Judge: Jon R. Takasugi, Case: BC691142, Date: 2022-12-14 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: BC691142    Hearing Date: December 14, 2022    Dept: 17

Superior Court of California

County of Los Angeles

DEPARTMENT 17

TENTATIVE RULING

      Defendants Regents of University of California’s and Dr. Fairooz Kabbinavar’s motions to deem the truth of the matters specified in its RFAs (Set One) are GRANTED. Plaintiffs and counsel are sanctioned, jointly and severally, $1,050 per motion.

            On 1/24/2018, Wayne Brent by and though his surviving spouse and successor in interest Najila K. Brent and Najila K. Brent individually filed this action asserting 30 causes of action.

            On 10/10/2022, Plaintiffs filed an FAC, alleging: (1) wrongful death; (2) gross negligence (3) hospital negligence; (4) professional negligence; (5) medical negligence; (6) medical battery; (7) breach of fiduciary duty; (8) fraud; (9) intentional infliction of emotional distress; (10) negligent infliction of emotional distress; (11) survival action; (12) elder abuse; (13) public entity’s liability; and (14) civil conspiracy to commit fraud, deceit, and conceal.

            Now, Defendants Regents of University of California and Dr. Fairooz Kabbinavar separately move to have their Requests for Admissions (RFAs) deemed admitted.

I.                   Regents of University of California’s Motion

Defendant served Plaintiffs with RFAs on 2/25/2022. (Vogt Decl., Exh.A.) After multiple extensions, and in light of the fact that no amended Complaint had been filed, counsel for Defendant agreed to re-issue discovery at a later date. On 7/25/2022, Defendant served the same RFAs on Plaintiffs. Plaintiffs again requested, and received, repeated extensions.

As such, Plaintiffs have had over three months by which to prepare responses to discovery (and over 8 months if calculated from the initial service date in February 2022). To date, no responses have been received.

Plaintiffs did not oppose this motion, and thus have set forth any substantial justification for this failure.

      Defendant’s motion is granted to deem the truth of the matters specified in its RFAs (Set One) as admitted. Plaintiffs and counsel are sanctioned, jointly and severally, $1,050. ($350/hr x 3/hr.)

II.                Dr. Fairooz Kabbinavar’s Motion

Defendant served Plaintiffs with RFAs on 2/25/2022. (Vogt Decl., Exh.A.) After multiple extensions, and in light of the fact that no amended Complaint had been filed, counsel for Defendant agreed to re-issue discovery at a later date. On 7/25/2022, Defendant served the same RFAs on Plaintiffs. Plaintiffs again requested, and received, repeated extensions.

As such, Plaintiffs have had over three months by which to prepare responses to discovery (and over 8 months if calculated from the initial service date in February 2022). To date, no responses have been received.

Plaintiffs did not oppose this motion, and thus have set forth any substantial justification for this failure.

      Defendant’s motion is granted to deem the truth of the matters specified in its RFAs (Set One) as admitted. Plaintiffs and counsel are sanctioned, jointly and severally, $1,050. ($350/hr x 3/hr.)

It is so ordered.

Dated:  December    , 2022

   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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