Judge: Jon R. Takasugi, Case: 23STCV15790, Date: 2024-04-19 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 23STCV15790    Hearing Date: April 19, 2024    Dept: 17

Superior Court of California

County of Los Angeles

DEPARTMENT 17

TENTATIVE RULING

Plaintiff’s motion to have her Requests for Admission deemed admitted is DENIED.

Plaintiff’s motion to compel responses to her Requests for Production is DENIED.

Plaintiff’s motion to compel responses to her Special and Form Interrogatories is DENIED.

The Court declines to award sanctions at this time. 

            On 7/6/2023, Plaintiff Sandra Greene (Plaintiff) filed suit against Farmers Insurance Exchange (Defendant), alleging: (1) breach of implied obligation of good faith and fair dealing; (2) breach of contract.

            On 3/18/2024, Plaintiff moved to compel responses to her Requests for Admission (RFAs), Requests for Production (RFPs), and Special and Form Interrogatories (Set One). Plaintiff seeks monetary sanctions in connection with these motions.

Discussion

            On 11/17/2023, Plaintiff served Defendant with an initial set of written discovery requests, including RFPs, RFAs, Form Interrogatories, and Special Interrogatories. After receiving extensions of time to respond, Defendant served objection-only responses to Plaintiff’s discovery requests on February 7, 2024.

            After meet and confer, Defendant then filed substantive, verified responses on 4/5/2024.

            Accordingly, the substance of this motion is moot.

            After review, the Court finds that sanctions are not warranted. This is because Defendant did, in fact, file responses to discovery on 2/7/2024. While those responses were objection-only, the proper motion to file if Plaintiff believed the responses to be deficient would have been a motion to compel further responses. This Court requires that an IDC be conducted before such a motion is heard on the merits. As such, this motion practice could have been avoided if they had been properly filed as motions to compel further. The fact that Defendant provided additional responses after Plaintiff’s meet and confer letter only further reinforces the fact that these discovery issues could have been resolved informally without the need for motion practice.

            As a final note, the Court disagrees with Plaintiff’s contention that no separate statement was required because Defendant’s responses were unverified and those were not considered responses, relying on Appleton v. Superior Court (1988) 206 Cal.App.3d 632, 636.  As noted by Defendant, the Appleton case concerned unverified factual responses from the responding party. The Appleton court found that “[u]nsworn responses are tantamount to no responses at all.” (Id. at p. 636.) Here, in contrast to the responding party in Appleton, Defendant did not serve unverified factual responses. Defendant served objection only responses. Objection only responses “ ‘are legal conclusions interposed by counsel, not factual assertions by a party…” As such, there is no reason to require a party to verify an objection. (Food 4 Less Supermarkets, Inc. v. Superior Court (1995) 40 Cal.App.4th 651, 657. (…[t]here is absolutely no reason to require a party to verify an objection. It is sufficient to have the attorney sign the objection(s).”)

            Based on the foregoing, Plaintiff’s motions to compel are DENIED. The Court declines to award sanctions at this time. 

It is so ordered.

Dated:  April    , 2024

   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.  For more information, please contact the court clerk at (213) 633-0517.