United States Seventh Circuit
U.S. Sec. & Exch. Comm'n v. Hyatt, 08-4013
District court's order of contempt and award of attorney's fees against nonparties for their failure to adequately respond to two subpoenas duces tecum served on them by the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with litigation between the SEC and another party is vacated where: 1) Rule 45(e) does not require the court to first order compliance before imposing the sanction of contempt, although Rule 45(c) requires an intervening court order if the recipient of the subpoena objects in writing to the production of documents or things, and here, the nonparties did not serve a written objection; and 2) SEC's notice and motion for a rule to show cause did not provide sufficient notice that the district court would decide the contempt issue at the initial hearing as the notice sought only the issuance of a show-cause order and asked the court to set a hearing at which the merits of the contempt issue would later be adjudicated.
Appellate Information
- Argued 05/12/2009
- Decided 09/03/2010
- Published 09/03/2010
Judges
Court
- United States Seventh Circuit