Judge: Holly J. Fujie, Case: 20STCV49552, Date: 2022-08-17 Tentative Ruling
DEPARTMENT 56 JUDGE HOLLY J. FUJIE, LAW AND MOTION RULINGS. The court makes every effort to post tentative rulings by 5.00 pm of the court day before the hearing. The tentative ruling will not become the final ruling until the hearing [see CRC 3.1308(a)(2)], and are also available in the courtroom on the day of the hearing [see CRC 3.1308(b)]. If the parties wish to submit on the tentative ruling and avoid a court appearance, all counsel must agree and choose which counsel will give notice. That counsel must 1) call Dept 56 by 8:30 a.m. on the day of the hearing (213/633-0656) and state that all parties will submit on the tentative ruling, and 2) serve notice of the ruling on all parties. If any party declines to submit on the tentative ruling, then no telephone call is necessary and all parties should appear at the hearing in person or by Court Call. Court reporters are not provided, and parties who want a record of motions and other proceedings must hire a privately retained certified court reporter.
Case Number: 20STCV49552 Hearing Date: August 17, 2022 Dept: 56
SUPERIOR
COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
FOR
THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES - CENTRAL DISTRICT
Plaintiff, vs. HOU HUA, et al., Defendants. |
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[TENTATIVE] ORDER RE: DISCOVERY MOTIONS Date:
August 17, 2022 Time: 8:30 a.m. Dept. 56 |
MOVING
PARTY: Plaintiff
The
Court has reviewed the moving papers. No
opposition papers were filed. Any
opposition papers were required to have been filed and served at least nine
court days before the hearing under California Code of Civil Procedure
(“CCP”) section 1005, subdivision (b).
BACKGROUND
On
June 30, 2022, Plaintiff filed: (1) a motion to deem Plaintiff’s Requests for
Admission, set one admitted against Defendant Hou Hua (“Hua”); and (2) a motion
to compel Hua’s responses to Plaintiff’s Requests for Inspection, set one, Form
Interrogatories, set one, and Special Interrogatories, set one (collectively,
the “Motions”) on the grounds that Hua has failed to provide timely responses
to Plaintiff’s discovery requests.
DISCUSSION
Under
CCP section 2033.280, subdivision (a), where requests for admission are
propounded on a party and that party fails to serve a timely response, that
party waives any objection to the requests.
(CCP § 2033.280, subd. (a).) The requesting
party may move for an order that the genuineness of any documents and the truth
of any matters specified in the requests be deemed admitted, as well as for a
monetary sanction. (CCP § 2033.280,
subd. (b).) The court must grant a
motion to have admission requests deemed admitted where responses have not been
served prior to the hearing, or, if such responses were served, they were not
in substantial compliance with CCP section 2033.220. (CCP
§ 2033.280, subd. (c).) It is
mandatory that the court impose a monetary sanction the party or attorney, or
both, whose failure to serve a timely response to requests for admission
necessitated the motion. (Id.)
Under CCP section 2030.290, subdivision (b), when a party
directs interrogatories towards a party and that party fails to serve a timely
response, the party propounding the interrogatories may move for an order
compelling response to the interrogatories. (CCP § 2030.290, subd. (b).)
The moving party need only show that the interrogatories were served on the
opposing party, the time has expired to respond to the interrogatories and no
responses have been served in order for the court to compel the
opposing party to respond. (Leach v. Superior Court (1980)
111 Cal.App.3d 902, 906.)
Where there has been no timely response to a demand for
inspection, copying, testing or sampling, the demanding party may seek an order
compelling a response. (CCP § 2031.300, subd.
(b).) Failure to timely respond waives all objections, including
privilege and work product. (CCP § 2031.300, subd. (a).)
Plaintiff served the discovery requests at issue in the
Motions on May 12, 2022 and has not received any responses. (See Declaration of Alexander Chen
(“Chen Decl.”) ¶¶ 2, 4.)
As they are unopposed, the Court GRANTS the Motions. (Sexton v. Superior
Court (1997) 58 Cal.App.4th 1403, 1410.) Hua is ordered to submit responses
within 20 days of this order.
Monetary Sanctions
Plaintiff
requests a $1,435 in monetary sanctions in connection to each Motion. (See Chen Decl. ¶ 5.) This amount reflects:
(1) three hours pursuing responses and drafting each Motion at an hourly rate
of $275 per hour; (2) an anticipated two hours to draft reply papers and appear
at the hearing; and (3) a $60 filing fee.
(Id.)
The Court exercises its discretion and GRANTS Plaintiff’s
request for monetary sanctions in the reasonable amount of $670, which
represents: (1) two hours total drafting the Motions at an hourly rate of $275
per hour; and (2) $120 in filing fees. (Moran
v. Oso Valley Greenbelt Assn. (2004) 117 Cal.App.4th 1029, 1034.) Hua is ordered to pay this amount within 20
days of this order.
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 17th day of August 2022
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Hon. Holly J.
Fujie Judge of the
Superior Court |