Supreme Court Decision Alert - April 18, 2017

Today, the Supreme Court issued two decisions, described below, of interest to the business community.

• Due Process—Civil Sanctions
• Federal Employees Health Benefits Act—Preemption of State Law

Due Process—Civil Sanctions

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. v. Haeger, No. 15-1406

After Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. conceded withholding damaging information that was responsive to discovery requests, a federal district court entered sanctions, requiring Goodyear to pay the plaintiffs' attorneys' fees from the time of the first misrepresentation to the end of the case.  The district court acknowledged that not all of those fees had been caused by Goodyear's misconduct but deemed the sanction appropriate, as an exercise of the court's inherent powers, given the egregiousness of the violation.  The court of appeals affirmed.  Today, the Supreme Court vacated the discovery sanction, holding that a party sanctioned for bad-faith conduct can be taxed only for fees that