Judge: Kevin C. Brazile, Case: 24STCV01953, Date: 2024-06-03 Tentative Ruling

Hearing Date: June 3, 2024

Case Name: Kaye v. Buyers Edge Platform LLC, et al.

Case No.: 22STCV37637 

Matter: Motion to Quash Subpoena

Moving Party: Plaintiff Marilyn Kaye 

Responding Party: Defendant Buyers Edge Platform LLC 

Notice: OK

Ruling: The Motion is granted.

Moving party to give notice.

If counsel do not submit on the tentative, they are strongly 

encouraged to appear by LACourtConnect rather than in person due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

This is an employment action.  Plaintiff Marilyn Kaye seeks to quash a deposition subpoena issued to her former employer, Grande Cheese Company.

The subpoena at issue seeks: “(1) A full and complete copy of the personnel records for Kaye; (2) Any and all documents concerning or relating to the termination of Kaye’s employment with Grande Cheese Company in 2019; (3) Any and all W2 tax forms for Kaye for tax years 1993-2019; (4) Any and all payroll records or pay statements for Kaye for tax years 1993-2019.”

Code of Civil Procedure § 1987.1 authorizes courts to quash a subpoena entirely, modify it, or direct compliance with it upon the court’s own terms and conditions, including protective orders. In addition, the court may take other appropriate means to protect parties or nonparties “from unreasonable or oppressive demands, including unreasonable violations of the right of privacy.”  (Code Civ. Proc. § 1987.1(a).)  Discovery devices are meant to facilitate litigation, not wage it.  (Calcor Space Facility, Inc. v. Superior Court (1997) 53 Cal.App.4th 216, 221.)

Defendant contends that “[i]t is undisputed Defendants’ counsel immediately offered to withdraw the subpoena and issue a new subpoena limited to Kaye’s personnel records and not seek any of the financial, payroll or tax records to which Kaye objected. . . . [T]he parties engaged in a good faith effort to resolve their dispute. Defendants withdrew the objectionable portions of the subpoena, made a reasonable proposal limited to the employment records of the last five years of Kaye’s employment at Grande Cheese, but Plaintiff refused that reasonable proposal. Plaintiff’s counsel then filed the instant motion without reflecting the true positions of the parties on this issue.”

The subpoena at issue is quite overboard in light of Plaintiff’s privacy rights.  Further, a request for all documents in Plaintiff’s personnel file for a five-year period is also overbroad and unjustified.

Therefore, the Motion to Quash is granted.  The Court awards reduced sanctions in the amount of $1,250.

Moving party to give notice.

If counsel do not submit on the tentative, they are strongly encouraged to appear by LACourtConnect rather than in person due to the COVID-19 pandemic.