Rule 37.Failure to Make Disclosure or Cooperate in Discovery: Sanctions.
Last amended April 15, 2009 · Last verified July 6, 2026
In one sentenceRule 37 lets a party ask the court to compel disclosure or discovery that another side has withheld, and lays out the sanctions — including paying the other side's attorney's fees, striking claims, or even a default judgment — for violating a discovery order or otherwise obstructing discovery.
(a)Motion for Order Compelling Disclosure or Discovery. A party, upon reasonable notice to other parties and all persons affected thereby, may apply for an order compelling disclosure or discovery as follows:
(1)Appropriate Court. An application for an order to a party may be made to the court in which the action is pending, or, on matters relating to a deposition, to the court in the judicial district where the deposition is being taken. An application for an order to a deponent who is not a party shall be made to the court in the judicial district where the deposition is being taken.
(2)Motion.
(A)If a party fails to make a disclosure required by Rule 26(a) or Rule 26.1(b), any other party may move to compel disclosure and for appropriate sanctions. The motion must include a certification that the movant has in good faith conferred or attempted to confer with the party not making the disclosure in an effort to secure the disclosure without court action.
(B)If a deponent fails to answer a question propounded or submitted under Rules 30 or 31, or a corporation or other entity fails to make a designation under Rule 30(b)(6) or 31(a), or a party fails to answer an interrogatory submitted under Rule 33, or if a party, in response to a request for inspection submitted under Rule 34, fails to respond that inspection will be permitted as requested or fails to permit inspection as requested, the discovering party may move for an order compelling an answer, or a designation, or an order compelling inspection in accordance with the request. The motion must include a certification that the movant has in good faith conferred or attempted to confer with the person or party failing to make the discovery in an effort to secure the information or material without court action. When taking a deposition on oral examination, the proponent of the question may complete or adjourn the examination before applying for an order.
(3)Evasive or Incomplete Disclosure, Answer, or Response. For purposes of this subdivision an evasive or incomplete disclosure, answer, or response is to be treated as a failure to disclose, answer, or respond.
(4)Expenses and Sanctions.
(A)If the motion is granted or if the disclosure or requested discovery is provided after the motion was filed, the court shall, after affording an opportunity to be heard, require the party or deponent whose conduct necessitated the motion or the party or attorney advising such conduct or both of them to pay to the moving party the reasonable expenses incurred in making the motion, including attorney’s fees, unless the court finds that the motion was filed without the movant’s first making a good faith effort to obtain the disclosure or discovery without court action, or that the opposing party’s nondisclosure, response or objection was substantially justified, or that other circumstances make an award of expenses unjust.
(B)If the motion is denied, the court may enter any protective order authorized under Rule 26(c) and shall, after affording an opportunity to be heard, require the moving party or the attorney filing the motion or both of them to pay to the party or deponent who opposed the motion the reasonable expenses incurred in opposing the motion, including attorney’s fees, unless the court finds that the making of the motion was substantially justified or that other circumstances make an award of expenses unjust.
(C)If the motion is granted in part and denied in part, the court may enter any protective order authorized under Rule 26(c) and may, after affording an opportunity to be heard, apportion the reasonable expenses incurred in relation to the motion among the parties and persons in a just manner.
(1)Sanctions by Court in Judicial District Where Deposition is Taken. If a deponent fails to be sworn or to answer a question after being directed to do so by the court in the judicial district in which the deposition is being taken, the failure may be considered a contempt of that court.
(2)Sanctions By Court in Which Action is Pending. If a party or an officer, director, or managing agent of a party or a person designated under Rule 30(b)(6) or 31(a) to testify on behalf of a party fails to obey an order to provide or permit discovery, including an order made under subdivision (a) of this rule or Rule 35, or if a party fails to obey an order entered under Rule 16(e) or 26(b), the court in which the action is pending may make such orders in regard to the failure as are just, and among others the following:
(A)An order that the matters regarding which the order was made or any other designated facts shall be taken to be established for the purposes of the action in accordance with the claim of the party obtaining the order;
(B)An order refusing to allow the disobedient party to support or oppose designated claims or defenses, or prohibiting that party from introducing designated matters in evidence;
(C)An order striking out pleadings or parts thereof, or staying further proceedings until the order is obeyed, or dismissing the action or proceeding or any part thereof, or rendering a judgment by default against the disobedient party;
(D)In lieu of any of the foregoing orders or in addition thereto, an order treating as a contempt of court the failure to obey any orders except an order to submit to physical or mental examination;
(E)Where a party has failed to comply with an order under Rule 35(a) requiring that party to produce another for examination, such orders as are listed in paragraphs (A), (B), and (C) of this subdivision, unless the party failing to comply shows that that party is unable to produce such person for examination.
