Judge: Jon R. Takasugi, Case: 20STCV21804, Date: 2023-01-11 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 20STCV21804    Hearing Date: January 11, 2023    Dept: 17

Superior Court of California

County of Los Angeles

DEPARTMENT 17

TENTATIVE RULING

            Plaintiff’s motions to compel further are GRANTED. Defendant is sanctioned, jointly and severally with counsel, $1,050 per motion.

            On 6/9/2020, Plaintiff Sarah O. Clifton (Plaintiff) initiated this action. On 4/30/2021, Plaintiff filed a second amended complaint (SAC) alleging: (1) hostile work environment harassment; (2) discrimination; (3) retaliation in violation of FEHA; (4) failure to prevent harassment; (5) retaliation; (6) wrongful discharge; (7) violation of Labor Code section 1198.5; and (8) violation of Business and Professions Code section 17200. 

            On 7/25/2022 and 7/26/2022, Plaintiff filed two motions to compel further responses to discovery from Defendant ACLU Foundation.

            Since October 2022, the motions have been repeatedly rescheduled by the parties as they continued to meet-and-confer. To date, no supplemental materials have been filed, whether it be an opposition, reply, a notice of withdrawal, or a declaration clarifying the current scope of the discovery dispute.

            As such, it is unclear to the Court whether or not the lack of responsive moving papers indicates that the discovery dispute has been resolved in its entirety, or how the discovery dispute has been narrowed in the six months of meeting-and-conferring since the motions were initially filed.  

            Given that the motions are both unopposed, the Court tentatively grants both motions to compel further discovery. To the extent that the discovery dispute has been narrowed, the parties must file supplemental briefing clarifying the issues that remain between the parties.

            Based on the foregoing, Plaintiffs’ motions to compel further are granted. Given the lack of opposition, Defendant has not provided substantial justification for its conduct. Accordingly, Defendant is sanctioned, jointly and severally with counsel, $1,050 per motion ($350/hr x 3 hrs.)

It is so ordered.

Dated:  January     , 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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