Judge Lee W. Tsao, Case Number: 22CHCV00421, Date: 2024-03-12 Tentative Ruling

Judge: Lee W. Tsao, Case: 22CHCV00421, Date: 2024-03-12 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 22CHCV00421 Hearing Date: April 2, 2024 Dept: C

National Group Construction & Management, Inc., vs Iglesia De Cristo Ministerios Llamada Final, Inc., et al.

Case No.: 22CHCV00421

Hearing Date: April 2, 2024 @ 9:30 AM

Tentative Ruling

I. Defendant Iglesia De Cristo Ministerios Llamada Final, Inc.’s Motion to Deem Matters Admitted is GRANTED.

II. Sanctions are awarded in the reduced total amount of $1,276.65.

Defendant to give notice.

No opposition has been filed as of March 25, 2024.

Background

On June 9, 2022, Plaintiff National Group Construction & Management, Inc. filed a Complaint against Defendants Iglesia De Cristo Ministerios Llamada Final, Inc. ("Iglesia"), Ariel Mayorga, Humberto Espinola, Edwin Lopez, and Does 1-50 stating causes of action for breach of fiduciary duty, aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, fraudulent concealment, aiding and abetting fraud and fraudulent concealment, negligent misrepresentation, aiding and abetting negligent misrepresentation, negligence, civil conspiracy, unjust enrichment, unfair competition in violation of Bus. & Prof. Code sec. 17200, violation of the Trade Secret Act (Civ. Code sec. 3426 et seq.), and declaratory relief.

Legal Standard

Where there has been no timely response to requests for admissions, a “requesting party may move for an order that the genuineness of any documents and the truth of any matters specified in the requests be deemed admitted, as well as for a monetary sanction under Chapter 7 (commencing with section 2023.010).” The court “shall” grant the motion to deem requests for admission admitted “unless it finds that the party to whom the requests for admission have been directed has served, before the hearing on the motion, a proposed response to the requests for admission that is in substantial compliance with Section 2033.220.” (Code Civ. Proc., § 2033.280(c).)

Discussion

Defendant moves to deem its Request for Admissions, Set Two, admitted as to Plaintiff. Defendant is entitled to an order deeming its Request for Admissions admitted. Defendant supports its claims with a declaration from Counsel. On November 6, 2023, Defendant served Requests for Admissions, Set No. 2 (the “RFA”), on Plaintiff. Responses to the RFA were due 30 days later plus five days for postal service. Plaintiff failed to respond by the deadline and did not provide subsequent responses. (Buchanan Decl., ¶¶ 9, 14-15.) Because Plaintiff has not sent verified responses to Defendant’s Request for Admissions, Defendant’s motion is granted. The genuineness of any documents and the truth of any matters specified in Defendant’s motion is admitted.

Sanctions

Sanctions with respect to motions to deem requests for admissions admitted are mandatory if a party to whom the requests for admissions have been directed failed to serve a timely response to the request for admission. (Code Civ. Proc., §2033.280(c).)

Here, sanctions are mandatory because Plaintiff failed to serve timely responses to Defendant’s RFAs. Defendant seeks $3,256.65 in sanctions for Mr. Friedman spending 4.1 hours researching and preparing this motion and 3.0 hours reviewing any discovery responses prior to the hearing date, reviewing the opposition, drafting the reply, and appearing at the hearing at $360.00 per hour and Mr. Buchanan’s 1.0 hour reviewing and filing materials at $495.00 per hour. Using the lodestar method, the Court finds that due to simplicity of the motion, the similarity to the RFA, Set One motion filed in the instant action, and lack of opposition and thus no need for reply. Therefore, the Court awards reduced sanctions in the amount of $1,215.00 (1.5 hours for Mr. Friedman preparing the instant motion and .5 hours appearing at the hearing at $360.00 and Mr. Buchanan’s reviewing the motion for 1 hour at $495.00.) Plus, the $61.65 in filing fees.

The Defendant's Motion to Deem RFA's, Set Two Admitted; REQUEST FOR ORDER AWARDING TO DEFENDANT MONETARY SANCTIONS AGAINST PLAINTIFF AND PLAINTIFF’S ATTORNEY; MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES filed by Iglesia De Cristo Ministerios Llamada Final, Inc., a California corporation on 12/28/2023 is Granted.