On March 27, 2013, the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit issued an opinion in Klein-Becker USA, LLC v. Englert holding that personal liability may be established through entry of default judgment. Plaintiffs Klein-Becker USA and Klein-Becker IP Holdings own and control the trademarks to StriVectin-SD and StriVectin, a line of skin care products that could only be sold through authorized sellers approved and trained by the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs brought a suit against Patrick Englert and his company Mr. Finest Supplements, Inc. alleging trademark infringement, unfair competition and other claims, because he was allegedly selling StriVectin without their authorization, including selling stolen StriVectin and StriVectin that he attained fraudulently.

After the district court granted a series of plaintiffs' motions for discovery sanctions, the court entered default judgment against the defendant. The motions for discovery sanctions were based on the defendant's repeated failure to meet his discovery obligations, including failure to comply with court orders directing him to:

In granting the final motion for discovery sanctions, the district court entered default judgment under FRCP 37(b)(2)(A)(vi) against both Mr. Finest Supplements, Inc. and Mr. Englert in his personal capacity on all remaining claims.

On appeal, the Tenth Circuit joined other circuits in holding that personal liability may be established through entry of default judgment and that the district court properly established the defendant's personal liability through the entry of default judgment against him for his noncompliance with discovery orders. Accordingly, the Tenth Circuit held that no further findings on the issue of Mr. Englert's personal liability were necessary.