Judge: Lee S. Arian, Case: 19ATCV22840, Date: 2024-05-03 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 19ATCV22840    Hearing Date: May 3, 2024    Dept: 27

HON. LEE S. ARIAN

DEPARTMENT 27

TENTATIVE RULING

Hearing Date:                5/3/2024 at 1:30 p.m.

Case No./Name:          19STCV22840 EDGAR RAUL MORALES GARCIA vs CLEVERSON M. FERNANDES, JR

Motion:                              MOTION TO COMPEL REQUESTS FOR PRODUCTION, SET ONE, AND REQUEST FOR SANCTIONS

Moving Party:                 Plaintiffs

Responding Party:      Defendant Ivory Heron Group

Notice:                                Sufficient

Ruling:                              MOTION TO COMPEL REQUESTS FOR PRODUCTION, SET ONE, AND REQUEST FOR SANCTIONS ARE GRANTED

Legal Standard  

A plaintiff may make a demand for production of documents and propound interrogatories without leave of court at any time 10 days after the service of the summons on, or appearance by, the party to whom the demand is directed, whichever occurs first. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2031.020, subd. (b); Code Civ. Proc., § 2030.020, subd. (b).) The demand for production of documents is not limited by number, but the request must comply with the formatting requirements in Code Civ. Proc., § 2031.030. A party may propound 35 specially prepared interrogatories that are relevant to the subject matter of the pending action and any additional number of official form interrogatories that are relevant to the subject matter of the pending action. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2030.030, subd. (a)(1) - (a)(2).)

The party whom the request is propounded upon is required to respond within 30 days after service of a demand, but the parties are allowed to informally agree to an extension and confirm any such agreement in writing. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2031.260, subd. (a); Code Civ. Proc., § 2030.260, subd. (a); Code Civ. Proc., § 2031.270, subd. (a) - (b); Code Civ. Proc., § 2030.270, subd. (a) - (b).)

If a party fails to timely respond to a request for production or interrogatories, the party to whom the request is directed waives any right to exercise the option to produce writings under Code Civ. Proc., § 2030.230, and waives any objection, including one based on privilege or on the protection for work product. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2031.300, subd. (a); Code Civ. Proc., § 2030.290, subd. (a).)¿¿The party propounding the discovery requests may move for an order compelling responses. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2031.300, subd. (b); Code Civ. Proc., § 2030.290, subd. (b).) Unlike a motion to compel further discovery responses, a motion to compel initial discovery responses does not have any meet and confer requirements.

Code of Civil Procedure section 2023.030, subdivision (a) provides, in pertinent part, that the court may impose a monetary sanction on a party engaging in the misuse of the discovery process to pay the reasonable expenses, including attorney’s fees, incurred by anyone as a result of that conduct. A misuse of the discovery process includes failing to respond or submit to an authorized method of discovery. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2023.010, subd. (d).)¿¿¿A court has discretion to fix the amount of reasonable monetary sanctions. (Cornerstone Realty Advisors, LLC v. Summit Healthcare Reit, Inc. (2020) 56 Cal.App.5th 771, 791.)

Factual Background and Analysis

On July 1, 2019, Plaintiffs filed the present auto accident case against Cleverson Fernandes, who was allegedly driving within the scope of employment of Ivory Heron Group. On February 14, 2024, Plaintiffs served their Request for Production, set one, on Defendant Ivory Heron Group. Defendant did not provide any responses by the statutory deadline. Plaintiffs now move the Court to compel Defendant to provide the discovery responses at issue. Defendant did not file an opposition or any other filing indicating that the discovery responses were filed prior to the hearing. Thus, the motion to compel is granted. Defendant is ordered to provide complete discovery responses to Plaintiffs’ Request for Production, set one, without objections within 20 days of today.

Defendant’s lack of a response forced Plaintiffs to file the present motion and incur attorney’s fees. Plaintiffs request sanctions in the amount of $2,760.00. The Court exercises its discretion and lowers the amount to $1,000, considering the simplicity of the issues involved and the lack of an opposition. The Court ORDERS Defendant and its counsel, jointly and severally, to pay sanctions of $1,000 to Plaintiffs within 20 days of today’s date.

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE: 

If a party intends to submit on this tentative ruling,¿the party must send an email to the court at¿sscdept27@lacourt.org¿with the Subject line “SUBMIT” followed by the case number.¿ The body of the email must include the hearing date and time, counsel’s contact information, and the identity of the party submitting. 

Unless¿all¿parties submit by email to this tentative ruling, the parties should arrange to appear remotely (encouraged) or in person for oral argument.¿ You should assume that others may appear at the hearing to argue. 

If the parties neither submit nor appear at hearing, the Court may take the motion off calendar or adopt the tentative ruling as the order of the Court.¿ After the Court has issued a tentative ruling, the Court may prohibit the withdrawal of the subject motion.