Phyllis Racy v. AR Child Support Enf, No. 06-2221 (8th Cir. 2007)
Annotate this CaseCourt Description: Civil case - employment discrimination. District court did not abuse its discretion in dismissing plaintiff's Title VII action for failure to comply with discovery requests and orders.
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United States Court of Appeals FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT ___________ No. 06-2221 ___________ Phyllis D. Racy, * * Appellant, * * Appeal from the United States v. * District Court for the Eastern * District of Arkansas. Arkansas Child Support Enforcement * Unit, Revenue Division, * [UNPUBLISHED] * Appellee. * ___________ Submitted: October 12, 2007 Filed: October 22, 2007 ___________ Before WOLLMAN, COLLOTON, and BENTON, Circuit Judges. ___________ PER CURIAM. Phyllis Racy appeals the district court s1 dismissal without prejudice of her Title VII action for failure to comply with a discovery order, and argues that counsel should have been appointed for her. We affirm. We conclude the district court did not abuse its discretion in dismissing the action, given that Racy ignored defendant s repeated discovery requests for over a 1 The Honorable George Howard, Jr., late a United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas. year, ignored the district court s order compelling her to respond to such requests, and never provided any justification for her failure to respond. See Doe v. Cassel, 403 F.3d 986, 990 (8th Cir. 2005) (per curiam) (standard of review of Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(b) dismissal); Hairston v. Alert Safety Light Prods., Inc., 307 F.3d 717, 718-19 (8th Cir. 2002) (standard of review of Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(b)(2) dismissal); Hutchins v. A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc., 116 F.3d 1256, 1259-60 (8th Cir. 1997) (noncompliance underlying Rule 41(b) dismissal must be deliberate). We also conclude the district court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to appoint counsel for Racy, who appeared capable of presenting her case and gave no indication--below or on appeal--that she could not, without counsel, respond properly to defendant s discovery requests. See Phillips v. Jasper County Jail, 437 F.3d 791, 794 (8th Cir. 2006) (standard of review; relevant factors include ability of indigent person to investigate facts and present claims). Accordingly, we affirm. ______________________________ -2-
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