Judge: Daniel S. Murphy, Case: 23STCV26715, Date: 2025-05-23 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 23STCV26715    Hearing Date: May 23, 2025    Dept: 32

BACKGROUND

            On November 1, 2023, Plaintiff Eric Garcia initiated this action against Defendants JT Legal Group and Crestview Solutions, Inc. Plaintiff filed the operative Second Amended Complaint (FAC) on June 24, 2024, asserting causes of action for (1) breach of contract, (2) breach of implied contract, (3) restitution, (4) failure to pay wages, (5) waiting time penalties, (6) misclassification, (7) unfair competition, and (8) whistleblower retaliation.

            Plaintiff alleges that he entered into an employment contract with JT Legal in October 2020 to be JT Legal’s Chief Marketing Officer. The contract allegedly provided for an annual salary plus bonuses, and guaranteed employment for one year, after which the employment would be at-will under the same terms. Plaintiff alleges that JT Legal failed to fully pay him his wages and bonuses and falsely accused him of sexual harassment as retaliation for complaining. Plaintiff alleges that these circumstances forced him to resign in October 2022. Plaintiff alleges that Crestview (JT Legal’s alter ego) directed him to perform work under the contract with JT Legal and that Crestview partially compensated him for such work, thereby impliedly agreeing to pay Plaintiff on the same terms as provided for in the JT Legal agreement.  

            On April 11, 2025, Plaintiff filed the instant two motions to compel Defendants’ depositions. Defendants filed their oppositions on May 12, 2025. Plaintiff filed his replies on May 16, 2025.

LEGAL STANDARD

“If, after service of a deposition notice, a party to the action . . . without having served a valid objection under Section 2025.410, fails to appear for examination . . . or to produce for inspection any document, electronically stored information, or tangible thing described in the deposition notice, the party giving the notice may move for an order compelling the deponent’s attendance and testimony, and the production for inspection of any document … described in the deposition notice.” (Code Civ. Proc., § 2025.450(a).)

DISCUSSION

            Plaintiff served deposition notices on January 31, 2025, setting Defendants’ depositions for February 17, 2025. (Mueller Decl. ¶ 6, Ex. B.) On February 13, 2025, Defendants objected to the deposition notices based on unavailability. (Id., ¶ 11, Ex. D.) The objections provided some alternative dates in March 2025, but Plaintiff’s counsel was unavailable on those dates. (Id., ¶ 14.) Having received no other alternative dates, and with trial approaching, Plaintiff proceeded with the depositions on February 17, 2025. (Id., ¶ 9, Ex. C.) Defendants did not appear. (Ibid.)

On April 9, 2025, the Court granted Plaintiff’s ex parte application to continue trial, holding that all discovery was cut off except for two depositions on each side. That same day, the parties conferred over email about availability, and defense counsel stated that she would be unavailable until after May 10, 2025. (Id., Ex. G.) Plaintiff proposed some dates after May 10. (Ibid.) On April 10, Plaintiff sent a follow-up email because defense counsel did not reply after 24 hours. (Ibid.) Defense counsel replied that she needed a week to follow up with her clients. (Ibid.) Plaintiff filed this motion on April 11. On April 16, defense counsel emailed Plaintiff with the following dates: “June 5, 2025 for JT Legal. June 12, 2025 for Crestview. Both to begin at 10:00 AM, remotely.” (Arutyunyan Decl., Ex. A.) 

It appears that defense counsel provided the dates in one week as promised. However, given the depositions were initially scheduled for February 2025, and trial has had to be continued, an order compelling the depositions is warranted to prevent further delay. Plaintiff expresses no objection to Defendants’ proposed dates in June.

CONCLUSION

            Plaintiff’s motions to compel depositions are GRANTED. Defendant JT Legal Group shall appear remotely for deposition on June 5, 2025 at 10am. Defendant Crestview Solutions, Inc. shall appear remotely for deposition on June 12, 2025 at 10am. Defendants’ request for sanctions is denied.