Judge Lee S. Arian, Case Number: 22STCV35755, Date: 2024-07-31 Tentative Ruling

Judge: Lee S. Arian, Case: 22STCV35755, Date: 2024-07-31 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 22STCV35755 Hearing Date: July 31, 2024 Dept: 27

Hon. Lee S. Arian, Dept 27¿¿

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MOTIONS TO COMPEL INITIAL RESPONSES TO SPECIAL INTERROGATORIES, FORM INTERROGATORIES, AND REQUESTS FOR PRODUCTIONS AND TO DEEM REQUESTS FOR ADMISSIONS ADMITTED; REQUESTS FOR SANCTIONS¿

Hearing Date: 7/31/24¿¿¿

CASE NO./NAME: 22STCV35755 CLIFTON JOHNSON vs LOS ANGELES COUNTY METROPOLITAN AUTHORITY et al.

Moving Party: Defendant Alliance Chemical

Responding Party: Unopposed¿

Notice: Sufficient¿¿¿

Ruling: MOTIONS TO COMPEL INITIAL RESPONSES TO SPECIAL INTERROGATORIES, FORM INTERROGATORIES, REQUESTS FOR PRODUCTION AND TO DEEM REQUESTS FOR ADMISSIONS ADMITTED AND REQUESTS FOR SANCTIONS ARE GRANTED¿

Legal Standard¿

Requests for Production and Interrogatories¿

A defendant may make a demand for inspection, copying, testing, or sampling without leave of court at any time. Code Civ. Proc., § 2031.020, subd. (a); Code Civ. Proc., § 2030.020, subd. (a).) 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).) 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).)¿

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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.)¿

Request for Admissions¿

“Any party may obtain discovery . . . by a written request that any other party to the action admit the genuineness of specified documents, or the truth of specified matters of fact, opinion relating to fact, or application of law to fact. A request for admission may relate to a matter that is in controversy between the parties.”¿CCP § 2033.010.¿ “Within 30 days after service of requests for admission, the party to whom the requests are directed shall serve the original of the response to them on the requesting party, and a copy of the response on all other parties who have appeared ....”¿CCP § 2033.250(a).

If a party to whom request for admissions are served fails to provide a timely response, the party to whom the request was directed waives any objections, including based on privilege or the work product doctrine. CCP § 2033.280(a). The requesting party can move for an order that the genuineness of any documents and the truth of any matters specified in the request be deemed admitted, as well as for monetary sanctions. CCP § 2033.280(b). The court shall issue this order unless the party to whom the request was made serves a response in substantial compliance prior to the hearing on the motion. CCP § 2033.280(c). Unlike a motion to compel further discovery responses, a motion to deem RFA admitted does not have any meet and confer requirements.

Discussion

On April 23, 2024, Defendant Alliance served initial written discovery to Plaintiff that included Requests for Admission, Set One; Form Interrogatories, Set One; Special Interrogatories, Set One and Requests for Production, Set One. Plaintiff failed to serve initial responses by the statutory deadline. on June 10, 2024, Defendant emailed Plaintiff’s counsel informing him that the response deadline had passed and requesting responses without objections no later than June 13, 2024. As of the date of this filing, Plaintiff’s counsel has not responded to Defendant’s communication or provide the discovery responses at issue. Defendant now moves the court to compel initial responses and deem the content of its RFA, Set One, admitted. No opposition was filed.

It is undisputed that the initial discovery responses at issue were not provided by the statutory deadline. No opposition or any other documents were filed indicating that the initial responses were provided prior to the hearing. Thus, the Court grants the present motions. Defendant’s Requests for Admissions, Set One are deemed admitted. The Court further orders Plaintiff to provide complete and verified responses to Defendant’s Requests for Productions, Set One, Form Interrogatories, Set One, and Special Interrogatories, Set One, without objections within 30 days of today.

Defendant requests sanctions in the amount of $1035.00 per motion. Sanctions are mandatory when a party’s non-response forces the opposing party to file motions to compel or deem admitted. The Court does not find Plaintiff to have acted with substantial justification. Because of the simplicity and overlap of the motions, the Court awards a lesser amount in sanctions than requested. The Court grants sanctions in the amount of $2000. The Court orders Plaintiff and his counsel, jointly and severally, to pay sanctions of $2000 to Defendant within 30 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.