Judge: Alison Mackenzie, Case: 22STCV07348, Date: 2024-02-27 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 22STCV07348    Hearing Date: February 27, 2024    Dept: 55

NATURE OF PROCEEDINGS:  Plaintiff’s Motion For An Order Excluding Defendant’s Expert Witness James Oaks From Testifying At Trial, Or In The Alternative, To Compel The Deposition Of Mr. Oaks.

ROBERT WARD (“Plaintiff”) filed this Lemon Law case against GENERAL MOTORS, LLC (“Defendant”) based on alleged problems Plaintiff encountered with his leased 2019 Chevrolet Bolt.

Plaintiff filed a motion in 9/2023 requesting exclusion of Defendant’s expert witness James Oaks from trial or alternatively compelling Mr. Oaks’ deposition. Defendant opposes the motion.

Plaintiff seeks relief because Defendant served objections to the expert deposition notice, stated that it would make Mr. Oaks available for deposition at a mutually agreeable time, but then never got back to Plaintiff with available dates. The meet and confer correspondence attached to the motion and opposition makes clear that Plaintiff sought dates from Defendant in August 2023, but Defendant never got back with dates. Defendant does not dispute that it has still not gotten back to Plaintiff with dates for Mr. Oaks’ deposition, even though this motion was filed five months ago.

Under these circumstances, the Court will not exclude Mr. Oaks. But the Court grants the motion as to the alternative request to compel the deposition. The Court expects Defendant to come to the 2/27/2024 hearing with a date for Mr. Oaks’s deposition within the next 30 days. Otherwise, the Court will set a date for the deposition and put that date in the final order. If Defendant were to then violate the Court order by not producing Mr. Oaks on the date in the order, the Court may reconsider its decision regarding the exclusion of Mr. Oaks at trial.  

The Court notes that Defendant has filed a motion to compel Plaintiff’s vehicle inspection, which is set for hearing on 3/7/2024. The Court expects Plaintiff to come to the 2/27/2024 hearing prepared to schedule a date for that vehicle inspection, which would then moot the motion.