Judge: Douglas W. Stern, Case: 22STCV29486, Date: 2023-12-04 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 22STCV29486    Hearing Date: December 4, 2023    Dept: 68

Melissa L. Ayala, et al. vs. General Motors, LLC, 22STCV29486              

Motion to Compel Deposition Attendance of a Person Most Qualified

Moving Parties: Plaintiffs Melissa Ayala and Geovanni Gonzalez

Responding Party: Defendant General Motors, LLC

BACKGROUND

The complaint in this Song-Beverly Warranty Act case was filed on September 9, 2022. General Motors objection to some of the categories for the deposition of its PMQ; however, GM has indicated that it would provide a PMQ for most of the categories in the deposition notice. GM primarily objected to the categories that were overly broad or went beyond the scope of Plaintiffs’ 2020 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. Despite this, Plaintiffs’ motion to compel deposition includes even the categories for which GM has agreed to produce a PMQ. GM indicated in its opposition that Plaintiffs did not meet and confer prior to filing the motion to compel.

The Court has reviewed the documents related to this motion and will not decide the motion on the merits at this time. The Court orders an Informal Discovery Conference. At least 10 days prior to the IDC, the parties must conduct a meaningful meet and confer and resolve as much as they can. Additionally, the parties are ordered to file a joint statement of remaining issues prior to the IDC. The joint statement should briefly describe the matters in dispute, followed by Plaintiffs’ arguments, then GM’s arguments.

ORDER

1.      The parties are ordered to conduct a meaningful meet and confer at least 10 court days prior to the Informal Discovery Conference.

2.      At least 3 court days prior to the Informal Discovery Conference, the parties shall submit a joint statement of the remaining issues as described above.  The format must be to recite the specific category of PMQ, followed by moving party’s statement of why it should be compelled, followed by the opposing party’s statement of why it should not be compelled.  To the extent that an argument is repeated for a subsequent category, the party shall simply state that it relies upon the argument to #__.  Do not repeat the arguments over and over.

3.      An Informal Discovery Conference shall be held on ________________.