Judge: Audra Mori, Case: 20STCV17332, Date: 2022-08-10 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 20STCV17332    Hearing Date: August 10, 2022    Dept: 31

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES - CENTRAL DISTRICT

Defendant UKA's Big Saver Foods, Inc. dba Big Saver Foods (“Defendant”) propounded supplemental interrogatories, set one, and supplemental request for production of documents (“supplemental RPDs”), set one, on Plaintiff Monica Zaragoza (“Plaintiff”) on September 2, 2021.  To date, despite extensions of time to respond, Plaintiff has not served responses.  Defendant therefore seeks an order compelling Plaintiff to respond, without objections, to the outstanding discovery and to pay sanctions.

Defendant’s motions are unopposed and granted.  Plaintiff is ordered to serve verified responses to supplemental interrogatories, set one, and supplemental RPDs, set one, without objections, within ten days.  (CCP §§ 2030.290(a), (b), 2031.300(a), (b).)

Sanctions are mandatory unless the court finds the one subject to sanctions acted with substantial justification or other circumstances make the imposition of sanctions unjust.  (CCP §§ 2030.290(c), 2031.300(c).)  Here, Defendant seeks sanctions against Plaintiff.  However, Defendant does not describe any conduct warranting sanctions against Plaintiff personally.  Rather, the evidence shows that the subject discovery requests were served on Plaintiff’s counsel, and Plaintiff’s counsel failed to provide timely responses.  There is no suggestion this was caused by any conduct attributable to Plaintiff.  Defendant, however, does not request any sanctions against Plaintiff’s counsel.  No sanctions are awarded. 

Defendant 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 10^th day of August 2022