Judge: Elaine Lu, Case: 23STCV20011, Date: 2024-02-16 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 23STCV20011    Hearing Date: February 16, 2024    Dept: 26

The Court brings to Plaintiff’s attention that Plaintiff has
reserved three motions to compel on the online Court Reservation System (CRS)
for August 19, 20, and 21, 2024, but the joint IDC statement indicates that Plaintiff
has received responses to Plaintiff’s written discovery, and thus, the proper
motions for Plaintiff to bring are motions to compel further responses – not motions
to compel.  If Plaintiff wishes to move to
compel further responses, Plaintiff must reserve the correct category of motion
online and file each motion to compel further using its own separate CRS
reservation for the proper motion category.

On February 16, 2024, Counsel for the parties participated
in an informal discovery conference with the Court, at the conclusion of which
the parties agreed as follows:

Plaintiff’s request for production #4 is hereby modified to
read: “Any and all reports of any and all
repairs performed on the 2022 BMW X7 M50i leased by PLAINTIFF.”  With this modification, Defendant BMW withdraws
its overbreadth, compound, vague, ambiguous, and relevance objections, and Defendant
will serve a verified, code-compliant, further response by March 18, 2024.  With respect to any objection that Defendant
does not withdraw, including trade secret and attorney-work product, Defendant
will establish facts predicate to the assertion of such privilege or trade secret,
and Defendant will also provide a code-compliant response by identifying all
documents withheld on the basis of each objection.  If Defendant will comply with any request in
full, Defendant will serve a code-compliant response clearly stating so. 

Plaintiff’s request for production #8 is hereby modified to
read: “All written policies and procedures that
YOU utilized or maintained regarding disclosure of any known vehicle defects
prior to any sale or lease of a vehicle from the period of May 25, 2017 up to and
including May 25, 2022.”  With this
modification, Defendant BMW will withdraw its overbreadth, compound, vague, ambiguous,
and relevance objections, and Defendant will serve a verified, code-compliant,
further response by March 18, 2024.  With
respect to any objection that Defendant does not withdraw, Defendant will
establish a factual predicate to the assertion of any privilege or trade secret,
and Defendant will also provide a code-compliant response by identifying all
documents withheld on the basis of each objection.  If Defendant will comply with any request in
full, Defendant will serve a code-compliant response clearly stating so. 

The parties understand and
agree that for responses that Defendant BMW NA indicates it will comply in
full, Defendant BMW NA will produce all documents within its custody,
possession, or control, and there may be documents with the dealership’s
custody, possession, or control that are not in the custody, possession, or
control of Defendant BMW NA, such as non-warrantable repairs.

The parties agreed to meet and confer telephonically (by real
time telephonic conversation, not just an exchange of correspondence) within
two weeks regarding all remaining disputed items, including requests for production
and interrogatories.

The parties further agreed that Plaintiff shall have an
extension of time to file any motion to compel further responses to Requests
for Production Set One, Form Interrogatories Set One, and Special Interrogatories
Set One until April 18, 2024.

The parties entered into these stipulations in open Court.  Prior to finalizing this minute order, the
Court posted this minute order on the Court’s online tentative ruling website,
and all Counsel agreed to the accuracy of this minute order in reflecting the
parties’ stipulations.

If the parties fully resolve all pending discovery issues
relating to the pending motions to compel further, the moving party must
promptly take any pending motion off-calendar via the Court Reservation System
(“CRS”) and cancel all CRS reservations. 

For any motion to compel further in this action that has
been filed or will be filed in the future, the responding party’s voluntary
service of supplemental responses prior to the hearing will moot all issues for
the motion except for sanctions.  The
parties are ordered to meet and confer regarding sanctions and to file a joint
statement within 5 days of the service of supplemental responses; the joint
statement must advise that supplemental responses have been served and advise whether
the parties have been able to resolve the sole remaining issue of sanctions.  In order to demonstrate that supplemental
responses have been served thereby mooting a pending motion to compel further,
the responding party must also file and serve a copy of the verified
supplemental responses no later than when the opposition is due.  If the moving party deems that the
supplemental responses remain deficient and/or non-code compliant, the moving party
must timely (within 45 days of service of the supplemental responses) file and serve
a new motion to compel further complying with all statutory requirements,
including a meet and confer regarding the supplemental responses and a separate
statement that includes all responses (original and supplemental).  The moving party may contact Department 26 to
request a further informal discovery conference to discuss the remaining
disputes following the service of supplemental responses.  The parties are ordered to file a joint
statement of items remaining in dispute no later than 5 days before the further
IDC.

If the parties are not able to
resolve all outstanding discovery issues, the parties are ordered to
meet and confer face-to-face or by telephone in good faith to file one joint
statement of items remaining in dispute in strict compliance with California
Rule of Court 3.1345 at least 10 days before each hearing on any discovery motion.
 For each discovery request still in
dispute, the joint statement must include: (1) the text of the request or
discovery item in dispute; and (2) all responses, answers, and objections, already
provided.

The joint statement must list the remaining issues in
dispute, item by item, and include all of the information required above
(categories 1-2, inclusive) immediately below the heading for that item of
discovery.  The parties are not to
provide any argument in the joint statement.

The joint statement should address each and every
outstanding issue in connection with the motion. If, for example, the parties
believe meet and confer was inadequate, sanctions should be imposed, etc.,
those issues must be listed in the joint statement of items in dispute, and the
parties’ positions and arguments must be set forth under the listed item in the
joint statement.  If declarations or
evidence are necessary, the declarations and evidence must be attached to the
joint statement. 

For any matters withheld on the basis of a privilege or
other protection, a privilege log must be prepared, setting forth the title,
subject, and nature of the claim of privilege with respect to each
document.  The privilege log should also
include a declaration generally detailing the underlying factual predicates for
each claimed privilege. 

The parties must file one joint
statement with regard to each form of discovery.  Therefore, the parties must file one joint
statement regarding any motion to compel further responses to Requests for
Production, a second joint statement regarding any motion to compel further
responses to Form Interrogatories, a third joint statement regarding any motion
to compel further responses to Special Interrogatories, and a fourth joint
statement regarding any motion to compel further responses to Requests for Admissions.  If no joint statement is filed as of ten days
prior to the hearing on a motion to compel further, the motion will be taken
off calendar.

Plaintiff to give notice and file proof of service of such.