Judge: Lee S. Arian, Case: 22STCV30508, Date: 2024-08-08 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 22STCV30508    Hearing Date: August 8, 2024    Dept: 27

Hon. Lee S. Arian, Dept 27 

MOTION TO COMPEL INITIAL RESPONSES AND REQUESTS FOR SANCTIONS  

Hearing Date: 8/8/2024 at 1:30 p.m.  

CASE NO./NAME: 22STCV30508 DARRYL ADONIS MURPHY vs LUKAS HUYNH

Moving Party: Plaintiff

Responding Party: Unopposed  

Notice: Sufficient  

Ruling: MOTION TO COMPEL INITIAL RESPONSES AND REQUESTS FOR SANCTIONS ARE GRANTED

On February 1, 2024, Plaintiff served Form Interrogatories (Set One), Requests for Production (Set One), and Special Interrogatories (Set One) on Defendant 123 TRUCKING, LLC. Responses were not provided by the statutory deadline of March 5, 2024. Defendant requested and was granted several extensions, with the final deadline being June 14, 2024. However, no responses were provided by that date either. Plaintiff now moves the Court to compel initial discovery responses.

Defendant did not file an opposition or any document indicating that the responses at issue have been provided prior to the hearing. Therefore, the motions are granted, and Defendant is ordered to provide complete and verified responses to Plaintiff’s Form Interrogatories (Set One), Requests for Production (Set One), and Special Interrogatories (Set One) without objections within 30 days of today.

Furthermore, sanctions are mandatory, and the Court finds Defendant did not act with substantial justification. Based on the simplicity of the issues and the lack of opposition, the Court lowers the sanctions to $1,500 for all three motions against Defendant and its counsel, jointly and severally, payable to Plaintiff within 30 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.