Judge Lee S. Arian, Case Number: 22STCV31265, Date: 2024-06-03 Tentative Ruling

Judge: Lee S. Arian, Case: 22STCV31265, Date: 2024-06-03 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 22STCV31265 Hearing Date: June 3, 2024 Dept: 27

Hon. Lee S. Arian, Dept 27

MOTION TO COMPEL DEPOSTION

Hearing Date: 6/3/24

CASE NO./NAME: 22STCV31265 SHONTAE GREEN, et al. vs COURTNEY WILLIAMS, et al.

Moving Party: Defendants

Responding Party: Unopposed

Notice: Sufficient

Ruling: MOTION TO COMPEL DEPOSTION IS GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART; REQUEST FOR SANCTIONS IS GRANTED

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

On September 26, 2022, Plaintiffs filed the present motor vehicle accident complaint. On July 18, 2023, Defendants first noticed Plaintiff Shontae Green’s deposition. Plaintiff’s deposition has been continued several times due to Plaintiff’s calendaring conflicts. The latest notice was for a deposition scheduled for February 12, 2024, a date agreed upon by both parties. No formal written objections were served in response to that notice. Plaintiff Green did not appear for her deposition on February 12, 2024, and a certificate of non-attendance was obtained by Defendants. Defendants now move the court to compel Plaintiff Green’s deposition. No opposition was filed.

All requirements to compel Plaintiff Green’s deposition have been met. On February 12, 2024, Plaintiff failed to appear for the deposition without having served valid written objections. Defendants have sufficiently met and conferred, as Defendants have accommodated Plaintiff by continuing the deposition several times since July 2023. Accordingly, Defendants’ motion to compel the deposition is GRANTED. Plaintiff Shontae Green is hereby ORDERED to sit for her deposition within 20 days of today.

The notice of deposition includes a demand for production of documents, and Defendants seek an order compelling Plaintiff to produce all identified documents at her deposition. The moving papers fail to show good cause for production of the documents sought, as required by §2025.450(b)(1). There is no discussion of good cause, and therefore the Court declines to enter an order compelling Plaintiff to produce documents, but urges the parties to work together to resolve any issues concerning documents without court intervention.

Plaintiff's failure to attend her deposition forced Defendants to incur attorney's fees in filing the present motion. Defendants request attorneys' fees in the amount of $510, and the Court finds this amount reasonable. Plaintiff and her counsel are ORDERED, jointly and severally, to pay sanctions of $510 to Defendants 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.