United States v. Darwin Construction Co.

680 F. Supp. 739 (1988)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

On June 23, 1986, the Court ordered Darwin (D) to comply with the IRS summons or face penalties of $5000 per day for non-compliance. D had been asked for the documents before the order. The next day, D produced some but not all of the documents required by the IRS. The IRS informed D that the response was not complete on the 27^th. On June 30, D provided the rest of the documents. At a hearing, it was shown that D knew the documents were missing or had taken no special steps to ensure compliance with the court order. The court determined that D was in civil contempt and must pay $30,000 in penalties. On the date, its payment was due on the civil contempt fine D filed a motion to set aside or reduce the fine pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(e). D argued that it had made reasonable efforts to comply and the court was punishing D for failures prior to the order. D claimed that it had substantially complied and did so in good faith. D claims that the items produced six days late were 'lost' and that 'considering only the period from the contempt order forward, immediate production of the lost items was impossible.'