TENTATIVE RULING

Plaintiff Zane Nathan Portillo’s Motion to Compel Initial Discovery Responses from Defendant, Mario Ernesto Umanzor is GRANTED. Defendant Mario Ernesto Umanzor shall serve verifications to his responses to Plaintiff Zane Nathan Portillo’s Form Interrogatories (Set One), Special Interrogatories (Set One), Demand for Production (Set One), and Request for Admissions (Set One) within thirty (30) days of entry of this order.

Plaintiff Zane Nathan Portillo’s Request for Monetary Sanctions is GRANTED in the reduced amount of $920, payable by Defendant Mario Ernesto Umanzor and defense counsel to Plaintiff Zane Nathan Portillo and Plaintiff’s counsel within thirty (30) days of entry of this order.

Plaintiff Zane Nathan Portillo’s Motion to Compel Initial Discovery Responses from Defendant, Post Alarm Systems Inc aka Post Alarm Systems is GRANTED. Defendant Post Alarm Systems Inc. aka Post Alarm Systems shall serve verifications to its responses to Plaintiff Zane Nathan Portillo’s Form Interrogatories (Set One), Special Interrogatories (Set One), Demand for Production (Set One), and Request for Admissions (Set One) within thirty (30) days of entry of this order.

Plaintiff Zane Nathan Portillo’s Request for Monetary Sanctions is GRANTED in the reduced amount of $920, payable by Defendant Post Alarm Systems Inc. aka Post Alarm Systems and defense counsel to Plaintiff Zane Nathan Portillo and Plaintiff’s counsel within thirty (30) days of entry of this order.

Plaintiff Zane Nathan Portillo shall pay six additional motion filing fees of $60 each within ten (10) days of entry of this order.

Plaintiff Zane Nathan Portillo to give notice. 

REASONING

As a preliminary matter, the Court notes that Plaintiff Zane Nathan Portillo (“Plaintiff”) has filed eight motions as two, that is, each motion concerns four sets of discovery, and each discovery request warranted its own motion. Plaintiff is required to pay six additional filing fees of $60 each within ten (10) days of entry of this order. Future failures to file the proper number of motions or to reserve the proper number of motion hearing reservations may result in a continuance of the motion hearing.

If a party to whom interrogatories are directed fails to serve a timely response, the propounding party may move for an order compelling responses and for a monetary sanction. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2030.290, subds. (b), (c).) Failure to timely respond waives all objections, including privilege and work product, unless “[t]he party has subsequently served a response that is in substantial compliance” and “[t]he party’s failure to serve a timely response was the result of mistake, inadvertence, or excusable neglect.” (Code Civ. Proc., § 2030.290, subd. (a).) The statute contains no time limit for a motion to compel where no responses have been served. All that need be shown in the moving papers is that a set of interrogatories was properly served on the opposing party, that the time to respond has expired, and that no response of any kind has been served. (Leach v. Superior Court (1980) 111 Cal.App.3d 902, 905-906.)

Similarly, 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).)

Notably, where responses are provided but the responses are not verified, the responses “are tantamount to no responses at all.” (Appleton v. Superior Court (1988) 206 Cal.App.3d 632, 635-636.)

Plaintiff served Defendants Mario Ernesto Umanzor and Post Alarm Systems Inc. aka Post Alarm Systems with his Form Interrogatories (Set One), Special Interrogatories (Set One), Demand for Production (Set One), and Request for Admissions (Set One) on March 11, 2024. (Mots., Myers Decls. ¶ 3.) Responses were due on or before April 12, 2024, and Plaintiff’s counsel also communicated with defense counsel to extend the response date to May 17, 2024. (Mots., Myers Decls. ¶¶ 3-7.) Responses were provided on May 29, 2024, but the responses were not verified, and verifications have not been provided to date. (Mots., Myers Decls. ¶¶ 8, 11.)

Accordingly, Plaintiff Zane Nathan Portillo’s Motion to Compel Initial Discovery Responses from Defendant, Mario Ernesto Umanzor is GRANTED. Defendant Mario Ernesto Umanzor shall serve verifications to his responses to Plaintiff Zane Nathan Portillo’s Form Interrogatories (Set One), Special Interrogatories (Set One), Demand for Production (Set One), and Request for Admissions (Set One) within thirty (30) days of entry of this order. Plaintiff Zane Nathan Portillo’s Motion to Compel Initial Discovery Responses from Defendant, Post Alarm Systems Inc aka Post Alarm Systems is also GRANTED. Defendant Post Alarm Systems Inc. aka Post Alarm Systems shall serve verifications to its responses to Plaintiff Zane Nathan Portillo’s Form Interrogatories (Set One), Special Interrogatories (Set One), Demand for Production (Set One), and Request for Admissions (Set One) within thirty (30) days of entry of this order. Insofar as Plaintiff takes issue with the substance of the responses provided, the Court does not consider those issues, as the present motions are not motions to compel further responses.

If a motion to compel responses to interrogatories or 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., §§ 2030.290, subd. (c); 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 $1,260 in monetary sanctions for each motion. The Court finds that monetary sanctions are proper, but the Court reduces the amount to $920, representing two hours spent preparing the motion and one hour spent appearing at the hearing on the motion, totaling three hours at the rate of $300 per hour, as well as one filing fee for each motion. Thus, Plaintiff Zane Nathan Portillo’s Request for Monetary Sanctions is GRANTED in the reduced amount of $920, payable by Defendant Mario Ernesto Umanzor and defense counsel to Plaintiff Zane Nathan Portillo and Plaintiff’s counsel within thirty (30) days of entry of this order, and Plaintiff Zane Nathan Portillo’s Request for Monetary Sanctions is GRANTED in the reduced amount of $920, payable by Defendant Post Alarm Systems Inc. aka Post Alarm Systems and defense counsel to Plaintiff Zane Nathan Portillo and Plaintiff’s counsel within thirty (30) days of entry of this order.