The Iowa Supreme Court issued an opinion today recognizing the district court's authority to order attorneys' fees as a sanction for a person's violation of a protective order. The Court held that such sanctions are authorized by Rules 1.517(2)(b)(4)-(5) and 1.602(5). Rule 1.517 relates to discovery orders and Rule 1.602 relates to pretrial orders.
There are at least a few interesting procedural aspects of today's opinion:
First, the underlying litigation had been settled and dismissed. The Court ruled the district court still had authority to enforce its prior orders in the litigation.
Second, the Court held that "[a] protective order is an 'order to provide or permit discovery' under rule 1.517(2)(b), which is a principle not immediately clear from the language of the rule.
Third, the sanctioned individual (the husband of the plaintiff) was not a party to the underlying litigation, but was a party to the protective order.
The opinion is Reis v. Iowa Dist. Ct. for Polk County, No. 08-1087 (Iowa May 7, 2010).
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