Judge: Holly J. Fujie, Case: 20STCV10684, Date: 2023-01-20 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 20STCV10684    Hearing Date: January 20, 2023    Dept: 56

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES - CENTRAL DISTRICT

MOVING PARTY:  Defendant Southern California Permanente Medical Group (“Moving Defendant”)

RESPONDING PARTY: Plaintiff

            The Court has considered the moving and opposition papers.  No reply papers were filed.  Any reply papers were required to have been filed and served at least five court days before the hearing under California Code of Civil Procedure (“CCP”) section 1005, subdivision (b).[1]

BACKGROUND

            On November 16, 2022, the Court granted Moving Defendant’s motion to disqualify Twila S. White (“White”) as Plaintiff’s counsel (the “DQ Motion”).  On December 1, 2022, Plaintiff filed a Notice of Appeal of the November 16, 2022 order disqualifying White.  On December 22, 2022, Moving Defendant filed a motion for stay (the “Motion”).  The Motion requests that the Court stay proceedings in this matter pending the resolution of Plaintiff’s appeal of White’s disqualification order.

DISCUSSION

An appeal of an order disqualifying an attorney automatically stays enforcement of the order.  (URS Corp. v. Atkinson/Walsh Joint Venture (2017) 15 Cal.App.5th 872, 887.)  Typically, an automatic stay of a disqualification order does not extend to all trial court proceedings.  (Id. at 888.)  The scope of the automatic stay in the disqualification context depends on the facts of the particular case.  (Id. at 889.) 

            A court ordinarily has inherent power, in its discretion, to stay proceedings when such a stay will accommodate the ends of justice.  (OTO, L.L.C. v. Kho (2019) 8 Cal.5th 111, 141.)  The power to stay proceedings is incidental to the power inherent in every court to control the disposition of the cause on its docket with the economy of time and effort for itself, for counsel, and for litigants.  (Id.) 

            White’s disqualification was based on her ex parte contact with represented witnesses.  In light of the reason for White’s disqualification, the Court finds it appropriate to stay the matter in its entirety pending the resolution of White’s appeal.  The Court therefore GRANTS the Motion.  The final status conference and trial dates are vacated.  The Court sets a status conference on July 20, 2023 at 8:30 a.m. in this department.  The parties are ordered to file a joint status report by July 13, 2023.  Should the appeal of the disqualification order be resolved before the status conference date, either party may request an early status conference by ex parte application.

Moving party is ordered to give notice of this ruling.           

In consideration of the current COVID-19 pandemic situation, the Court strongly encourages that appearances on all proceedings, including this one, be made by LACourtConnect if the parties do not submit on the tentative.  If you instead intend to make an appearance in person at Court on this matter, you must send an email by 2 p.m. on the last Court day before the scheduled date of the hearing to SMC_DEPT56@lacourt.org stating your intention to appear in person.  The Court will then inform you by close of business that day of the time your hearing will be held. The time set for the hearing may be at any time during that scheduled hearing day, or it may be necessary to schedule the hearing for another date if the Court is unable to accommodate all personal appearances set on that date.  This rule is necessary to ensure that adequate precautions can be taken for proper social distancing.

Parties who intend to submit on this tentative must send an email to the Court at SMC_DEPT56@lacourt.org as directed by the instructions provided on the court website at www.lacourt.org.  If the department does not receive an email and there are no appearances at the hearing, the motion will be placed off calendar.

           Dated this 20th day of January 2023