Judge: Colin Leis, Case: 21STCV36389, Date: 2025-06-13 Tentative Ruling
Case Number: 21STCV36389 Hearing Date: June 13, 2025 Dept: 74
Swamp
Capital, LLC v. Ginger Green Inc. et al.
Plaintiff Swamp Capital, LLC’s
Motion for Relief from Waiver of Discovery Objections
BACKGROUND
This
motion arises from a quiet title action.
Plaintiff
Swamp Capital, LLC (Plaintiff) filed a complaint against defendants Ginger
Green Inc., Jerrold Lee, Harry Hae Chun-Lee, and Owen Kim (Defendants) for
breach of contract, quiet title, fraud and declaratory relief.
Plaintiff
failed to timely respond to Defendants’ propounded discovery. Plaintiff moves for relief from waiver of
discovery objections.
LEGAL STANDARD
When
a party fails to provide timely discovery responses, the party waives any
objections to the demand. (Code of Civ.
Proc. § 2031.300(a).) The Court may
relieve the party from its waiver if the party has subsequently served a
substantially code compliant response and the party’s failure to serve timely
responses was due to mistake, inadvertence, or excusable neglect. (Code of Civ. Proc. § 2031.300(a).)
DISCUSSION
Plaintiff moves for relief from waiver of
objections to Form Interrogatories, Set Two; Special Interrogatories, Set One;
Request for Production, Set Three; and Request for Admission, Set Two. On August 26, 2023, Plaintiff’s Counsel
notified Defendants’ prior counsel to include Niki Kalantari (Kalantari) in all
correspondence in the matter because Kalantari handles all discovery matters. (Afifi
Decl., ¶ 2.) On November 6, 2023,
Defendants substituted in new counsel.
(Afifi Decl., ¶ 2.) Defendants’
new counsel failed to include Kalantari when propounding discovery. (Afifi Decl., ¶ 3.) As soon as Plaintiff’s Counsel was aware of
the issue, counsel prepared responses and served them on Defendants’
Counsel. (Kalantari Decl., ¶ 3.)
The
Court finds that failure to serve timely responses was due to mistake,
inadvertence or excusable neglect due to a mistake in the email communications
between parties. Therefore, the Court
relieves Plaintiff from its waiver of objections to discovery responses.
CONCLUSION
The
Court grants Plaintiff’s Motion for Relief from Waiver of Objections.
Plaintiff
to give notice.