Judge: Lee S. Arian, Case: 23STCV25185, Date: 2024-07-26 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 23STCV25185    Hearing Date: July 26, 2024    Dept: 27

Hon. Lee S. Arian, Dept 27

MOTIONS TO COMPEL INITIAL RESPONSES AND REQUESTS FOR SANCTIONS

Hearing Date: 7/26/24 

CASE NO./NAME: 23STCV25185 GULLERMINA VILLEGAS, et al. vs AIDEN MCKEITH

Moving Party: Defendant Aiden Mckeith 

Responding Party: Unopposed

Notice: Sufficient 

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

Legal Standard 

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).)

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.) 

Discussion

 On December 12, 2023, Defendant served Form Interrogatories, Set One, and Requests for Production, Set One on Plaintiff Guillermína Villegas. On the same day, Defendant served a Request for Production on Plaintiff Aide Villegas. Plaintiffs' verified responses were due January 16, 2024. The parties met and conferred, and Defendant gave Plaintiffs an extension to respond by February 15, 2024. However, no responses were received by that date. On March 27, 2024, Defendant attempted to meet and confer again regarding the overdue discovery. As of June 20, 2024, the date on which the present motions were filed, Plaintiffs have not served verified discovery responses and have not made any communication with Defense counsel regarding the overdue responses. Defendant now moves the Court to compel initial discovery responses.

It is undisputed that Plaintiffs failed to provide their discovery responses by the statutory deadline. No opposition was filed or any other documents indicating that the responses at issue were provided prior to the hearing. Thus, the Court grants the present motions. Plaintiffs are ordered to provide complete and verified responses without objections within 30 days of today.

Defendant requests sanctions in the amount of $460 per motion. Sanctions are mandatory, and the Court does not find Plaintiffs to have acted with substantial justification. The Court finds the requested amount reasonable and grants sanctions in the amount of $1200. Consequently, the Court sanctions Plaintiffs in the amount of $1200. Plaintiffs and their counsel are ORDERED to pay, jointly and severally, sanctions of $1200 to Defendant 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.