 29). Nevertheless, when questioned in these areas, specifically about testing revealed in other litigation against E-Z-Go, the designee denied any knowledge of the testing or any recollection of the names of the attorneys involved in other cases. (Ex. S to Paper No. 29). Mr. Powell testified to having served as an expert witness in at least 21 of the 25 previous cases. (Paper No. 29 at 28). Nevertheless, Textron made no systematic effort to obtain or provide any information from those cases; curiously only following up on cases plaintiff was able to identify through his own independent efforts. Textron went so far as to claim, through its designee, that it did not know the names of its former attorneys. (Id.). Defense counsel also limited the witness’ answers to his “personal knowledge.” (Ex. S to Paper No. 29). But perhaps most troubling was Textron’s indifferent attitude to areas that the designee could not cover. A party cannot take a laissez faire approach to the inquiry. That is, producing a designee and seeing what he has to say or what he can cover. A party does not meet its obligations under Rule 26 or 30(b)(6) by figuratively “throwing up its hands in a gesture of helplessness” as Mr. Powell, the corporate designee did in this case.13 If the originally desig*505nated spokesman for the corporation lacks knowledge in the identified areas of inquiry, that does not become the inquiring party’s problem, but demonstrates the responding party’s failure of duty. As the ABA Standards state:

More Than One Person May Be Necessary. When it appears that more than one individual should be designated to testify without duplication on the designated area(s) of inquiry, each such individual should be identified, a reasonable period of time before the date of the deposition, as a designated witness along with a description of the area(s) to which he or she will testify.

19(c).

In light of plaintiffs considerable success in this motion, the Court will grant 75% of the attorney time and expenses related to the motion.

Y. PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO COMPEL

The defendant’s responses to plaintiffs document Request Nos. 16, 17, 18, 22 and 23 were not substantially justified. To the contrary, the Court determined that Textron had failed in its duty as prescribed under Rule 26(g). May 20, 1999 Mem. Op., 18-24. The Advisory Committee Notes explain that “Rule 26(g) imposes an affirmative duty to engage in pretrial discovery in a responsible manner that is consistent with the spirit and purposes of Rules 26-37. In addition, Rule 26(g) is designed to curb discovery abuse by explicitly encouraging the imposition of sanctions. The subdivision provides a deterrent to ... evasion by imposing a certification requirement that obliges each attorney to stop and think about the legitimacy of a discovery request, a response thereto, or an objection ...” Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(g), Advisory Committee Notes to the 1983 Amendments. Under Rule 26(g), a “signature certifies that the lawyer has made a reasonable effort to assure that the client has provided all the information and documents available to him that are responsive to the discovery demand.” (Id.)

As discussed supra> there can be no more powerful proof of the inadequacy of the initial inquiry here than the comparison of the type and quantity of documents produced initially and those produced after the court ordered investigation, inquiry and report to the Court. This Court will not attempt to determine whether the fault lay with the client or with in house counsel or outside counsel. In any event, it should have been clear to outside counsel that the efforts were wanting given the paucity of documents produced. For example, in response to plaintiffs Request No. 16, only one document was produced in response to a request for all test results pertaining to the stability, safety rollovers and warning labels of the subject (and similar) model(s) of golf car. Or in response to Request No. 23 where only a single document was produced in response to a request for all advertisements or promotional materials regarding the subject (or similar) models of golf car for a 12 year period.

Accordingly, the Court finds that Textron’s response' to document requests violated its duty under Rule 26(g), was not substantially justified, and that therefore, an award of expenses is just. Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(a)(4)(A). Because the Court granted the motion as to five of the six contested requests (or 83% of the requests), the Court grants that percentage of the attorney time and other expenses related to this motion. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(a)(4).

YI. AN AWARD OF REASONABLE ATTORNEYS’ FEES AND COSTS IS THE APPROPRIATE SANCTION

In an attempt to ward off any sanction, Textron represents to this Court that its counsel spent at least 154.6 hours on document collection and investigation efforts to comply with the Court’s May 22, 1999 Order, at a cost to Textron of $23,260 (Paper No. 63 at 7), and argues that “it has now cured (at considerable expense) all deficiencies found by the Court and that an award of sanctions could, under the circumstances, be unjust.” (Id. at 5). Such an interpretation of the rules would encourage sharp practices and *506dilatory responses to legitimate discovery demands. If the only sanction for failing to comply with the discovery rules is having to comply with the discovery rules if you are caught, the diligent are punished and the less than diligent, rewarded. Indeed, Rule 37 itself defeats such an interpretation, as it provides, inter alia, that the Court shall award the moving party fees if the discovery is provided by ruling or simply after the motion is filed. Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(a)(4)(A).

