Case: 23-2367     Document: 51           Page: 1       Filed: 07/16/2024




   United States Court of Appeals
       for the Federal Circuit
                   ______________________

            BACKERTOP LICENSING LLC,
                 Plaintiff-Appellant

                       LORI LAPRAY,
                       Movant-Appellant

                                   v.

                CANARY CONNECT, INC.,
                      Defendant

            -------------------------------------------------

            BACKERTOP LICENSING LLC,
                 Plaintiff-Appellant

                       LORI LAPRAY,
                       Movant-Appellant

                                   v.

                   AUGUST HOME, INC.,
                         Defendant
                   ______________________

       2023-2367, 2023-2368, 2024-1016, 2024-1017
                ______________________

     Appeals from the United States District Court for the
 District of Delaware in Nos. 1:22-cv-00572-CFC, 1:22-cv-
 00573-CFC, Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly.
                  ______________________
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 2         BACKERTOP LICENSING LLC v. CANARY CONNECT, INC.




                   Decided: July 16, 2024
                  ______________________

    DAVID L. FINGER, Finger & Slanina LLC, Wilmington,
 DE, argued for plaintiff-appellant and movant-appellant.

     W. DAVID MAXWELL, Hogan Lovells US LLP, Washing-
 ton, DC, argued for amicus curiae W. David Maxwell. Also
 represented by PAGET CAROLINE BARRANCO, ABBY WALTER
 GRAY.
                  ______________________

     Before PROST, HUGHES, and STOLL, Circuit Judges.
 HUGHES, Circuit Judge.
     Backertop Licensing LLC and Lori LaPray appeal the
 U.S. District Court of Delaware’s sua sponte order requir-
 ing Ms. LaPray to appear in-person before the District
 Court for testimony regarding potential fraud on the court,
 as well as the District Court’s order of monetary sanctions
 against Ms. LaPray for subsequently failing to appear. Be-
 cause these orders were within the District Court’s inher-
 ent authority and were not abuses of discretion, we affirm
 the District Court.
                              I
                             A
      Over the past year and a half, the Chief Judge of the
 District of Delaware has identified potential attorney and
 party misconduct in dozens of related patent cases. See,
 e.g., Nimitz Techs. LLC v. CNET Media, Inc., No. 21-1247,
 

, at *10–12 (D. Del. Nov. 30, 2020);
 Backertop Licensing LLC v. Canary Connect, Inc., No. 22-
 572 (D. Del. Apr. 28, 2022); Backertop Licensing LLC v. Au-
 gust Home, Inc., No. 22-573 (D. Del. Apr. 28, 2022). The
 plaintiffs in these cases are limited liability companies
 (plaintiff LLCs) that seem to be associated with IP Edge, a
 patent monetization firm, and Mavexar, an affiliated con-
 sulting shop. See, e.g., Nimitz, 

, at *10–
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 BACKERTOP LICENSING LLC v. CANARY CONNECT, INC.             3



 12. In the District Court’s detailed memorandum, it found
 that IP Edge and Mavexar appear to have created all of the
 plaintiff LLCs; recruited outside individuals to serve as
 their sole owners; assigned patents to the plaintiff LLCs for
 little or no consideration; retained the rights to the major-
 ity of royalties and settlement proceeds; and reported a
 complete assignment to the United States Patent and
 Trademark Office (PTO)—all without disclosing IP Edge’s
 ongoing rights in any patent-related proceedings. See 

 at
 *16–25. The District Court found that IP Edge and
 Mavexar then directed infringement litigation asserting
 those patents—including overseeing the attorneys and
 agreeing to settlements—with seemingly little to no input
 from the plaintiff LLCs’ owners. 

 at *18–25.
      The District Court developed concerns that this ar-
 rangement may conceal from the court the real parties in
 interest: IP Edge and Mavexar. Id. at *26; see also Fed. R.
 Civ. P. 17(a)(1) (“An action must be prosecuted in the name
 of the real party in interest.”). The District Court was also
 concerned whether “those real parties in interest perpe-
 trated a fraud on the court by fraudulently conveying to a
 shell LLC [the patents] and filing a fictitious patent assign-
 ment with the PTO designed to shield those parties from
 potential liability they would otherwise face in asserting
 [the patents] in litigation.” Nimitz, 

, at
 *26. Further, the District Court noted that the plaintiff
 LLCs and their counsel may have violated local disclosure
 rules by failing to disclose IP Edge’s or Mavexar’s funding
 for the litigation. 