In lieu of any of the foregoing orders or in addition thereto, the court shall require the party failing to obey the order or the attorney advising that party or both to pay the reasonable expenses, including attorney’s fees, caused by the failure, unless the court finds that the failure was substantially justified or that other circumstances make an award of expenses unjust.
(3)Standard for Imposition of Sanctions. Prior to making an order under sections (A), (B), or (C) of subparagraph (b)(2) the court shall consider
(A)the nature of the violation, including the willfulness of the conduct and the materiality of the information that the party failed to disclose;
(B)the prejudice to the opposing party;
(C)the relationship between the information the party failed to disclose and the proposed sanction;
(D)whether a lesser sanction would adequately protect the opposing party and deter other discovery violations; and
(E)other factors deemed appropriate by the court or required by law.
The court shall not make an order that has the effect of establishing or dismissing a claim or defense or determining a central issue in the litigation unless the court finds that the party acted willfully.
(c)Failure to Disclose; False or Misleading Disclosure; Refusal to Admit.
(1)A party that without substantial justification fails to disclose information required by Rules 26(a), 26(e)(1), or 26.1(b) shall not, unless such failure is harmless, be permitted to use as evidence at a trial, at a hearing, or on a motion any witness or information not so disclosed. In addition to or in lieu of this sanction, the court, on motion and after affording an opportunity to be heard, may impose other appropriate sanctions. In addition to requiring payment of reasonable expenses, including attorney’s fees, caused by the failure, these sanctions may include any of the actions authorized under sections (A), (B), and (C) of subparagraph (b)(2) of this rule and may include informing the jury of the failure to make the disclosure.
(2)If a party fails to admit the genuineness of any document or the truth of any matter as requested under Rule 36, and if the party requesting the admissions thereafter proves the genuineness of the document or the truth of the matter, the requesting party may apply to the court for an order requiring the other party to pay the reasonable expenses incurred in making that proof, including reasonable attorney’s fees. The court shall make the order unless it finds that (A) the request was held objectionable pursuant to Rule 36(a), or (B) the admission sought was of no substantial importance, or (C) the party failing to admit had reasonable ground to believe that the party might prevail on the matter, or (D) there was other good reason for the failure to admit.
(d)Failure of Party to Attend at Own Deposition or Serve Answers to Interrogatories or Respond to Request for Inspection. If a party or an officer, director, or managing agent of a party or a person designated under Rule 30(b)(6) or 31(a) to testify on behalf of a party fails (1) to appear before the officer who is to take the deposition, after being served with a proper notice, or (2) to serve answers or objections to interrogatories submitted under Rule 33, after proper service of the interrogatories, or (3) to serve a written response to a request for inspection submitted under Rule 34, after proper service of the request, the court in which the action is pending on motion may make such orders in regard to the failure as are just, and among others it may take any action authorized under sections (A), (B), and (C) of subparagraph (b)(2) of this rule. Any motion specifying a failure under clause (2) or (3) of this subdivision shall include a certification that the movant has in good faith conferred or attempted to confer with the party failing to answer or respond in an effort to obtain such answer or response without court action. In lieu of any order or in addition thereto, the court shall require the party failing to act or the attorney advising that party or both to pay the reasonable expenses, including attorney’s fees, caused by the failure, unless the court finds that the failure was substantially justified or that other circumstances make an award of expenses unjust.
The failure to act described in this paragraph may not be excused on the ground that the discovery sought is objectionable unless the party failing to act has a pending motion for a protective order as provided by Rule 26(c).
(f)Electronically Stored Information. Absent exceptional circumstances, a court may not impose sanctions under these rules on a party for failing to provide electronically stored information lost as a result of the routine, good-faith operation of an electronic information system.
(g)Failure to Cooperate in Discovery or to Participate in the Framing of a Discovery Plan. If a party or a party’s attorney engages in unreasonable, groundless, abusive, or obstructionist conduct during the course of discovery or fails to participate in good faith in the development and submission of a proposed discovery plan as required by Rule 26(f), the court may, after opportunity for hearing, require such party or attorney to pay to any other party the reasonable expenses, including attorney’s fees, caused by the conduct.
