Comply with discovery orders or risk dismissal.

The court held that the trial court's decision to dismiss the plaintiffs' case was not outside the range of principled outcomes. The trial court had already imposed the lesser sanction of striking four of plaintiffs' witnesses, defendants had filed two motions to compel and two motions to dismiss, plaintiffs were given numerous chances to comply with their discovery obligations, and they were warned months earlier that the trial court was ready to dismiss the medical malpractice/wrongful death case. They continued to ignore the discovery order. Plaintiffs' complaint alleged medical malpractice in the prenatal care and delivery of Riley Shane Rhoades, who suffered from numerous health problems when born and died from injuries and ensuing complications sustained during labor and delivery. Plaintiff filed their lawsuit and a scheduling order was entered on 11/18/08. The deposition of the PR (NC) was scheduled and canceled three times, twice at the request of plaintiffs, before it was completed. Also, defendants had difficulty obtaining answers to interrogatories and requests for production of documents. Further, they had trouble scheduling and completing the depositions of plaintiffs' expert witnesses in a timely manner. The trial court entered two discovery orders after entering the scheduling order. The final discovery order entered on 8/7/09, struck four of plaintiffs' witnesses as a discovery sanction, and mandated new discovery deadlines. Plaintiffs partially complied with the order, but did not produce a videotape of the birth or provide deposition dates for three expert witnesses. Also, they provided dates for one expert's deposition that were after the 11/15/09 deadline. On 10/9/09, the trial court dismissed plaintiffs' case for failure to comply with the 8/7/09 discovery order. The court concluded that plaintiffs plainly violated the discovery order. They did not provide deposition dates for three expert witnesses who were specifically named in the order and they provided a date after the deadline for one expert witness. They also did not produce the videotape of the birth, indicating that it was "missing." The trial court had the authority pursuant to MCR 2. 313(B)(2)(c) to dismiss their case for failure to comply with its discovery order. The court considered the Dean factors and concluded the trial court's dismissal of the plaintiffs' case was proper. Affirmed.