 Finally, the District Court explained
 that plaintiff LLCs’ attorneys may have violated the Rules
 of Professional Conduct by filing, settling, and dismissing
 litigation at the direction of Mavexar, a non-legal consult-
 ing firm, without the informed consent of the plaintiff
 LLCs’ owners. 

 at *13–18.
     In November 2022, the District Court held evidentiary
 hearings to gather more information about its concerns re-
 garding the conduct of the parties. J.A. 1–2. After the hear-
 ings, the District Court ordered the plaintiff LLCs and
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 4          BACKERTOP LICENSING LLC v. CANARY CONNECT, INC.




 their counsel to provide documents that indicated that pa-
 tents had been transferred to shell LLCs. 

 One of the
 plaintiff LLCs challenged these inquiries in a petition for
 mandamus to this court. In re Nimitz Techs. LLC, No. 23-
 103, 

, at *1 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 8, 2022). We
 denied the petition, confirming that the District Court has
 inherent authority to seek information related to the con-
 duct of the parties. 

 at *2–3 (the District Court’s con-
 cerns “[a]ll are related to potential legal issues in the case,
 subject to the ‘principle of party presentation’ . . . or to as-
 pects of proper practice before the court, over which district
 courts have a range of authority preserved by the Federal
 Rules of Civil Procedure” (citing Fed. R. Civ. P. 83(b);
 Chambers v. NASCO, Inc., 

 (1991))).
                                B
     The cases involving Backertop Licensing LLC (Back-
 ertop), and the orders that are the subject of this appeal,
 are part of the District Court’s inquiry. Ms. LaPray is the
 sole owner of Backertop. In 2022, Backertop filed at least
 twelve patent infringement cases in federal district courts
 in California, Colorado, New York, Texas, and Delaware.
 See J.A. 14, 21 (collecting cases). Ms. LaPray is also the
 managing member of six other LLCs that have filed at least
 ninety-seven patent infringement cases in federal district
 courts. See J.A. 17–20 (collecting cases as of July 2023). In
 the Backertop cases, the District Court identified the same
 pattern of potential misconduct seen in the other IP Edge-
 linked and Mavexar-linked cases.
     In March 2023, after this court denied the mandamus
 petition challenging the production orders in In re Nimitz,
 the District Court ordered Backertop, Ms. LaPray, and
 their attorneys to produce documents and communications
 relating to the District Court’s concerns regarding fraud on
 the court. See J.A. 125–29; see also J.A. 3 (explaining that
 the District Court refrained from issuing the document pro-
 duction order in Backertop while the In re Nimitz manda-
 mus petition was pending). The District Court also ordered
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 BACKERTOP LICENSING LLC v. CANARY CONNECT, INC.             5



 Ms. LaPray to submit a declaration identifying “any and
 all assets owned by Backertop.” J.A. 129.
      In response, on April 3, 2023, Backertop moved to set
 aside the document production order, arguing that it was
 overly broad, sought privileged information, and exceeded
 the District Court’s jurisdiction. See J.A. 4–5. Several
 weeks later, pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1)(A)(ii),
 Backertop filed a joint stipulation of dismissal. J.A. 130.
 Four days later, Backertop’s local counsel, Jimmy Chong,
 filed a motion to withdraw as counsel, explaining that he
 “[was] unable to effectively communicate with [Backertop]
 in a manner consistent with good attorney-client rela-
 tions.” J.A. 6. Backertop opposed his motion to withdraw.
 

 The same day, Backertop’s other attorney, Ronald
 Burns, emailed the District Court seeking to withdraw as
 counsel. 

 Mr. Burns sent an email to the court, instead
 of filing on the docket, “due to the fact that [he could not]
 get a response from [his] local counsel,” Mr. Chong. 

