Judge: Holly J. Fujie, Case: 21STCV47328, Date: 2022-12-21 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 21STCV47328    Hearing Date: December 21, 2022    Dept: 56

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES - CENTRAL DISTRICT

MOVING PARTY: Plaintiff

RESPONDING PARTY: Defendant FCA US, LLC (“FCA”)

            The Court has considered the moving, opposition and reply papers. 

BACKGROUND

            This action arises from the purchase of an allegedly defective vehicle that was manufactured by FCA.  Plaintiff’s complaint (the “Complaint”) alleges various warranty breaches under the Song-Beverly Act and negligent repair. 

On August 17, 2022, Plaintiff and FCA (the “Parties”) participated in an Informal Discovery Conference (“IDC”) to address discovery disputes.  Following the IDC, the Court issued an order requiring FCA to serve supplemental, code-compliant and verified responses to Plaintiff’s Requests for Production of Documents, Set One (the “RFPs”) by September 16, 2022. 

On November 7, 2022, Plaintiff filed a motion to compel further responses to the RFPs (the “Motion”).  While an IDC will no longer be required under California Code of Civil Procedure section 2016.080 as of January 1, 2023, if the Parties will stipulate to the Court’s conducting one, then the Court will set a date at the time of the hearing.  If the Parties do not stipulate to the Court conducting an IDC to resolve this dispute, the Court will continue the date of the hearing on the Motion to January 3, 2023 at 8:30 a.m. in this department.

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 21st day of December 2022