Judge: Audra Mori, Case: 22STCV03853, Date: 2023-02-22 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 22STCV03853    Hearing Date: February 22, 2023    Dept: 31

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES - CENTRAL DISTRICT

Plaintiff Juan Jose Oreallana (“Plaintiff”) filed this against Defendants Jose Ivan Canales Valladares and N. Montoya Trucking, Inc. (“Montoya Trucking”) for damages arising from a motor vehicle accident. 

At this time, Plaintiff moves to compel responses to special interrogatories, set one, and request for production of documents (“RPDs”), set one, against Montoya Trucking.  Plaintiff further moves to deem Plaintiff’s request for admissions (“RFAs”), set one, admitted against Montoya Trucking.  Each motion is made on the basis that no verified responses were served.  Montoya Trucking filed an opposition to each motion.  Any reply to the oppositions was due on or before February 14, 2023.  To date, no reply has been received. 

Plaintiff propounded the special interrogatories, RPDs and RFAs on Montoya Trucking on May 3, 2022.  Plaintiff provides that after granting extensions, Montoya Trucking’s responses were due on August 22, 2022.  Plaintiff asserts that as of the filing of the motions, and despite an attempt to meet and confer, Montoya Trucking had not served verified responses without objections.  Plaintiff therefore seeks an order compelling Montoya Trucking to respond, without objections, to the outstanding discovery and imposing sanctions.   

Montoya Trucking, in opposition, contends that it served timely objection only responses to the special interrogatories, RPDs, and RFAs on August 22, 2022.  Montoya Trucking argues that Plaintiff received the responses before the motions were filed, and that it thus has not waived its objections to the discovery requests.

Montoya Trucking’s responses the special interrogatories, RPDs and RFAs contained solely objections.[1]  Consequently, the responses were not required to be verified.  (Food 4 Less Supermarkets, 40 Cal.App.4th at 657.)  Furthermore, although Plaintiff asserts that no responses were served by Montoya Trucking, Montoya Trucking’s evidence shows that it served the responses on August 22, 2022, which was the deadline based on the extension Plaintiff granted.  

Plaintiff does not otherwise establish that Montoya Trucking waived all objections to the subject discovery.  The email communications submitted by Plaintiff concerning the extensions granted to Montoya Trucking to serve responses do not state that Montoya Trucking had waived any objections, or that the extensions were conditioned on a waiver of objections. 

Because Montoya Trucking served objection only responses on Plaintiff on August 22, 2022, Plaintiff’s motions to compel responses to special interrogatories and RPDs and the motion to deem RFAs admitted against Montoya Trucking, each made under the Code of Civil Procedure sections authorizing a motion to compel when no responses are served at all, are denied.  (CCP §§ 2030.290, 2031.310, 2033.280.)  No sanctions are requested by Montoya Trucking, and none are awarded. 

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 22^nd day of February 2023