Opinion
CASE NO. 1:05cv1795.
March 14, 2007
ORDER
On February 15, 2007, the Court ordered a corporate representative of Defendant J.W. Bock Construction, Inc. ("J.W. Bock") to appear for a deposition to occur at the Court's chambers. The order indicated that failure to appear "will result in additional sanctions, including INCARCERATION of Mr. Jeff Lisy as a corporate representative for J.W. Bock ." (Doc. 47 (emphasis in original). A representative of J.W. Bock failed to appear or otherwise explain its failure to comply with that order, although counsel for Plaintiff was present. That was not the first Court order that this defendant has violated in this case; a prior order directed a representative of J.W. Bock to appear for a deposition at Plaintiff's counsel's office in October 2006, which never occurred. The Court awarded Plaintiff costs and fees for that failure. Given this defendant's repeated violations of, and apparent disregard for, this Court's orders, even though J.W. Bock and Mr. Lisy were given notice that continued violation would result in incarceration, the Court has no choice but to hold J.W. Bock and Mr. Lisy in civil contempt and issue a warrant for Mr. Lisy's arrest.
A corporate officer may be held in contempt for violation of a Court order directed at a corporation. The Supreme Court has explained that:
A command to the corporation is in effect a command to those who are officially responsible for the conduct of its affairs. If they, apprised of the writ directed at the corporation, prevent compliance or fail to take appropriate action within their power for the performance of a corporate duty, they, no less than the corporation itself, are guilty of disobedience, and may be punished for contempt.Wilson v. United States, 221 U.S. 361, 376 (1911). In addition, the specific corporate officer to be held in contempt need not be a defendant in the case or even referenced in the violated order. See Elec. Workers Pension Trust Fund of Local Union #58, IBEW v. Gary's Elec. Serv. Co., 340 F.3d 373, 382 (6th Cir. 2003) ("whether or not [the corporate officer] was named defendant in the order, or even mentioned at all, is not controlling.") To provide additional notice to Mr. Lisy, however, the Court indicated specifically that Mr. Lisy would be incarcerated for failure to comply with the Court's order.
Therefore, the Court ORDERS that a warrant for the arrest of Mr. Jeff Lisy, corporate agent of J.W. Bock Construction, Inc., 10303 Dewey Road, Brecksville, Ohio 44141, be issued forthwith and, upon arrest, that Mr. Lisy be brought before the Court.
This the most recent address for J.W. Bock provided to the Court. A previous address used by Plaintiff in its notice of deposition is: 10133 Brecksville Road, Brecksville, Ohio 44141.