 Mr. Burns explained that he had “started a new job” and
 “[could not] represent the plaintiff any longer.” 

      On May 1, 2023, the District Court set a hearing for
 June 8, 2023, “[t]o sort through [the] morass.” 

 Given
 Backertop’s opposition to its attorney’s motion to with-
 draw, and the apparent conflict between Mr. Chong and
 Mr. Burns, the District Court ordered Ms. LaPray,
 Mr. Chong, and Mr. Burns to attend the hearing in person.
 

 The District Court also denied Backertop’s motion to set
 aside the production order, citing Supreme Court and
 Third Circuit precedent confirming that voluntary dismis-
 sal under Rule 41(a)(1) does not deprive the District Court
 of jurisdiction to exercise its inherent powers. J.A. 4–5 (“It
 makes no sense that a party could deprive a court of its
 inherent powers simply by filing a notice (or stipulation) of
 dismissal. To hold otherwise would render district courts
 impotent to manage their cases in an orderly fashion and
 would foster abuse of our judicial system by unethical liti-
 gants and their attorneys.” (footnote and citation omitted)).
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 6          BACKERTOP LICENSING LLC v. CANARY CONNECT, INC.




     On May 9, 2023, Backertop produced allegedly respon-
 sive documents to the District Court. See J.A. 132–33. Yet,
 as the District Court later observed, several of the docu-
 ments had clearly missing attachments or cover letters.
 J.A. 190, 268. Moreover, the content of the ownership doc-
 uments produced raised further questions relating to the
 District Court’s concerns about potential attorney and
 party misconduct. See, e.g., J.A. 268 (Chief Judge Connolly
 questioning whether Ms. LaPray did, “in fact, sign the doc-
 uments or authorize the signature of the documents con-
 temporaneously with the date of the documents”); J.A. 216,
 247 (discussing documents indicating that Mavexar re-
 tained attorneys to assert a patent portfolio even before
 Backertop was created, which suggest that Mavexar is the
 principal behind the litigation). The District Court notified
 the parties that it had “questions for Ms. LaPray about the
 production[, which] require her physical presence in court”
 to “assess her credibility.” J.A. 10. The District Court also
 reiterated that it needed Ms. LaPray’s testimony to sort
 through the attorneys’ motions to withdraw, which it found
 “unusual to say the least.” 

      Despite her previous attendance at a hearing in Dela-
 ware on November 10, 2022, Ms. LaPray notified the Dis-
 trict Court that she was unable to attend the June 8, 2023,
 hearing in-person as ordered. Amicus Br. 12 1; J.A. 134–41.
 Ms. LaPray stated that she had preexisting travel sched-
 uled from June 8 to June 15, 2023. J.A. 138. She also stated
 that she is a paralegal and had “a number of trials and
 hearing[s] through the entire summer,” although she did
 not specify dates, and that parental obligations continue to
 make travel difficult. 

 Ms. LaPray stated that she could


     1    Because Canary Connect, Inc. and August Home,
 Inc., the original defendants, chose not to participate in lit-
 igation after their joint stipulated dismissal with Back-
 ertop, our court requested amicus curiae briefing from W.
 David Maxwell of Hogan Lovells US LLP to represent the
 Delaware District Court’s position on this matter.
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 BACKERTOP LICENSING LLC v. CANARY CONNECT, INC.             7



 not travel to Delaware “in the foreseeable future” and re-
 quested permission to appear telephonically. 

      To accommodate Ms. LaPray’s specific conflict from
 June 8 to June 15, 2023, the District Court set a new hear-
 ing for July 20, 2023. J.A. 10. The District Court advised
 the parties that if a hearing on that date “presents excep-
 tional difficulties for Ms. LaPray,” she may submit “affida-
 vits and supporting documentation demonstrating exactly
 why that is the case and propose a range of alternative
 dates.” 

 The District Court denied Ms. LaPray’s request
 to appear telephonically because “[c]redibility assessments
 are difficult to make over the phone.” 

 Further, the Dis-
 trict Court stated that remote hearings are “the exception,
 not the rule.” 

