Judge: Jon R. Takasugi, Case: 19STCV33111, Date: 2023-04-17 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 19STCV33111    Hearing Date: April 17, 2023    Dept: 17

Superior Court of California

County of Los Angeles

TENTATIVE RULING

DEPARTMENT 17

            Plaintiff’s motions to compel initial discovery are MOOT. Defendant is sanctioned, jointly and severally with counsel, $350.00 per motion.

On September 17, 2019, Plaintiff Princess Obienu (Plaintiff) filed suit against the County of Los Angeles Department of Health Services (Defendant), alleging: (1) race/national origin discrimination; (2) disability discrimination; (3) failure to accommodate disability; (4) failure to engage in the interactive process; (5) violation of the California Family Rights Act (CFRA); (6) violation of the CFRA – Interference with Family Leave Rights; (7) violation of CFRA – retaliation; (8) failure to prevent/correct discrimination; and (9) retaliation.

            Now, Plaintiff moves to compel initial responses to her discovery.

Discussion

Plaintiff moves to compel responses to her Requests for Admission (RFAs), Form Interrogatories (Set Two), Form Interrogatories (Set Three), Requests for Production (Set Two).

In opposition, Defendant’s counsel filed a declaration claiming responsibility for the failure to provide timely responses. He further stated that full and complete responses to all discovery would be served on Plaintiff’s counsel by 4/7/2023, and a supplemental declaration attaching those responses would be filed with the Court by 4/10/2023. On 4/11/2023, Defendant filed a supplemental declaration containing the discovery responses which have since been provided to Plaintiff.

After review, the Court finds Defendant’s supplemental responses to be substantially code-compliant. Defendant is to comply with its discovery obligations, including deadlines, moving forward.

As noted by Defendant, Plaintiff is still entitled to sanctions because she was obligated to file these motions. Defendant is sanctioned, jointly and severally with counsel, $350 per motion ($350/hr x 1 hr.)

It is so ordered.

Dated:  April    , 2023

   Hon. Jon R. Takasugi
   Judge of the Superior Court

Parties who intend to submit on this tentative must send an email to the court at smcdept17@lacourt.org by 4 p.m. the day prior as directed by the instructions provided on the court website at www.lacourt.org.  If a party submits on the tentative, the party’s email must include the case number and must identify the party submitting on the tentative.  If all parties to a motion submit, the court will adopt this tentative as the final order.  If the department does not receive an email indicating the parties are submitting on the tentative and there are no appearances at the hearing, the motion may be placed off calendar. 

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