Judge: Daniel M. Crowley, Case: 20STCV37665, Date: 2022-08-30 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 20STCV37665    Hearing Date: August 30, 2022    Dept: 28

Ruling on Defendants Leonard I. Dauer Trustee of the Dauer Family Trust, Leonard I. Dauer, and Dauer Family Trust’s Unopposed Motions to Compel Responses to Form Interrogatories and Request for Production.

            Having reviewed Defendant Felipe Hernandez’s unopposed Motions to Compel Responses to Form Interrogatories and Request for Production of Documents, the Court rules as follows.

            On September 30, 2021, Defendant Felipe Hernandez served Form Interrogatories, Set No. One, and Request for Production of Documents, Set No. One, on Plaintiff Silvano Iriarte.

            Responses were due on January 28, 2022. Plaintiff Silvano Iriarte has failed to provide timely responses. Defendant Felipe Hernandez now move to compel code-compliant responses and deem the requests for admissions admitted.

            The Court grants the motions to compel responses to the form interrogatories pursuant to Code of Civ. Proc. § 2030.290(b) and orders Plaintiff Silvano Iriarte to provide verified responses to the interrogatories compliant with Code of Civ. Proc. §§ 2030.210 (a) and 2030.220 without objections by September 6, 2022. The Court grants the motion to compel responses to the request for production and production of items pursuant to Code of Civ. Proc. § 2031.300 and orders Plaintiff Silvano Iriarte to provide verified responses pursuant to Code of Civ. Proc. § 2031.210 and to produce the documents, electronically stored information, and/or other things requested without objections by September 29, 2022.

Defendant Felipe Hernandez request monetary sanctions totaling $2,570.00.         

The Court awards sanctions pursuant to Code of Civ. Proc. § 2023.030 (a), Code of Civ. Proc. § 2030.290 (c), Code of Civ. Proc. § 2033.280 (c) and Code of Civ. Proc. § 2031.300 (c) in the amount of $705.00, calculated as follows:

Defendant requests $1,285.00 in sanctions for each motion based upon 7 hours of attorney’s work, at a rate of $175.00 per hour, and one $60.00 filling fee. Attorney’s work is 1 hour to meet and confer, 3.5 hours to prepare the motions, 2 hours to reply to any opposition, and .5 hours to appear at the hearing on the motion. The Court will not award sanctions based on time spent meeting and conferring, nor will the Court award sanctions based on a reply as the motions are unopposed. The Court also notes that the motions are substantially similar and are being heard concurrently. As such, the Court awards $410.00 in sanctions for the form interrogatories motion and $235.00 in sanctions for the request for production, based upon 2 and 1 hour of attorney work, respectively.

The sanctions total $705.00 and are payable by Plaintiff Silvano Iriarte and his counsel by September 29, 2022.

Moving Party is to give notice of this ruling.