Amendment History
(Adopted by SCO 5 October 9, 1959; amended by SCO 158 effective February 15, 1973; by SCO 888 effective July 15, 1988; by SCO 1026 effective July 15, 1990; by SCO 1153 effective July 15, 1994; by SCO 1172 effective July 15, 1995; by SCO 1325 effective July 15, 1998; and by SCO 1682 effective April 15, 2009)
Notes
(b)(1) CROSS REFERNCE: AS 09.50.010
Plain-English Summary
A party who hasn't received disclosures required by the initial-disclosure rules, or who can't get a deponent to answer, an interrogatory answered, or documents produced, may move to compel, but only after certifying a good-faith attempt to work it out without court action. An evasive or incomplete answer counts as no answer at all. If the motion succeeds — or the missing discovery shows up only after the motion was filed — the court must make the resisting party or its attorney pay the moving party's reasonable expenses, including attorney's fees, unless the motion was filed without a genuine attempt to resolve the dispute first, the resistance was substantially justified, or some other circumstance would make an award unfair. If the motion fails, the same fee-shifting runs the other way, and if it succeeds only in part, the court can divide the expenses in a just manner between the sides.
Once a court has ordered discovery and a party still won't comply, the consequences escalate. A deponent who refuses to be sworn or answer after a judicial directive can be held in contempt. A party who disobeys a discovery order can face an order that treats disputed facts as established against it, that bars it from supporting or opposing designated claims or defenses, that strikes its pleadings or dismisses the action, or — in the case of a party who won't produce someone for a court-ordered physical or mental exam — similar sanctions unless it shows it can't produce that person. Before imposing the harshest of these sanctions, the court weighs how willful and material the violation was, the prejudice to the other side, whether a lighter sanction would work just as well, and other relevant factors, and it can't dismiss a claim, establish one, or decide a central issue in the case unless the violation was willful. Either way, the court must also make the noncompliant party or its lawyer pay the resulting expenses and fees unless the failure was substantially justified or an award would be unjust.
A party that fails without substantial justification to make a required disclosure generally can't use the undisclosed witness or information at trial, a hearing, or on a motion, unless the failure was harmless, and the court can add further sanctions on top of that, including telling the jury about the failure. A party who wrongly refuses to admit something that later gets proven true can be ordered to pay the proving party's expenses in establishing it, unless the request was objectionable, the admission wasn't significant, the party had reasonable grounds to expect to prevail, or there's some other good reason for the refusal. A court generally can't sanction a party for losing electronically stored information through the routine, good-faith operation of its own systems, absent exceptional circumstances. And a party or lawyer who behaves unreasonably, abusively, or obstructively during discovery, or who won't participate in good faith in developing a discovery plan, can be ordered to cover the other side's resulting expenses and fees.
Frequently Asked Questions
What can I do if the other side won't answer my discovery requests?
File a motion to compel under Rule 37(a), but only after certifying that you tried in good faith to work it out first; if you win the motion, the court generally makes the other side pay your reasonable expenses and fees.
What happens if a party disobeys a court order to produce discovery?
The court can treat disputed facts as established against that party, bar it from supporting certain claims or defenses, strike its pleadings, dismiss the case, or even enter a default judgment, depending on how serious and willful the violation was.
Can I be sanctioned for losing emails or other electronic files?
Generally not, if the loss happened through the routine, good-faith operation of your own electronic systems and no exceptional circumstances are shown.
Do I get my attorney's fees back if I win a motion to compel?
Usually yes — the court must order the losing side to pay your reasonable expenses and fees unless its resistance was substantially justified or an award would otherwise be unjust.
Source & verification. The rule text, Amendment History, and Notes are reproduced verbatim from the
official Alaska Rules of Civil Procedure (Alaska R. Civ. P. 37). Prescribed by the Supreme Court of Alaska (Alaska Const. art. IV, § 15). The plain-English summary is original and written by us. Last verified July 6, 2026. ·
Official source
Also known as:motion to compel discovery Alaskadiscovery sanctions Alaska civil rulefailure to disclose sanctions Alaskaspoliation electronically stored information AlaskaAlaska R. Civ. P. 37