Judge: Gregory Keosian, Case: 20STCV42444, Date: 2023-02-15 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 20STCV42444    Hearing Date: February 15, 2023    Dept: 61

Plaintiff Gergis R. Ghobrial’s Motion to Compel Further Responses to Requests For Production of Documents is DENIED. Sanctions are DENIED.

I.      MOTIONS TO COMPEL FURTHER

“A propounding party may demand a responding party to produce documents that are in their possession, custody or control. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2031.010.) The responding party must respond to the production demand either by complying, by representing that the party lacks the ability to comply, or by objecting to the demand. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2031.210.) If the responding party fails to serve timely responses, the propounding party may move for an order compelling responses to the production demand and interrogatories. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2031.300.)

Plaintiff Gergis Ghobrial (Plaintiff) moves to compel further responses to Requests for Production, Sets One and Two, from Acute Care Surgery Medical Group, Inc., Glenn Koh, M.D., and Surgical Affiliates Management Group, Inc. (Defendants). Plaintiff argues that Defendants’ responses to these requests consisted solely of unwarranted objections. (Separate Statement.)

Defendants in opposition argue that Plaintiff failed to meet and confer prior to bringing this motion, and that it has since supplied supplemental responses to the requests at issue the day before filing its opposition. (Opposition at pp. 3–6.)

Plaintiff in reply argues that he attempted to meet and confer, and that the supplemental responses are deficient because they do not contain the documents promised. (Reply at pp. 3–4.)

Defendants are correct that the present motion exceeds the scope of the parties’ informal efforts to meet and confer. The parties exchanged correspondence regarding specific requests and documents in April and July 2022. (Arabian Decl. ¶¶ 3–4, Exhs. B, C.) No further efforts to meet and confer took place, save Plaintiff on November 19, 2022, sending an email purporting to renew prior demands for further response. (Reply Exh. C at p. 1.) The motion thus broadly exceed the scope of prior efforts to confer.

The motion is also moot. Plaintiff does not contest that supplemental responses have been provided, but argues that the documents referenced in the responses have not been produced. (Reply at pp. 3–4.) But the remedy for the failure to produce promised documents is not a motion to compel further response, but a motion to compel compliance with statements of compliance under Code of Civil Procedure § 2031.320.

The motion is therefore DENIED.

II.             SANCTIONS

Statute provides that the court shall impose sanctions upon a party who unsuccessfully makes or opposes a motion to compel further response to requests for production of documents, absent substantial justification otherwise. (Code Civ. Proc. § 2031.310, subd. (h).)

Sanctions are DENIED.