 The District Court sent a copy of its deci-
 sion to Ms. LaPray’s employer because Backertop’s attor-
 neys had indicated in their motions to withdraw that they
 were not in contact with Ms. LaPray. See J.A. 17, 279–80.
 Ms. LaPray and Backertop moved for reconsideration. See
 J.A. 140–72. They again asserted that Ms. LaPray’s daily
 family obligations would make travel to Delaware for a
 hearing difficult and requested a videoconference hearing.
 See J.A. 141.
     In denying the motion, the District Court noted that it
 was “sympathetic to the childcare burdens that business-
 and court-related travel can impose on working parents,”
 but observed that Ms. LaPray had voluntarily agreed “to
 serve as the sole natural person affiliated with Backertop”
 and to file “the dozen patent infringements suits . . . last
 year in district courts across the country, including four
 suits in Delaware.” J.A. 15. The District Court also denied
 the request to participate by videoconference, explaining
 that “[l]ive, in-person testimony remains the best means of
 ascertaining the truth.” J.A. 14.
     For the first time, Backertop also argued in its motion
 for reconsideration that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure
 45’s geographic limit precludes the District Court’s order
 requiring Ms. LaPray to appear in Delaware. See J.A. 12–
 13. After first noting that the argument had been forfeited
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 8          BACKERTOP LICENSING LLC v. CANARY CONNECT, INC.




 for failure to raise it earlier, the District Court rejected the
 argument on the merits. 

 The District Court stated that
 its order to appear was based on its inherent powers, not
 FRCP 45. J.A. 13. And it further stated that FRCP 45 “has
 no bearing on the circumstances at hand,” because it only
 imposes geographic limits on subpoenas issued by an attor-
 ney or the clerk at a party’s request. 

 The District Court
 therefore concluded that FRCP 45 did not restrict its inher-
 ent power to sua sponte order Ms. LaPray to appear. J.A.
 13–14.
     After Ms. LaPray refused to attend the July 20, 2023,
 hearing, the District Court held a show cause hearing on
 August 1, 2023, to provide Ms. LaPray with an opportunity
 to show why she should not be held in civil contempt. See
 J.A. 24. Ms. LaPray did not appear at that hearing. 

 Her
 attorney noted that Ms. LaPray would stand on her argu-
 ments made in her motion to dismiss the contempt proceed-
 ing, 

 including the FRCP 45 argument, see Backertop
 Licensing LLC v. Canary Connect, Inc., No. 22- 572, ECF
 No. 54 at 9–10 (D. Del. July 28, 2023).
      In another detailed memorandum, the District Court
 rejected Ms. LaPray’s arguments. See J.A. 24–30. The Dis-
 trict Court found Ms. LaPray in civil contempt of court and
 imposed a fine of $200 per day until Ms. LaPray appeared
 in-person in court. J.A. 30. Backertop and Ms. LaPray ap-
 pealed the District Court’s orders, and—as the original op-
 posing parties were dismissed from the case—our court
 appointed amicus curiae counsel to represent the District
 Court’s position. See Amicus Br. 1.
                                II
     Because this appeal involves “procedural matters that
 are not unique to patent issues,” we apply the law of the
 regional circuit court—here, the Third Circuit. Wilson
 Sporting Goods Co. v. Hillerich & Bradsby Co., 

, 1325–26 (Fed. Cir. 2006). The District Court’s exer-
 cise of its inherent power is reviewed for abuse of discre-
 tion. See Chambers, 

 (“We review a court’s
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 BACKERTOP LICENSING LLC v. CANARY CONNECT, INC.            9



 imposition of sanctions under its inherent power for abuse
 of discretion.”); United States v. Wright, 

 (3d Cir. 2019) (reviewing dismissal of an indictment “based
 on the Court’s inherent power for abuse of discretion”).
 Whether the District Court possesses a particular inherent
 power, however, is a question of law reviewed de novo. Hol-
 land v. New Jersey Dep’t of Corrs., 

 (3d
 Cir. 2001).
     Contempt orders are reviewed for abuse of discretion.
 United States v. Sarbello, 

 (3d Cir. 1993).
 An abuse of discretion requires either “an error of law or a
 clearly erroneous judgment or finding of fact.” 

