Judge: Keri G. Katz, Case: 37-2022-00051488-CU-BT-CTL, Date: 2024-03-28 Tentative Ruling

SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA,

DEPT.:

EVENT DATE:

EVENT TIME:

HALL OF JUSTICE

TENTATIVE RULINGS - February 29, 2024

03/01/2024  08:30:00 AM  C-74 COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO

JUDICIAL OFFICER:Keri Katz

CASE NO.:

CASE CATEGORY:

EVENT TYPE:

CASE TITLE: CASE TYPE:

Civil - Unlimited  Business Tort Discovery Hearing 37-2022-00051488-CU-BT-CTL GUILD MORTGAGE COMPANY LLC VS CROSSCOUNTRY MORTGAGE LLC CAUSAL DOCUMENT/DATE FILED:

Plaintiff's motion to compel production of documents in response to Plaintiff's Request for Production of Documents to Defendant CrossCountry Mortgage LLC, Set One, Nos. 7, 8, 15 and 17 is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART.

Preliminarily, Guild's separate statement again fails to comply with the separate statement requirements of California Rules of Court, rule 3.1345(c)(2) which requires that '[t]he text of each response, answer, or objection, and any further responses or answers' be included. Although CCM raises general objections to Guild's request for production, Guild fails to set forth these general objections in its separate statement. Nonetheless, and because the objections are set forth in Exhibit 2 to the Declaration of Renee Pesiri [ROA 134], the court reaches the merits of Guild's motion.

Request for Production No. 7: All DOCUMENTS RELATING TO CCM'S efforts to comply with the preliminary injunction issued in Flowers, et al. v. Guild Mortgage Company LLC, King County Sup. Ct. Case No. 21-2-12607-0 SEA, including but not limited to any reports generated by Richey May.

The court sustains CCM's relevance objection. The court finds Guild fails to establish how documents relating to CCM's efforts to comply with a preliminary injunction issued by another court in another matter are relevant to Guild's potential aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty and unfair competition causes of action. As pled, these causes of action are both premised on the acts of former Guild employees while still employed by Guild, not on the post-lawsuit conduct of CCM.

Request for Production No. 8: All DOCUMENTS RELATING TO CCM'S efforts to identify and remove, segregate, delete, or otherwise handle customer lists and other documents taken from GUILD's computers and computer systems by any FORMER GUILD EMPLOYEE.

Request for Production No. 15: Produce DOCUMENTS sufficient to show all data upload activity into YOUR Customer Relationship Management ('CRM') or loan origination software by or on behalf of any FORMER GUILD EMPLOYEE Calendar No.: Event ID:  TENTATIVE RULINGS

3044015  12 CASE NUMBER: CASE TITLE:  GUILD MORTGAGE COMPANY LLC VS CROSSCOUNTRY MORTGAGE  37-2022-00051488-CU-BT-CTL during the period March 1, 2021 through July 31, 2021, including the time and date of the upload, the data uploaded, the person who uploaded the data, and the person for whom the data was uploaded.

While CCM raises objections to these requests, CCM also states: 'CCM believes it has already produced documents responsive to this request, but is willing to meet and confer with Guild regarding documents Guild believes have yet to be produced.' The court orders CCM to provide supplemental responses identifying all documents previously produced in response to these requests and stating whether CCM has produced all responsive documents. To the extent CCM is withholding any documents from production based on the attorney-client privilege and/or the attorney work-product doctrine, CCM shall provide a privilege log with CCM's supplemental responses.

Request for Production No. 17: For each of the spreadsheets listed below, which, based on YOUR March 31, 2022 letter are Excel spreadsheets containing the information loaded into YOUR CRM system by Christopher 'Jordan' Flowers, Cory Flynn, Cindy Friaoli, and Ryan Lee, and Kristina Rombakh (see CCM's March 31, 2022 letter at page 4, item 12), produce DOCUMENTS sufficient to identify: the dates each spreadsheet was initially ingested into YOUR CRM or other database(s); who initially uploaded each spreadsheet into your CRM or other database(s); and DOCUMENTS sufficient to show subsequent uploads, downloads, copying, transferring, editing, modifying, or use of the data in each spreadsheet.

a. CCM-000322 b. CCM-000323 c. CCM-000324 d. CCM-000325 e. CCM-000326 f. CCM-000327 g. CCM-000328 h. CCM-000329 i. CCM-000330 j. CCM-000331 k. CCM-000332 l. CCM-000333 The court sustains CCM's relevance objection as to the third portion of this request seeking 'DOCUMENTS sufficient to show subsequent uploads, downloads, copying, transferring, editing, modifying, or use of the data in each spreadsheet.' As to the remainder of this request, the court overrules CCM's objections. The court finds the information sought relevant to Guild's potential aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty and unfair competition causes of action. The court orders CCM to provide a supplemental response and to produce responsive documents within 10 days of this ruling. To the extent CCM is withholding any documents from production based on the attorney-client privilege and/or the attorney work-product doctrine, CCM shall provide a privilege log with CCM's supplemental responses.

If this tentative ruling is confirmed the Minute Order will be the final order of the court and the parties shall not submit any further order on this motion.

Calendar No.: Event ID:  TENTATIVE RULINGS

3044015  12