Judge: Lee S. Arian, Case: 23STCV30205, Date: 2024-08-01 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 23STCV30205    Hearing Date: August 1, 2024    Dept: 27

Hon. Lee S. Arian, Dept 27¿¿¿ 

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MOTIONS TO COMPEL INITIAL RESPONSES TO SPECIAL INTERROGATORIES AND REQUESTS FOR SANCTIONS¿¿ 

Hearing Date: 8/1/24¿¿¿¿ 

CASE NO./NAME: 23STCV30205 KATHY BOXER, AN INDIVIDUAL vs BRENT STEIN et al.

Moving Party: Defendant Brent Stein 

Responding Party: Unopposed¿¿ 

Notice: Sufficient¿¿¿¿ 

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

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Legal Standard¿¿ 

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Requests for Production and Interrogatories¿¿ 

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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).) 

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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. 

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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.) 

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Discussion 

On March 1, 2024, Defendant Brent Stein served Special Interrogatories, Set One, on Plaintiff Kathy Boxer. Defendant granted Plaintiff’s request to extend the response deadline to April 26, 2024. As of June 17, 2024, Plaintiff has not provided the discovery responses at issue or communicated to Defendant whether the responses are forthcoming. Defendant now moves the court to compel initial responses.

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. Plaintiff is hereby ordered to provide complete and verified responses to Defendant’s Special Interrogatories, Set One, without objections within 30 days of today.

            Defendant requests sanctions in the amount of $2590.00. Sanctions are mandatory when a party’s non-response forces the opposing party to file the present motion to obtain compliance. The Court does not find Plaintiff to have acted with substantial justification. Having said that, the Court finds Defendant’s sanctions request to be excessive. Based on the simplicity of the issues and lack of opposition, the court reduces the amount of sanctions to $1000. Consequently, the Court orders Plaintiff and her counsel, jointly and severally, to pay sanctions of $1000 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.