TENTATIVE RULING

Petitioner Interinsurance Exchange of the Automobile Club’s Motion to Enforce Deposition Subpoena and Compel the Deposition of Witness Alejandro Ascencio Sarmiento is GRANTED.

Alejandro Ascencio Sarmiento shall meet and confer with Petitioner Interinsurance Exchange of the Automobile Club to set a mutually agreeable deposition date to occur within thirty (30) days of entry of this order.

Petitioner Interinsurance Exchange of the Automobile Club to give notice. 

REASONING

Insurance Code section 11580.2, subdivision (f), provides that disputes regarding the amount payable under underinsured motorist coverage are to be resolved by arbitration. The statute further states:

The arbitration shall be deemed to be a proceeding and the hearing before the arbitrator shall be deemed to be the trial of an issue therein for purposes of issuance of a subpoena by an attorney of a party to the arbitration . . . . Title 4 (commencing with Section 2016.010) of Part 4 of the Code of Civil Procedure shall be applicable to these determinations, and all rights, remedies, obligations, liabilities and procedures set forth in Title 4 (commencing with Section 2016.010) shall be available to both the insured and the insurer at any time after the accident, both before and after the commencement of arbitration.

(Ins. Code, § 11580.2, subd. (f).)

Code of Civil Procedure section 1283.05, subdivision (a), provides in part:

After the appointment of the arbitrator or arbitrators, the parties to the arbitration shall have the right to take depositions and to obtain discovery regarding the subject matter of the arbitration, and, to that end, to use and exercise all of the same rights, remedies, and procedures, and be subject to all of the same duties, liabilities, and obligations in the arbitration with respect to the subject matter thereof, as provided in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 1985) of Title 3 of Part 4, and in Title 4 (commencing with Section 2016.010) of Part 4, as if the subject matter of the arbitration were pending before a superior court of this state in a civil action other than a limited civil case, subject to the limitations as to depositions set forth in subdivision (e) of this section.

In Miranda v. 21st Century Insurance Co. (2004) 117 Cal.App.4th 913, an underinsured motorist action, the Court held that when the claimant “demanded arbitration, she was acknowledging, as a matter of law, the superior court had jurisdiction to decide discovery disputes arising in her arbitration,” such that service of discovery motions upon the claimant’s attorney was proper.

(Id. at pp. 927-928.)

Here, Petitioner Interinsurance Exchange of the Automobile Club (“Petitioner”) seeks to take the deposition of Alejandro Ascencio Sarmiento, the underinsured motorist allegedly involved in the subject motor vehicle accident. (Mot., Stein Decl. ¶ 2.) Petitioner represents that Sarmiento has not appeared for deposition despite being served with a notice to do so. (Mot., Stein Decl. ¶¶ 3, 4, Ex. A.) Petitioner is entitled to take Sarmiento’s declaration to obtain relevant information as to the accident. Accordingly, Petitioner Interinsurance Exchange of the Automobile Club’s Motion to Enforce Deposition Subpoena and Compel the Deposition of Witness Alejandro Ascencio Sarmiento is GRANTED. Alejandro Ascencio Sarmiento shall meet and confer with Petitioner Interinsurance Exchange of the Automobile Club to set a mutually agreeable deposition date to occur within thirty (30) days of entry of this order.