Wyatt Processing, LLC appeals the trial court’s order finding it in contempt of an order compelling post-judgment discovery. Given the trial court’s broad discretion in controlling discovery and enforcing compliance through its contempt powers, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in finding Wyatt in contempt and ordering it to account for missing funds, to pay Bell’s attorney fees, and to pay a daily penalty until the post-judgment discovery was answered. We therefore affirm.
In September 2005, after a bench trial, Bell obtained a judgment against Wyatt in the amount of $79,828.44, plus interest and costs. Post-judgment interrogatories and requests for production were served but not answered, and in March 2006, Bell filed a motion to compel discovery. In April 2006, the trial court ordered Wyatt to respond to the post-judgment discovery and awarded attorney fees.
Counsel for Wyatt represented to Bell’s counsel that Wyatt was insolvent and defunct. But this was not in fact the case. Wyatt was not only an active corporation; it received $300,000 in settlement of an outstanding claim in bankruptcy, and that money was tunneled through Wyatt and distributed to its principals instead of being used to pay the outstanding judgment. When Bell became aware of this deception, it filed the subject motion for contempt.
After a hearing, the trial court found Wyatt in wilful contempt of its order compelling discovery. The court ordered Wyatt to pay $200 per day into the registry of the court until post-judgment discovery was complete, retroactive to the date of the hearing. That daily fine would be suspended if Wyatt promptly paid the judgment. The trial court also ordered Wyatt to pay Bell’s attorney fees and to provide an accounting of any monies received from the bankruptcy estate or any other source. This appeal followed. 1
Trial judges have broad discretion in controlling discovery, including imposition of sanctions, and appellate courts will not reverse a trial court’s decision on such matters unless there has been a clear abuse of discretion. This policy is peculiarly applicable in the context of allegations of discovery abuse. [Cit.]
Collins v. Dickman,
Wyatt’s arguments against the imposition of sanctions are without merit. It first argues laches because of Bell’s delay in filing its motion. However, Wyatt failed to raise this issue at the hearing, and it filed no brief in response to Bell’s motion for contempt. “On appeal, this court does not review issues which were not raised and ruled on below. [Cit.]”
Tyler v. Bennett,
Wyatt next argues that the trial court’s penalty of $200 per day until it complies with the order is excessive. But the Georgia Supreme Court approved an identical penalty for failure to obey a trial court’s order in
City of Cumming v. Realty Dev. Corp.,
Finally, although it again failed to raise its arguments below and cites no legal authority to support its contentions, Wyatt argues that the trial court had no power to order compliance with its discovery order because post-judgment discovery should not be “ongoing” for
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longer than six months. It also argues that the trial court had no power to order an accounting of the monies funneled through Wyatt to its principals. But Wyatt was not merely failing to respond to post-judgment discovery; it ignored a court order to do so. See generally
Ostroff v. Coyner,
Judgment affirmed.
Notes
We note that Wyatt failed to order or pay for the filing of the transcript, which would justify dismissal of the appeal but for the fact that Bell paid for and filed the transcript in order to defend the ruling in its favor.