Judge: Audra Mori, Case: 19STCV19561, Date: 2022-12-05 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 19STCV19561    Hearing Date: December 5, 2022    Dept: 31

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES - CENTRAL DISTRICT

Plaintiff Katya Hernandez (“Plaintiff”) filed this action against Defendant Lauren E. Schoneman (“Defendant”) for damages arising from a motor vehicle accident. 

On August 22, 2022, Plaintiff’s motion to compel Defendant to produce the medical examination report of Dr. Gupta concerning a physical exam of Plaintiff was heard and granted.  Defendant was ordered to serve Dr. Gupta’s written report on Plaintiff within ten days, and monetary sanctions of $461.65 were imposed against Defendant’s attorney of record only.  (Min. Order, Aug. 22, 2022.) 

At this time, Plaintiff moves for terminating sanctions against Defendant’s counsel for defense counsel’s alleged willful violation of the August 22, 2022 order.  Plaintiff asserts that as of the filing of the motion, defense counsel has not paid the monetary sanctions imposed against defense counsel. 

As an initial matter, this motion appears to be moot because Defendant, in opposition, provides that the monetary sanctions were paid on November 15, 2022.  Nonetheless, regardless of whether the monetary sanctions have now been paid, there is no authority, and Plaintiff cites none, for imposition of terminating sanctions against Defendant or Defendant’s counsel for failure to pay sanctions.  (Newland v. Superior Court (1995) 40 Cal.App.4th 608, 615 [holding, “a terminating sanction issued solely because of a failure to pay a monetary discovery sanction is never justified.”]; see also Deyo v. Kilbourne (1978) 84 Cal.App.3d 771, 793 [A terminating sanction is a "drastic measure which should be employed with caution."].)  Sanctions orders are enforceable as money judgments unless the court orders otherwise.  (Newland, 40 Cal.App.4th at 615 [“[M]any attorneys seem to be unaware that monetary sanction orders are enforceable through the execution of judgment laws.”].)  Thus, the remedy to enforce payment of monetary sanctions is to obtain and levy a writ of execution on assets of the debtor, not to move for terminating sanctions, especially where sanctions were imposed against a party’s attorney only.  (Id.) 

The motion is denied. 

Plaintiff is ordered to give notice. 

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE:

• Parties are encouraged to meet and confer after reading this tentative ruling to see if they can reach an agreement.
• If a party intends to submit on this tentative ruling, the party must send an email to the Court at sscdept31@lacourt.org with the Subject line “SUBMIT” followed by the case number.  The body of the email must include the hearing date and time, counsel’s contact information, and the identity of the party submitting.  
• Unless all parties submit by email to this tentative ruling, the parties should arrange to appear remotely (encouraged) or in person for oral argument.  You should assume that others may appear at the hearing to argue.  
• If the parties neither submit nor appear at hearing, the Court may take the motion off calendar or adopt the tentative ruling as the order of the Court.  After the Court has issued a tentative ruling, the Court may prohibit the withdrawal of the subject motion without leave. 

Dated this 5^th day of December 2022