 Con-
 tempt findings must be based on clear and convincing evi-
 dence. 

     As the Third Circuit has explained, “when an order is
 appealable, and one foregoes the appeal, he may not raise
 the validity of the order at a subsequent contempt trial.”
 United States v. Pearce, 

 (3d Cir. 1986);
 see also Maggio v. Zeitz, 

 (1948) (“[W]hen
 completed and terminated in a final order, [the order] be-
 comes res judicata and not subject to collateral attack in
 the contempt proceedings.”). In contrast, when the under-
 lying order is interlocutory and non-appealable, there is no
 concern with giving litigants a second bite at the apple. The
 order’s validity may therefore be raised during contempt
 proceedings. Pearce, 

.
      Here, the District Court’s order to appear was interloc-
 utory and non-appealable. See Micro Motion Inc. v. Exac
 Corp., 

 (Fed. Cir. 1989) (citing Alexan-
 der v. United States, 

, 121–22 (1906) (“The
 nonappealability of orders requiring the production of evi-
 dence from witnesses has long been established.”)); see also
 id. at 1577 (collecting cases from other circuits).
     Because civil contempt orders are interlocutory, par-
 ties may not appeal civil contempt orders “except incident
 to an appeal from a judgment otherwise appealable.” Hal-
 derman v. Pennhurst State Sch. & Hosp., 

, 636
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 10         BACKERTOP LICENSING LLC v. CANARY CONNECT, INC.




 (3d Cir. 1982); see also Constr. Drilling, Inc. v. Chusid, 

 (3d Cir. 2004). For non-parties, however,
 the rule is different: “[N]on-party witnesses who are held
 in contempt may immediately appeal the contempt order.”
 Wallace v. Kmart Corp., 

 (3d Cir. 2012); see
 also Alexander, 

 (1906) (“Let the court go
 farther, and punish the witness for contempt of its order—
 then arrives a right of review.”) (cleaned up); In re Flat
 Glass Antitrust Litig., 

 (3d Cir. 2002) (“An
 adjudication of contempt . . . provides the finality neces-
 sary to initiate an appeal.”).
     Here, Ms. LaPray—as an officer of Backertop—is best
 characterized as a non-party for purposes of appealability.
 The Third Circuit has indicated that an officer of a party is
 generally considered a non-party. See E. Maico Distribs.,
 Inc. v. Maico-Fahrzeugfabrik, G.m.b.H, 

 (3d Cir. 1981) (“In civil contempt proceedings or Rule 37(b)
 sanctions against a non-party, even against an attorney to
 or an officer of a party, an appeal generally need not wait
 until final judgment in the case as a whole.”). The Ninth
 Circuit agrees. See, e.g., David v. Hooker, Ltd., 

 (9th Cir. 1977) (“[T]his court . . . rejected the con-
 tention that, in determining the finality of judgments for
 appeal, officers of corporate defendants must be considered
 as parties.”). The civil contempt order against Ms. LaPray
 gives her as much of a “distinct and severable interest”—
 facing personal fines—as any other non-party witness per-
 mitted to appeal. United States v. Sciarra, 

 (3d Cir. 1988).
      Therefore, we may review the District Court’s order to
 appear in the context of Ms. LaPray’s appeal from the Dis-
 trict Court’s contempt order. 2


      2   Although the District Court found that Backertop
 forfeited its FRCP 45 argument, it nonetheless addressed
 the argument on the merits. J.A. 12–13. We decline to find
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 BACKERTOP LICENSING LLC v. CANARY CONNECT, INC.            11



