Judge: Jon R. Takasugi, Case: 21STCV29777, Date: 2023-05-11 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 21STCV29777    Hearing Date: May 11, 2023    Dept: 17

Superior Court of California

County of Los Angeles

DEPARTMENT 17

TENTATIVE RULING

Plaintiff’s motion is DENIED. Plaintiff is sanctioned, jointly and severally with counsel, $700.00.

            On 8/21/2021, Plaintiff Marcia Graciela Soto (Plaintiff) filed suit against American Honda Motor, Company (Defendant), alleging violations of the Song-Beverly Act.

            Now, Plaintiff moves to compel further responses from Defendant to her Requests for Production (RFPs) (Set One).

After review, the Court finds Defendant’s responses to be adequate and code-complaint.

In addition to all documents concerning the subject vehicle, the Court generally finds the following documents to be discoverable:

1.      Defendant shall produce the “Warranty Policy and Procedure Manual” published by Defendant and provided to its authorized repair facilities, within the State of California, for the period of the purchase date to present.

2.      Defendant shall produce any internal analysis or investigation concerning the alleged electrical defect in vehicles for the same year, make, and model of the subject vehicle.

3.       Defendant shall produce any customer complaints relating to defects that are similar to the alleged defects claimed by plaintiff in vehicles within California for the same year, make, and model of the subject vehicle, for the period of the purchase date to present.

4.       Defendant shall produce all documents evidencing policies and procedures used to evaluate customer requests for repurchase pursuant to the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, for the period of the purchase date to present.

5.       Technical Service Bulletins and Recall Notices for vehicles purchased in California for the same year, make and model of the subject vehicle. 

6.        All other requests for further production are DENIED.

Here, Defendant’s responses are either inclusive of all the information this Court believes to be discoverable or contains a compliant statement as to why the requests documents cannot be produced.  For example, Plaintiff objects to Defendant’s response to RFP No. 65. However, Defendant’s supplemental response provided: “The requested production will be allowed in whole and AHM will produce all manufacturer communications between AHM and NHTSA related to ELECTRICAL DEFECTS, as that term is defined by Plaintiff for 2019 Honda CR-V vehicles and will include those communications related to Service Bulletin No. 19-066.”

Similarly, despite the overbroad scope of Request No. 68, Defendant responded that:

Request no. 68 seeks all “Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability, and Documentation (‘TREAD’) reports” AHM submitted concerning vehicles of the same year, make, and model as the Subject Vehicle. AHM properly objected on the grounds that the request fails to specify what Plaintiff is looking for and is not limited in any way. It is unreasonable to ask AHM to produce documents not limited to any particular component or system across the entire fleet of 2019 Honda CR-V vehicles. Nevertheless, AHM responded “in whole” and agreed to produce TREAD warranty submissions.

Based on the foregoing, Plaintiff’s motion is denied. Plaintiff is sanctioned, jointly and severally, $700.00. ($350/hr x 2 hrs.)  

It is so ordered.

Dated:  May    , 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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