This is clearly not a situation where justice should be tempered by mercy, given the comparative resources of the plaintiff and defendant, and the inescapable conclusion that Textron’s stonewalling on discovery played on that disparity. Sanctions are to be awarded “against parties or persons unjustifiably resisting discovery.” Advisory Committee Notes to the 1970 Amendments to Fed.R.Civ.P. 37. Rule 37 sanctions must be applied diligently both “to penalize those whose conduct may be deemed to warrant such a sanction, [and] to deter those who might be tempted to such conduct in the absence of such a deterrent.” Nat’l Hockey League v. Metropolitan Hockey Club, 427 U.S. 639, 643, 96 S.Ct. 2778, 49 L.Ed.2d 747 (1976). Likewise, “Rule 26(g) is designed to curb discovery abuse by explicitly encouraging imposition of sanctions.” Advisory Committee Notes to 1983 Amendments to Fed. R.Civ.P. 26.

However, the Court declines to award sanctions beyond those provided in Rules 37(a) and 26(g) because this Court has stopped short of finding that Textron or its

counsel acted with bad faith, and because Textron has not directly violated a court order, as it had in the case of Winters v. Textron, Inc., 187 F.R.D. 518 (M.D.Pa. 1999).14 In cases of bad faith, courts have ordinarily found direct (and often repeated) violation of court orders. See Mutual Fed. Savings & Loan Assoc. v. Richards & Assoc., Inc., 872 F.2d 88, 92 (4th Cir.1989); see also Melendez v. Illinois Bell Tel. Co., 79 F.3d 661, 671-72 (7th Cir.1996). Significantly, none of the violations that plaintiff identified in his three discovery motions were of court orders. Rather, plaintiff complained of and the Court found that Textron had engaged in a pattern of conduct in discovery violative of the letter and the spirit of the discovery rules. In the absence of a bad faith finding, the Court is not justified in awarding sanctions beyond the relief afforded by Rule 37(a)(4)(A) and Rule 26(g), and certainly not entry of default judgment, as plaintiff repeatedly requested.15 Moreover, with the exception of the Court’s finding of a Rule 26(g) violation, for which imposition of an “appropriate sanction” is permitted (in addition to, or in lieu of an award of expenses), the individual discovery abuses represent violations of Rule 37(a)(4)(A), as Textron did not violate any order of the Court. The remedy available to the Court is thus limited to an award of the “reasonable expenses incurred in making the motion, including attorneys’ fees.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(a)(4)(A).

However, the fact that the Court did not find bad faith does not minimize the wrongheadedness of the conduct of Textron and its counsel or suggest lenience in the imposition *507of the Rule-delineated sanctions. The Court recognizes there is an unquantifiable but real prejudice to plaintiff in the motions practice that Textron’s conduct necessitated and the litigation disadvantages of the delayed and staged receipt of discovery that was its consequence. For example, depositions are taken without the benefit of later received discovery. That later received discovery might have eliminated whole areas of inquiry or suggested entirely different questioning at deposition. In that situation, a lawyer is faced with the dilemma of whether to spend the time and expense to seek another deposition session or “to make do.” Or, belatedly received information may impact an expert’s opinion, requiring additional analysis and a further report and even a further deposition.

