From our private database of 47,500+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

Degrelle v. Simon Wiesenthal Center

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
1989 WL 90172 (1989)

Written by Sharon Feldman, JD

Facts

Leon Degrelle (plaintiff) sued Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) (defendant) for racketeering, assault, false imprisonment, invasion of privacy, and defamation. Degrelle alleged that the SWC had labeled him a Nazi war criminal and offered a $1 million reward for his capture. SWC moved to dismiss the complaint after Degrelle failed to appear for his noticed and re-noticed deposition. The district court denied the motion, directed Degrelle to appear in Los Angeles to be deposed within 60 days of receiving notice, and warned Degrelle that his action would be dismissed if he failed to appear without obtaining a protective order. SWC re-noticed Degrelle’s deposition, and Degrelle moved for a protective order requesting that the deposition be deferred until 10 days before trial or be conducted by written interrogatories. The magistrate denied the motion, ruling that there was sufficient evidence that Degrelle could not afford to travel from Spain to California and requiring SWC to pay for Degrelle’s round-trip airfare. SWC sent Degrelle a round-trip ticket, but Degrelle failed to appear on the date set by the magistrate. SWC moved for default judgment. The district court dismissed Degrelle’s action with prejudice. Degrelle appealed.

Rule of Law

The rule of law is the black letter law upon which the court rested its decision. To access this section, please start your free trial or log in.

Issue

The issue section includes the dispositive legal issue in the case phrased as a question. To access this section, please start your free trial or log in.

Holding and Reasoning (Per curiam)

The holding and reasoning section includes:

A "yes" or "no" answer to the question framed in the issue section;
A summary of the majority or plurality opinion, using the CREAC method; and
The procedural disposition (e.g., reversed and remanded, affirmed, etc.).

To access this section, please start your free trial or log in.

What to do next…

Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.
You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 964,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.
Unlock this case brief Read our student testimonials
Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.
Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.
Learn about our approach Read more about Quimbee

Here's why 964,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 47,500 briefs, keyed to 1,006 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
AI-generated podcast version of every brief — listen on the go, between classes, or whenever reading isn’t an option. New

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Here's why 964,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
47,500 briefs - keyed to 1,006 casebooks
Uniform format for every case brief
Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
Top-notch customer support