                               III
                               A
     We hold that the District Court’s order requiring
 Ms. LaPray to appear at an in-person hearing falls
 squarely within its inherent powers. Contrary to Appel-
 lants’ arguments, the District Court’s order did not conflict
 with FRCP 45, because that Rule does not limit the geo-
 graphical range of a court’s ability to sua sponte issue an
 order to appear.
     On its face, FRCP 45 only applies to a party or attor-
 ney’s efforts to subpoena a person required to attend a trial,
 hearing, or deposition within a 100-mile radius. It states:
     (a) IN GENERAL[ . . . ]
         (3) Issued by Whom. The clerk must issue a
         subpoena, signed but otherwise in blank, to
         a party who requests it. That party must
         complete it before service. An attorney also
         may issue and sign a subpoena if the attor-
         ney is authorized to practice in the issuing
         court. [ . . . ]
 Fed. R. Civ. P. 45(a)(3). Elsewhere, FRCP 45 confirms that
 “[a] party or attorney” is “responsible for issuing and serv-
 ing a subpoena” under the Rule. Fed. R. Civ. P. 45(d)(1). It
 is therefore up to “[a] party or attorney” to “take reasonable
 steps to avoid imposing undue burden or expense on a per-
 son subject to the subpoena.” 

 Nowhere does FRCP 45
 mention the court’s own orders to appear, issued without a



 forfeiture and instead exercise our discretion to rule on the
 merits. See In re Imerys Talc Am., Inc., 

, 373
 (3d Cir. 2022) (“[T]he waiver rule is one of discretion rather
 than jurisdiction, and we may overlook waiver where, as
 here, the public interest is better served by addressing [an
 argument] than by ignoring it.”) (internal punctuation and
 citations omitted).
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 12         BACKERTOP LICENSING LLC v. CANARY CONNECT, INC.




 request from a party or attorney. Given this silence, the
 District Court’s sua sponte order compelling Ms. LaPray to
 appear is not “contrary to any express grant of or limitation
 on the district court’s power contained in a rule or statute.”
 Dietz v. Bouldin, 

, 45–46 (2016).
     Indeed, many of FRCP 45’s requirements would be il-
 logical if applied to a court’s own orders. For instance, a
 court would be required to “impose an appropriate sanc-
 tion” on itself should the court fail to “take reasonable steps
 to avoid imposing undue burden or expense on a person
 subject to the subpoena.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 45(d)(1). FRCP
 45(a)(2) also requires that the subpoena “must issue from
 the court where the action is pending”—a self-evident re-
 quirement, if applied to a court’s own order to compel ap-
 pearance. And while federal agencies are explicitly exempt
 from the FRCP 45 requirement to “tender[] the fees for 1
 day’s attendance and the mileage allowed by law” when
 serving a subpoena, federal courts would be required to pay
 those fees. Fed. R. Civ. P. 45(b)(1). Reading FRCP 45 as a
 whole, we conclude that none of these requirements apply
 to a court’s own order compelling a witness to appear. As a
 result, neither do the geographic limitations in FRCP
 45(c)(1), contrary to Appellants’ arguments. We hold that
 FRCP 45 governs party- and attorney-initiated subpoenas
 only.
     The absence of an express limit on sua sponte court or-
 ders in FRCP 45 alone is dispositive. See Dietz, 579 U.S. at
 45–46. The distinction between party-initiated subpoenas
 and sua sponte court orders is also consistent with the his-
 torical context of FRCP 45. Since its inception, FRCP 45—
 which has always included a geographic limit—has ex-
 pressly applied to subpoenas that parties requested and
 served without initial court oversight. See Rule of Civil Pro-
 cedure for the District Courts of the United States 45(a),
 1934 Edition U.S.C. Supplement 5 874 (1939) (“The clerk
 shall issue a subpoena . . . signed and sealed but otherwise
 in blank, to a party requesting it, who shall fill it in before
 service.”), 45(e)(1) (“A subpoena requiring the attendance
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 BACKERTOP LICENSING LLC v. CANARY CONNECT, INC.            13



 of a witness . . . may be served at any place within the dis-
 trict, or at any place without the district that is within 100
 miles . . . .”).
     In 1991, FRCP 45 was amended to allow attorneys
 themselves to issue a subpoena, again without initial court
 oversight. See Notes of Advisory Comm. On Rules—1991
 Amendment. Without upfront court supervision, and given
 the high volume of subpoena practice in federal courts, it
 makes sense that the Rules would impose bright-line rules
 on the scope of party- and attorney-initiated subpoenas—
 as well as specific mechanisms to hold parties and attor-
 neys accountable. See 

