Judge: Jon R. Takasugi, Case: 24STCV09525, Date: 2025-04-30 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 24STCV09525    Hearing Date: April 30, 2025    Dept: 17

Superior Court of California

County of Los Angeles

DEPARTMENT 17

TENTATIVE RULING

Plaintiff’s motions to compel initial responses to its Requests for Production, Special Interrogatories, Form Interrogatories, and Requests for Admission are CONTINUED.  Defendant is in default with a motion to vacate default set on 5/9/2025.  A motion hearing date will be set at the 5/9/2025 hearing on the motion to set aside default.

            On 4/16/2024, Plaintiff Raymond Douglas M.D., Ph.D, a Professional Corporation (Plaintiff) filed suit against Dina Szafir (Defendant), alleging: (1) breach of contract; (2) goods and services; and (3) account stated.

            On 3/17/2025, Plaintiff moved to compel initial responses to its Requests for Production, Form Interrogatories, and Special Interrogatories. Plaintiff also moved to have its Requests for Admission deemed admitted.

            However, on 3/24/2025, Defendant moved to set aside default. Given that Defendant cannot participate in litigation if and until default is set aside, the Court continues this motion until the motion to set aside default has been heard. This will provide Defendant an opportunity to either moot this motion by providing responses or oppose the motion to argue why initial responses should not be provided. This will serve the interests of judicial economy by eliminating the future motion practice that would likely result if this motion were granted before default was set aside.

Based on the foregoing, Plaintiff’s motions to compel initial discovery are continued. A motion hearing date will be set at the 5/9/2025 hearing on the motion to set aside default.

It is so ordered.

Dated:  April    , 2025

   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.