Judge: Lee S. Arian, Case: 22STCV25473, Date: 2024-10-18 Tentative Ruling
Case Number: 22STCV25473 Hearing Date: October 18, 2024 Dept: 27
Hon. Lee S. Arian, Dept 27
MOTION TO COMPEL DEPOSITION AND REQUESTS FOR
SANCTIONS
Hearing Date: 10/17/24¿
CASE NO./NAME: 22STCV25473 ESTATE OF
ROCHELLE TAYLOR vs LISA BEAUTY SALON & SPA
Moving Party: Defendant LISA BEAUTY SALON & SPA
Responding Party: Plaintiff
Notice: Sufficient¿
Ruling: MOTION TO COMPEL DEPOSITION AND
REQUESTS FOR SANCTIONS ARE
GRANTED
Background
On August 19, 2024,
Defendant’s counsel attempted to meet and confer with Plaintiff’s counsel
regarding Plaintiff’s deposition and provided several proposed dates. After
receiving no response and on August 22, 2024, Defendant served a notice of
deposition for September 16, 2024. Plaintiff did not file an objection. On
September 11, 2024, Defendant’s counsel requested confirmation of the
deposition date and was informed by Plaintiff’s counsel that an email would be
sent to Plaintiff to confirm by September 13, 2024. Despite follow-up attempts
by Defendant’s counsel on both September 13 and September 16, no responses were
received. Plaintiff did not appear for the deposition. Thereafter, Defendant’s
sought new dates for Plaintiff’s deposition but received no replies. Defendant
now moves the Court to compel Plaintiff’s deposition.
Legal Standard
¿¿¿¿
Any party may obtain any discovery
of information, documents, land, property, or electronically stored information
so long as the discoverable matter is not privileged, is relevant to the
subject matter and can lead one to admissible evidence.¿(Code Civ. Proc. § 2017.010.)¿¿¿¿¿
¿¿¿¿¿
Code Civ. Proc., § 2025.450¿provides in pertinent part the
following:¿¿¿¿¿¿
¿¿¿¿¿
“(a) If, after service of a
deposition notice, a party to the action or an officer, director, managing
agent, or employee of a party, or a person designated by an organization that
is a party under Section 2025.230, without having served a valid objection
under Section 2025.410, fails to appear for examination, or to proceed with it,
or to produce for inspection any document, electronically stored information,
or tangible thing described in the deposition notice, the party giving the
notice may move for an order compelling the deponent's attendance and
testimony, and the production for inspection of any document, electronically
stored information, or tangible thing described in the deposition notice.¿¿¿¿¿
¿¿¿
(b) A motion under subdivision (a)
shall comply with both of the following:¿¿¿¿¿
¿
(1) The motion shall set forth specific facts showing
good cause justifying the production for inspection of any document,
electronically stored information, or tangible thing described in the
deposition notice.¿¿¿¿¿
(2) The motion shall be accompanied by a meet and
confer declaration under Section 2016.040¿or, when the deponent fails to
attend the deposition and produce the documents, electronically stored
information, or things described in the deposition notice, by a declaration
stating that the petitioner has contacted the deponent to inquire about the nonappearance.
Discussion
All the requirements
for the present motion to compel are met. On August 22, 2024, Defendant served
Plaintiff with a notice of deposition set for September 16, 2024. Plaintiff did
not file an objection and failed to appear at the scheduled deposition.
Defendant attempted to obtain alternative deposition dates afterward but
received no responses.
Plaintiff filed
an objection, stating that Plaintiff's counsel has been making active efforts
to contact Plaintiff but encountered difficulties. This lack of communication,
however, should not be construed as an unwillingness to participate in the
legal process. Plaintiff argues that the motion to compel should be
reconsidered in light of these circumstances.
Under Code of Civil Procedure
§ 2025.450,
the requirements for the Court to compel a deposition are clear, and Defendant
has met all of them. Plaintiff’s opposition does not dispute the timeline set
forth by Defendant or claim that Defendant failed to meet statutory
requirements. Therefore, Plaintiff does not oppose the motion on its merits. Accordingly, the Court grants the motion.
Plaintiff Sherikia Bagley is ordered to appear for her deposition and produce
all required documents without objections within 20 days of today.
Furthermore,
sanctions are granted in part to compensate Defendant for having to file this
motion to obtain Plaintiff’s deposition. Plaintiff’s counsel informed
Defendant's counsel that a response regarding Plaintiff’s appearance would be
provided by September 13, 2024, but no response was given. Plaintiff’s counsel
eventually responded after the deposition date had passed, but by then
Defendant had already incurred court reporter fees. The Court finds both
Plaintiff and Plaintiff’s counsel responsible for the fees incurred by
Defendant.
Defendant
requests $1,490 in monetary sanctions. Despite Plaintiff’s objection, the Court
finds this amount reasonable, as it covers the expenses incurred by Defendant
in producing the certificate of non-compliance and filing the present motion.
The Court, therefore, issues sanctions in the amount of $1,400 against
Plaintiff and her counsel, jointly and severally, payable to Defendant within
20 days of today.
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.