Judge Holly J. Fujie, Case 22STCV03571 2022-09-29 Tentative Ruling

The Court has considered 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 pursuant to California Code of Civil Procedure (“CCP”) section 1005, subdivision (b).

This action arises out of a commercial landlord/tenant relationship. Plaintiff’s complaint (the “Complaint”) alleges: (1) breach of contract; (2) breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing; (3) fraud; and (4) unfair competition.

On August 12, 2022, Plaintiff filed a motion for an order deeming its Requests for Admissions, Set One (the “RFAs”) served on Defendant Albert Stern (“Defendant”) to be admitted (the “Motion”). The Motion also seeks monetary sanctions against Defendant and his counsel in the amount of $3,211.65.

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).)

Plaintiff served the RFAs on Plaintiff on June 22, 2022. (Declaration of Carlen Don (“Don Decl.”) ¶ 3, Exhibits A-B.) As of the filing of the motion, Defendant had not responded to the RFAs. (Don Decl. ¶ 5.)

As it is unopposed, the Court GRANTS the Motion. (Sexton v. Superior Court (1997) 58 Cal.App.4th 1403, 1410.) The Court orders Defendant to provide verified, complete, and code-compliant responses, without objection, to Plaintiff’s RFAs within 20 days of the date of this order.

Plaintiff requests $3,211.65 in sanctions in connection to the Motion. This amount represents: (1) five hours of attorney time at a rate of $300 per hour; (2) one hour of attorney time at a rate of $500 per hour; (3) an anticipated three hours drafting a reply at a rate of $300 per hour and 0.5 hours reviewing a reply at a rate of $500 per hour; and (4) 61.65 in filing fees. (Don Decl. ¶¶ 6-8.)

The Court exercises its discretion and GRANTS Plaintiff’s request for monetary sanctions in the reasonable amount of $661.65, which represents two hours of work preparing the Motion at a rate of $300 per hour and 61.65 in filing fees. (Moran v. Oso Valley Greenbelt Assn. (2004) 117 Cal.App.4th 1029, 1034.) Defendant and his counsel are ordered to pay Plaintiff’s counsel within 20 days of the date of this order.

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.

Hon. Holly J. Fujie

Judge of the Superior Court