Judge: Gary I. Micon, Case: 24CHCV01456, Date: 2024-10-08 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 24CHCV01456    Hearing Date: October 8, 2024    Dept: F43

MOTION TO COMPEL FURTHER RESPONSES TO REQUESTS FOR PRODUCTIN

MOVING PARTY: Plaintiffs Andres Suastequi Bautista and Victor Calderon Farias

RESPONDING PARTY: Defendant Ford Motor Company

RELIEF REQUESTED

Defendant’s further responses to certain requests for production, as well as sanctions.

RULING: The parties are ordered to meet and confer based on the Court’s Lemon Law discovery order.

SUMMARY OF ACTION

This action arises from Plaintiffs Andres Suastequi Bautista and Victor Calderon Farias’ (Plaintiffs) purchase of an allegedly defective 2019 Ford Ranger. On April 19, 2024, Plaintiffs filed a Complaint against Defendant Ford Motor Company (Defendant) for violations of the Song-Beverly Act.

Plaintiffs propounded Requests for Production on Defendant on May 30, 2024. On July 2, 2024, Defendant served its responses without verification. On July 12, 2024, Defendant served its verifications.

Between July 29, 2024, and August 19, 2024, the parties met and conferred via letter about Defendant’s responses. Plaintiff requested that Defendant supplement its responses to RFP Nos. 16, 19-29, 31, and 45-46. Defendant refused, and Plaintiff filed this motion on August 26, 2024. Defendant opposes Plaintiff’s motion.

While the parties have met and conferred via letter, it does not appear that they were aware of the Court’s Lemon Law discovery order at the time that they met and conferred. That order should help resolve the issue of what documents should be produced.

Accordingly, 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 the parties to meet and confer directly, not by email or letter. Additionally, the parties are ordered to file a joint statement of remaining issues by a date to be set by the Court. The joint statement should briefly describe the matters in dispute, followed by Plaintiffs’ arguments, then Defendant’s arguments.  

Prior to meeting and conferring, the parties should refer to the Court’s discovery order for lemon law cases for this motion and any future discovery motions in this case. There is a section in that order for the production of documents. The Court’s discovery order is posted online, along with this Department’s courtroom information and Final Status Conference Order, all of which the parties are ordered to review. 

ORDER  

1. The parties are ordered to conduct a meet and confer based on the Court’s Lemon Law discovery order. 

2. The parties shall submit a joint statement of the remaining issues as described above. The format should be as follows: the parties should recite the specific discovery request at issue, followed by the 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 request, the party shall simply refer to the section where the argument was previously made. 

3. The dates for the status report and continued hearings will be set at the hearing on this motion. 

4. Moving party to provide notice.