TENTATIVE RULING

Defendant Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC’s Motion for Entry of Protective Order Regarding Plaintiff’s (1) Form Interrogatories – General; (2) Requests for Production; (3) Requests for Admissions; and (4) Special Interrogatories is GRANTED. Plaintiff Lisa Schwark Arago is ordered to propound revised discovery requests seeking only information relevant to the defects in Plaintiff’s specific vehicle and Defendant Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC’s conduct as to Plaintiff’s specific vehicle.

Defendant Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC to give notice.

REASONING

Defendant Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC (“Defendant”) moves the Court for an order permitting it to forego responding to Plaintiff Lisa Schwark Arago (“Plaintiff”)’s Form Interrogatories – General, Requests for Production, Requests for Admissions, and Special Interrogatories on the ground that Plaintiff’s requests are unnecessary, overly burdensome, and designed solely to harass Defendant because Defendant previously offered to repurchase the subject vehicle, such that the only issue left in dispute in this case is the amount of Plaintiff’s damages, and the discovery exceeds what is necessary to obtain relevant information as that issue.

Code of Civil Procedure section 2030.090, subdivision (b), and section 2031.060, subdivision (b), provide that “[t]he court, for good cause shown, may make any order that justice requires to protect any party, deponent, or other natural person or organization from unwarranted annoyance, embarrassment, or oppression, or undue burden and expense.” As to interrogatories, a protective order may include direction “[t]hat, contrary to the representations made in a declaration submitted under Section 2030.050, the number of specially prepared interrogatories is unwarranted,” such that the interrogatories need not be answered. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2030.090, subd. (b)(1),(2).) As to requests for production of documents, a protective order may include direction “[t]hat all or some of the items or categories of items in the demand need not be produced or made available at all.” (Code Civ. Proc., § 2031.060, subd. (b)(1).) As to requests for admissions, a protective order may include direction “[t]hat the set of admission requests, or particularly requests in the set, need not be answered at all.” (Code Civ. Proc., § 2033.080, subd. (b)(1).)

“A plaintiff pursuing an action under the Song-Beverly Act has the burden to prove the following elements: (1) the product had a defect or nonconformity covered by the express warranty; (2) the product was presented to an authorized representative of the manufacturer for repair; and (3) the manufacturer or its representative did not repair the defect or nonconformity after a reasonable number of repair attempts.” (Robertson v. Fleetwood Travel Trailers of California, Inc. (2006) 144 Cal.App.4th 785, 798-799.) It follows that Plaintiff’s action is limited to the purported defects in her vehicle alone, as she has not brought an action alleging that all 2021 Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class vehicles contain the same defects as Plaintiff’s vehicle. 

Put simply, Plaintiff seeks discovery in this action relating to Defendant’s procedures in general or defects in any Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class vehicles, and there is no basis to order such extensive discovery, particularly where Defendant has offered to repurchase the vehicle. The Court does not read Defendant’s argument to this effect as relieving Defendant of its discovery obligation; rather, the amount of discovery is limited if the only remaining dispute in the action is the nature and amount of defects in Plaintiff’s specific vehicle. Accordingly, Defendant Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC’s Motion for Entry of Protective Order Regarding Plaintiff’s (1) Form Interrogatories – General; (2) Requests for Production; (3) Requests for Admissions; and (4) Special Interrogatories is GRANTED. Plaintiff Lisa Schwark Arago is ordered to propound revised discovery requests seeking only information relevant to the defects in Plaintiff’s specific vehicle and Defendant Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC’s conduct as to Plaintiff’s specific vehicle.