 (“[A]ccompanying the evolution of
 this power of the lawyer as officer of the court is the devel-
 opment of increased responsibility and liability for the mis-
 use of this power.”); see also Fed. R. Civ. P. 45(d)(1) (party
 or attorney must “take reasonable steps to avoid imposing
 undue burden or expense” on subpoena recipients and face
 sanctions if they fail to do so). These guardrails are in-
 tended to protect non-parties before they have to incur the
 time and expense of appearing to challenge a party- or at-
 torney-initiated subpoena in court.
     A court’s sua sponte order to appear does not raise the
 same concerns as a subpoena initiated by the parties. Such
 orders necessarily involve court oversight at the outset.
 The court itself will know who is receiving the subpoena
 and will have weighed the need for the testimony against
 the potential burden on that person. It therefore is under-
 standable that FRCP 45 only expressly addresses attorney-
 and party-initiated subpoenas, leaving district courts with
 discretion to manage their own orders to appear.
                               B
     Turning to the District Court’s contempt order, Appel-
 lants focus on an alleged conflict between the District
 Court’s order to appear and FRCP 45. Backertop and
 Ms. LaPray do not argue that the District Court’s order to
 appear was otherwise unreasonable or an abuse of discre-
 tion. Nor could they. The District Court’s order was a
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 14        BACKERTOP LICENSING LLC v. CANARY CONNECT, INC.




 “‘reasonable response to the problems and needs’ confront-
 ing the court’s fair administration of justice.” Dietz, 579
 U.S. at 45 (quoting Degen v. United States, 

,
 823–24 (1996)).
      The District Court’s order to compel Ms. LaPray’s at-
 tendance was an appropriate means to investigate poten-
 tial misconduct involving Backertop, a corporate party of
 which she is the sole representative. More specifically, the
 District Court’s stated concerns include that Backertop
 may have concealed certain third-party funding and the
 real parties in interest, that those real parties in interest
 may have perpetrated a fraud on the court, and that Back-
 ertop’s counsel may have failed to comply with the Rules of
 Professional Conduct. See J.A. 16. Backertop’s counsel’s
 motions to withdraw and Backertop’s insufficient docu-
 ment production only compounded the District Court’s con-
 cerns. See J.A. 10.
      In light of this, compelling Ms. LaPray’s attendance
 was not an abuse of discretion of the District Court’s inher-
 ent authority. The District Court stated that Ms. LaPray’s
 attendance in person was required to assess her credibility
 given (1) “the representations and positions of counsel and
 Ms. LaPray” and their apparent lack of communication, es-
 pecially in light of counsels’ motion to withdraw; and
 (2) the District Court’s “questions for Ms. LaPray about
 [Backertop’s document] production.” J.A. 10. As the Third
 Circuit recognizes, it is particularly important to observe
 witnesses in person when making credibility determina-
 tions. See Dia v. Ashcroft, 

, 252 n.23 (3d Cir.
 2003). While another district court may have found that a
 telephonic or videoconference hearing was sufficient, it was
 reasonable for the District Court here to require in-person
 testimony in furtherance of its authority to investigate at-
 torney and party misconduct.
     Moreover, the District Court had already rescheduled
 the hearing once to accommodate Ms. LaPray’s preexisting
 travel and expressed willingness to accommodate similar
 specific conflicts, with proposed alternative dates. J.A. 10.
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 BACKERTOP LICENSING LLC v. CANARY CONNECT, INC.         15



 Ms. LaPray never identified other specific conflicts, other
 than continuing childcare obligations making travel at any
 time difficult, nor did she propose alternative dates. In-
 stead, she chose to move for reconsideration. See J.A. 140–
 72. Under these circumstances, it was not an abuse of dis-
 cretion to compel Ms. LaPray’s attendance at the July 20,
 2023, hearing and hold her in civil contempt of the court
 when she did not appear.
                             IV
     We have considered Appellants’ remaining arguments
 and find them unpersuasive. Because the District Court
 was within its inherent authority to order Ms. LaPray to
 appear before it to investigate fraud on the court, and the
 order imposing monetary sanctions when she did not ap-
 pear was not an abuse of discretion, we affirm.
                       AFFIRMED