Judge Lee S. Arian, Case Number: 22STCV24532, Date: 2024-03-25 Tentative Ruling

Motion: Motion to Compel Further Responses to Special Interrogatories, Set One, Requests for Production, Set One, and for Sanctions

Moving Party: Defendant Downey Wholesale Inc.

Responding Party: Plaintiff¿¿

Notice: Sufficient¿¿¿¿

Ruling: Motion to Compel Further Responses to Special Interrogatories, Set One, Requests for Production, Set One, and for Sanctions are DENIED

On July 29, 2022, Plaintiff filed the present case. On September 12, 2023, Defendant served Requests for Production, Set One, and Special Interrogatories, Set One. On November 6, 2023, Plaintiff served verified answers via electronic mail. On November 13, 2023, the parties met and conferred, and Plaintiff granted Defendant a 10-day extension from the original deadline for Defendant’s motion to compel further responses. The motion lacked a section demonstrating the timeliness of the motion. No opposition was filed.

CCP § 2031.310 (c) provides “Unless notice of this motion is given within 45 days of the service of the verified response, or any supplemental verified response, or on or before any specific later date to which the demanding party and the responding party have agreed in writing, the demanding party waives any right to compel a further response to the demand.”

CCP § 2030.300 (c) provides “Unless notice of this motion is given within 45 days of the service of the verified response, or any supplemental verified response, or on or before any specific later date to which the propounding party and the responding party have agreed in writing, the propounding party waives any right to compel a further response to the interrogatories.”

CCP § 1010.6(a)(3)(B) Provides “Any period of notice, or any right or duty to do any act or make any response within any period or on a date certain after the service of the document, which time period or date is prescribed by statute or rule of court, shall be extended after service by electronic means by two court days.”

Reserving or scheduling an IDC does not extend the time to file a Motion to Compel Further Discovery Responses. (Eighth amended standing order for procedures in the personal injury hub court at p. 8.)

Plaintiff's verified responses to Special Interrogatories, Set One, and Request for Production, Set One were served by electronic mail on November 6, 2023. Additionally, Plaintiff granted a 10-day extension to Defendant's 45-day deadline to compel further responses. Fifty-five days from November 6, 2023, falls on December 31, 2023; however, December 31, 2023, was a Sunday and January 1, 2024 was a court holiday; thus, the due date for a motion to compel was January 2, 2024. Defendant gets two extra days for electronic service, bringing the deadline to file the present motions to January 4, 2024. The motions were filed on January 5, 2024, and are therefore untimely. Thus, Defendant has waived its right to compel a further response and the present motions are DENIED.

¿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 without leave.¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