U.S. District Judge David W. Dugan granted plaintiffs Nicholas and Shonte Mueller's motion for sanctions in the Southern District of Illinois, finding the city and City Manager Robert Betts demonstrated "willful, bad-faith, and contumacious noncompliance" with two successive court orders. The Muellers allege they were retaliated against for whistleblowing and had their employment terminated — Nicholas Mueller was the city's assistant chief of police and Shonte Mueller served as a commissioner on the East St. Louis Housing Authority board.
The opinion details a pattern of noncompliance beginning with a May 12, 2025 order compelling supplemental discovery responses. Instead of producing responsive documents, the city produced only Nicholas Mueller's personnel file and a blanket objection to discovery directed at Shonte Mueller. During subsequent conference calls, defense counsel admitted he had been unable to obtain responses from his client despite repeated attempts.
A second order issued February 10, 2026 required production of Mueller's full compensation records within seven days, a renewed ESI search within 10 days, sworn declarations identifying custodians and search methods, payment of $3,074.50 in attorney fees by February 27, and a $100 per business day coercive sanction for noncompliance. The order also warned that failure to comply would result in the court ordering the defendants to retain a neutral forensic vendor at their sole expense.
Defendants did nothing for nearly a month. During his deposition, Betts admitted under oath that he had never searched his email or phone for responsive communications and that no one had asked him to do so.
"Have you looked through your e-mail to see if you have e-mails that relate to kind of the subject of this litigation?" Betts was asked.
"No, I haven't," he replied.
The court found that monetary sanctions proved futile, with defendants willing to absorb accumulating fines rather than comply. The $3,074.50 in attorney fees was ultimately paid four days after plaintiffs filed their sanctions motion, and only partial 2023 pay stubs were produced on March 20 — far short of the full compensation records ordered.
Judge Dugan rejected defendants' argument that internal municipal bureaucracy excused their noncompliance, citing precedent that governmental defendants receive no special exemption from Rule 37 obligations.
"Internal confusion or processing does not excuse lack of effort in notifying the Court of the challenges he faced," the court wrote, quoting from a prior case.
The court also noted that excuses regarding purged payroll records and separate pension funds "could and should have been discovered and communicated to Plaintiffs and the Court long ago rather than ignored for nearly a full year."
Default judgment was entered against the city and Betts on all claims asserted against them. The court also ordered the defendants to retain a neutral forensic vendor within seven days to image relevant devices and email accounts, pay $7,771.50 in attorney fees for preparing the sanctions motion within 14 days, and pay the accrued daily penalty of $3,100 within 21 days. The $100 per day coercive sanction continues to accrue until full compliance.
The court sua sponte extended the discovery deadline to May 22, 2026, and vacated the final pretrial conference and trial dates, which will be reset by separate order.