TENTATIVE RULING

Plaintiff Shores Barrington LLC’s Motion for Order to Compel Defendant Neda Khaja’s Response to Requests for Production of Documents (Set One) is GRANTED. Defendant Neda Khaja shall serve code-compliant responses to Plaintiff Shores Barrington LLC’s Requests for Production, Set One, without objections, within thirty (30) days of entry of this order.

Plaintiff Shores Barrington LLC’s Motion for Order to Deem Its Requests for Admission to Defendant is GRANTED. The matters identified in Plaintiff Shores Barrington LLC’s Request for Admission (Set One) are deemed admitted as of the date of entry of this order.

Plaintiff Shores Barrington LLC’s Request for Monetary Sanctions is GRANTED in the reduced amount of $1,200, payable by Defendant Neda Khaja to Plaintiff Shores Barrington LLC and Plaintiff’s counsel within thirty (30) days of entry of this order.

Plaintiff Shores Barrington LLC to give notice. 

REASONING

Where there has been no timely response to a Code of Civil Procedure section 2031.010 demand, the demanding party must seek an order compelling a response. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2031.300, subd. (b).) Failure to timely respond waives all objections, including privilege and work product.  (Code Civ. Proc., § 2031.300, subd. (a).) Thus, unless the party to whom the demand was directed obtains relief from waiver, he or she cannot raise objections to the documents demanded. (Ibid.) There is no deadline for a motion to compel responses. Likewise, for failure to respond, the moving party need not attempt to resolve the matter outside court before filing the motion. (See Code Civ. Proc., § 2031.300.) Where the motion seeks only a response to the inspection demand, no showing of “good cause” is required. (Contra Code Civ. Proc., § 2031.310, subd. (b)(1) [good cause requirement for motion to compel further responses].)

Further, pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 2033.280, subdivision (b), a “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.” 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, subd. (c).)

Plaintiff Shores Barrington LLC (“Plaintiff”) served Defendant Neda Khaja (“Defendant”) with its Requests for Production, Set One, and Request for Admission (Set One) on June 4, 2024. (Mots., Daggenhurst Decls. ¶¶ 3, 4.) Responses were due on or before July 9, 2024. (Ibid.) To date, no responses have been received. (Mots., Daggenhurst Decls. ¶¶ 4, 5.)

Accordingly, Plaintiff Shores Barrington LLC’s Motion for Order to Compel Defendant Neda Khaja’s Response to Requests for Production of Documents (Set One) is GRANTED. Defendant Neda Khaja shall serve code-compliant responses to Plaintiff Shores Barrington LLC’s Requests for Production, Set One, without objections, within thirty (30) days of entry of this order. Plaintiff Shores Barrington LLC’s Motion for Order to Deem Its Requests for Admission to Defendant [Admitted] is also GRANTED. The matters identified in Plaintiff Shores Barrington LLC’s Request for Admission (Set One) are deemed admitted as of the date of entry of this order.

If a motion to compel responses to requests for production is filed, the Court may impose a monetary sanction against the losing party “unless it finds that the one subject to the sanction acted with substantial justification or that other circumstances make the imposition of the sanction unjust.” (Code Civ. Proc., § 2031.300, subd. (c).) If a motion to have requests for admission deemed admitted is filed, “[i]t is mandatory that the court impose a monetary sanction . . . on the party or attorney, or both, whose failure to serve a timely response to requests for admission necessitated this motion.” (Code Civ. Proc., § 2033.280, subd. (c).) Further, “[t]he court may award sanctions under the Discovery Act in favor of a party who files a motion to compel discovery, even though no opposition to the motion was filed, or opposition to the motion was withdrawn, or the requested discovery was provided to the moving party after the motion was filed.” (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 3.1348(a).)

Plaintiff requests $970 and $420 for each motion. The Court finds that monetary sanctions are proper, but the Court reduces the amount to $1,200, representing one hour spent preparing each motion and one hour spent appearing at the hearing on the motions, totaling three hours at the rate of $360 per hour, as well as two $60 filing fees. Thus, Plaintiff Shores Barrington LLC’s Request for Monetary Sanctions is GRANTED in the reduced amount of $1,200, payable by Defendant Neda Khaja to Plaintiff Shores Barrington LLC and Plaintiff’s counsel within thirty (30) days of entry of this order.