Textron argues that its (costly) compliance with the Court’s May 20 Order is “punishment” enough. The Court disagrees. A significant sanction award is crucial to vindicate the important principles of fair play in the largely private world of civil discovery. In complex litigation such as this, cases are shaped, if not won or lost, in the discovery phase. The rules of discovery must necessarily be largely self-enforcing. The integrity of the discovery process rests on the faithfulness of parties and counsel to the rules— both the spirit and the letter. “[T]he discovery provisions of the Federal Rules are meant to function without the need for constant judicial intervention and ... those Rules rely on the honesty and good faith of counsel in dealing with adversaries.” Hopei Garments (Hong Kong), Ltd. v. Oslo Trading Co., 1988 WL 25139 (S.D.N.Y., March 8, 1988). The rules of procedure (and attorneys’ duty to adhere to them) apply with equal force to decisions made in private discussions behind closed doors in a client’s office on how much effort to expend to answer the opposing party’s discovery, as to attorney conduct in the bright light of open court. Given the wealth and resources of Textron,16 any sanction award is obviously more symbolic than retributive. It is intended as a reminder to counsel (both inside and outside) that their duty to the integrity of the judicial process in their discovery conduct trumps their desire to achieve some short run advantage for their clients through sharp practices and close readings of the rules. “If the primary responsibility for conducting discovery is to continue to rest with the litigants, they must be obliged to act responsibly and avoid abuse.” Advisory Committee Notes to 1983 Amendments to Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(g).

Having rejected Textron’s argument that its remedial efforts were a sufficient sanction, the Court will consider the appropriate amount of the sanctions award.

Rule 37 is straight-forward and directive: Courts “shall ... require ... the party or attorney or both of them to pay to the moving party the reasonable expenses incurred in making the motion, including attorney’s fees ... unless ... other circumstances make an award of expenses unjust.” Similarly, Rule 26(g) provides that “[i]f without substantial justification a certification is made in violation of the rule, the court ... shall impose on the [attorney], the party ... or both, an appropriate sanction which may include an order to pay the amount of reasonable expenses incurred because of the violation, including a reasonable attorney’s fee.” Certainly plaintiff has the burden of proof of these reasonable expenses incurred in making the motion or, caused by the violation. However, this Circuit has not adopted any specific analytical approach to the determination of the amount of “reasonable expenses” under either rule.17 Judge Kaufman *508of this Court ruled that Rule 11 analysis is applicable to the imposition of expenses for a violation of Rule 37(d) because “Rule 37, much like Rule 11, is designed to deter future misconduct during discovery.” Gordon v. New England, 168 F.R.D. 178, 180 (D.Md. 1996). Accord Advisory Committee Notes to 1983 Amendments to Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(g) (“Rule 26(g) is designed to curb discovery abuse by explicitly encouraging the imposition of sanctions.”) This Court agrees. “In calculating the sanction, a district court should bear in mind that the purposes of Rule 11 include ‘compensating the victims of the Rule 11 violation, as well as punishing present litigation abuse, streamlining court dockets and facilitating court management.’ ” In re Kunstler, 914 F.2d 505, 522 (4th Cir. 1990). Accord Wouters v. Martin Co., Fla., 9 F.3d 924, 933 (11th Cir.1993). (“Sanctions allowed under Rule 37 are intended to 1) compensate the court and other parties for the added expense caused by discovery abuses, 2) compel discovery, 3) deter others from engaging in similar conduct, and 4) penalize the offending party or attorney.”) The amount of a monetary sanction, however, should always reflect the primary purpose of Rule 11 — deterrence of future litigation abuse. In re Kunstler, 914 F.2d at 522-23. Similarly, Rule 26(g) was added by amendment in 1983 to provide “sanctions along the lines of Rule 11” for certifications in violation of the rule. 8A Charles A. Wright, Arthur R. Miller & Richard L. Marcus, Fed. Practice and Procedure: Civil 2d § 2282.

The Fourth Circuit has enumerated four factors for the district court’s consideration in determining the amount of an attorney’s fee award under Rule 11: “(1) the reasonableness of the opposing party’s attorneys’ fees; (2) the minimum to deter; (3) the ability to pay; (4) factors related to the severity of the Rule 11 violation.” In re Kunstler, 914 F.2d at 522-23. Accord Brubaker v. City of Richmond, 943 F.2d 1363, 1374 (4th Cir.1991). The reasonableness of the attorneys’ fees is to be subject to an “independent” analysis by the court, id. and necessarily requires a review of contemporaneous timesheets to insure that the time expended in the motion was not excessive to the task and (2) a consideration of the hourly rate charged in light of fees charged in the legal community for services of like kind and quality.

Based on its independent analysis, this Court has concluded that the attorneys’ fees and other expenses requested are, in the main, justifiable. As to the time expended, while the Court invited comment, Textron did not identified any work as excessive or duplicative. While the total number of hours — 260.4—and the attorneys’ fees for those hours' — $48,527—are staggering, revi