Superior Court of California

County of Los Angeles

Department 40

AMERICAN IRONWORKS MANUFACTURING, INC., a California Corporation

Plaintiff,

FASSBERG CONTRACTING CORPORATION; a California corporation, 1400 FIG LLC, a California limited liability company; and DOES 1 through 100, inclusive,

Defendants.

Case No.: 22STCV07065

Hearing Date: 3/22/23

Trial Date: 12/12/23

[TENTATIVE] RULING RE:

Defendant 1400 Fig LLC’s Motion to Compel Response to Form Interrogatories – Construction Litigation, Set One.

Plaintiff American Ironworks Manufacturing, Inc. sues Defendants Fassberg Contracting Corporation (“Fassberg”), 1400 Fig LLC, and Does 1 through 100 pursuant to claims of (1) Breach of Contract, (2) Enforcement of Mechanic Liens, (3) Common Counts, and (4) Lien Release Bond based on allegations that Plaintiff, as a subcontractor to Defendant Fassberg, agreed to and did in fact furnish certain labor, services, equipment, and materials for structural and miscellaneous ironworks improvement projects at 1400 S. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90015—property owned by Defendant 1400 Fig—with an agreed original subcontract price of $642,150, later modified to include extra work for the total price of $892,060, only for Fassberg to fail to pay Plaintiff $140,836.58 of the balance on the parties’ agreement.

Defendant 1400 Fig LLC now brings an unopposed February 22, 2023 Motion to Compel Response to Form Interrogatories – Construction Litigation, Set One against Defendant Fassberg, which is GRANTED for the following reasons:

(1) On September 20, 2022, Defendant 1400 Fig LLC served Form Interrogatories – Construction Litigation, Set One, on counsel for Fassberg (Mot., 4:11-12, Rodarti Decl., ¶ 2; see Code Civ. Proc., § 2030.080, subd. (a));

(2) Defendant Fassberg failed to respond to the interrogatories by their due date of October 23, 2022 (Mot., 4:13-14, Rodarti Decl., ¶ 3; see Code Civ. Proc., §§ 2030.260, subds. (a)), 2030.290);

(3) The interrogatories are within the scope of discovery because they request, inter alia, information regarding Defendant Fassberg’s corporate nature, licensing, responses to interrogatories, special and affirmative defenses, and Fassberg’s defense contentions (see Code Civ. Proc., § 2017.020);

(4) There was no opposition filed to the motion.

The Court also GRANTS, in part, the requested sanctions against Defendants Fassberg, in the amount of $6,910, for failure to respond to interrogatories, comprised of fees of: (1) $550 per hour times 10 hours worked on this matter by counsel Josef Rodarti, for a total of $5,500; (2) $400 per hour times 1.5 hours worked on this matter by associate counsel Amanda Manahan, for a total of $600; (3) $150 per hour times 5 hours worked on this matter by paralegal Patrick Thatcher, for a total of $750; and (4) $60 for the filing of this motion. (Mot., Rodarti Decl., ¶ 9 [requesting $12,292.50 in sanctions at rates of $936, $709, and $220 per hour respectively]; see Code Civ. Proc., § 2023.010, subd. (d).)