Judge: Mark C. Kim, Case: 21LBCV00555, Date: 2023-03-14 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 21LBCV00555    Hearing Date: March 14, 2023    Dept: S27

The Court incorporates its 12/22/22 ruling on the original motion to strike herein by reference, and will not repeat the substance of that ruling in this order.

On 12/22/22, the Court continued the hearing to 2/28/23 and ordered the parties to file supplemental briefs concerning the continuing violations doctrine as well as supplemental attorney declarations detailing their efforts to meet and confer at least one week prior to the hearing.  Defendant did so.  Plaintiff filed an untimely brief on 2/22/23 and did not file an attorney declaration detailing meet and confer efforts.  The hearing was continued due to the fact that the Court had not received the briefs with sufficient time to prepare for the hearing. 

Notably, Plaintiff’s brief lists all of his allegations by category, but does not meaningfully detail how his allegations support application of the continuing violations doctrine.  Additionally, Plaintiff attached his own discovery responses as an exhibit to the motion, purportedly in an attempt to buttress his claim that the continuing violations doctrine applies.

The facts detailed in the discovery responses are not part of the operative Second Amended Complaint.  The Court will allow Plaintiff to file a Third Amended Complaint and to incorporate the allegations he is making by way of his discovery responses into his TAC.  Plaintiff must file his TAC within twenty days.  Defendant must file a responsive pleading within the statutory time thereafter. 

If Defendant challenges the TAC by way of demurrer and/or motion to strike, Plaintiff must be prepared, in opposition to the motion, to meaningfully articulate how the continuing violations doctrine applies to the various categories of pre-2019 allegations he is making in this action.  A failure to do so will result in the Court striking pre-2019 allegations that are not covered by the doctrine.

Defendant is ordered to give notice. 

Parties who intend to submit on this tentative must send an email to the court at gdcdepts27@lacourt.org indicating intention to submit on the tentative as directed by the instructions provided on the court website at www.lacourt.org.  If the department does not receive an email indicating the parties are submitting on the tentative and there are no appearances at the hearing, the motion may be placed off calendar.  If a party submits on the tentative, the party’s email must include the case number and must identify the party submitting on the tentative.  If the parties do not submit on the tentative, they should arrange to appear remotely.