Judge: James L. Crandall, Case: 21-1234793, Date: 2022-12-01 Tentative Ruling

Motion to Compel Deposition (Oral or Written)

Plaintiffs move for an order compelling the deposition of Defendant General Motors LLC’s Person(s) Most Qualified and Custodian of Records. The motion is CONTINUED to January 12, 2023, at 10:00 am for the reasons stated below.

Pursuant to CCP § 2025.450(b)(2), Plaintiffs’ motion must be accompanied by a meet and confer declaration made under CCP § 2016.040, or by a declaration that the moving party has contacted the deponent to inquire about the nonappearance. Further, CCP § 2016.040 states: “A meet and confer declaration in support of a motion shall state facts showing a reasonable and good faith attempt at an informal resolution of each issue presented by the motion.” (Emphasis added.)

Here, Defendant GM is correct in that Plaintiffs have failed to establish that they sufficiently met and conferred prior to filing this instant motion. The meet and confer emails attached as Ex. C to the Declaration of Zarchary Davina only pertain to deposition dates. There is nothing regarding the disputed categories of examination or request for production of documents.

Plaintiffs move to compel the deposition as originally noticed. That includes an order compelling the deposition for all noticed categories and the production of documents. Pursuant to CCP § 2016.040, Plaintiffs were required to meet and confer regarding these issues prior to filing the motion. Defendant GM argues this in the Opposition and Plaintiffs fail to address it in the Reply. Indeed, Defendant’s response to the deposition notice, attached as Ex. B to the Decl. of Davina, indicates that Defendant is agreeable to producing a person to testify as to certain categories and also agrees to produce some documents at a mutually agreeable time/date, and Plaintiffs have failed to meet and confer as to these issues. As Plaintiffs have utterly failed to meet and confer as to each issue presented in the motion, the motion is CONTINUED for further meet and confer.

The parties are ORDERED to meet and confer for the purpose of attempting a reasonable and good faith attempt at informal resolution of the issues presented in this motion. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the meet and confer efforts shall be made by lead counsel for both parties either in person, by telephone or videoconference, and not by mail or email, except as confirmation of conversations.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the parties file Joint Statement(s) only on issues on which they cannot reach resolution through meeting and conferring. The parties are to say why they were unable to resolve their issues. Each party is to set forth the factual and legal reasons for their position. No additional briefing is authorized or will be considered.

The Joint Statement(s) must be filed and served no later than 9 court days before the continued hearing date. If a Joint Statement is not filed by that date, the Motion will be placed off-calendar.

Failure to comply with this order by either party, or their counsel, may result in further continuance of the motions, placing them off-calendar, and/or monetary sanctions against the parties or counsel.

Court orders Plaintiffs to give notice.