Judge: Lee S. Arian, Case: 23STCV14243, Date: 2024-11-25 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 23STCV14243    Hearing Date: November 25, 2024    Dept: 27

Hon. Lee S. Arian, Dept 27 

MOTIONS TO COMPEL INITIAL RESPONSES AND REQUESTS FOR SANCTIONS 

Hearing Date: 11/25/24¿ 

CASE NO./NAME: 23STCV14243 WILLIAM HARMON vs LOS ANGELES COUNTY METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY ET AL.

Moving Party: Defendant Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority 

Responding Party: Unopposed

Notice: Sufficient 

Ruling: GRANTED 

On July 25, 2024, Defendant Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority served Plaintiff with Special Interrogatories (Set Two). As of the filing of the present motion, Plaintiff has not served the requested discovery responses. Defendant now moves the Court to compel Plaintiff to provide initial responses to the interrogatories.

It is undisputed that Plaintiff failed to serve discovery responses within the statutory deadline. Additionally, Plaintiff has not filed any opposition to the motion or any other document indicating that responses were served prior to the hearing. 

Accordingly, Defendant’s motion to compel is GRANTED. Plaintiff is ordered to provide complete and verified responses to Defendants’ Special Interrogatories (Set Two), without objections, within 20 days of the date of this order. 

Defendants also request $1250 in sanctions for the motion. The Court finds this amount reasonable. Sanctions are mandatory under Code of Civil Procedure sections 2030.290(c) and 2031.300(c) where no substantial justification is shown, and the Court finds that Plaintiff acted without substantial justification. Sanctions in the amount of $1250 are imposed against Plaintiff and Plaintiff's counsel, jointly and severally, payable to Defendant within 20 days of the date of this order.

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.