Judge Mark E. Windham, Case 23STLC00031 2023-05-02 Tentative Ruling

Judge: Mark E. Windham, Case: 23STLC00031, Date: 2023-05-02 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 23STLC00031 Hearing Date: May 2, 2023 Dept: 26

Chappell v. Capital One, NA, et al.

MOTIONS TO COMPEL FURTHER RESPONSES TO REQUEST FOR PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS; REQUEST FOR SANCTIONS

(CCP § 2031.310)

TENTATIVE RULING:

Plaintiff Erica Chappell’s Motion to Compel Further Responses to Request for Production of Documents and Request for Monetary Sanctions is CONTINUED TO JULY 3, 2023 AT 10:00 AM IN DEPARTMENT 26. BY JUNE 27, 2023, THE PARTIES ARE TO FILE A JOINT DECLARATION DEMONSTRATING A GOOD FAITH MEET AND CONFER EFFORT AND A JOINT STATEMENT OF ISSUES REMAINING REGARDING PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS IN RESPONSE TO THE REQUEST FOR PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS, SET ONE.

ANALYSIS:

Plaintiff Erica Chappell (“Plaintiff”) filed the instant action for violations of the Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Cal. Civ. Code § 1788, et seq. and the California Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act, Cal. Civ. Code § 1785.25(a) against LVNV Funding, LLC (“Defendant LVNV”), The Law Offices of Harris and Zide, LLP and Capital One, N.A, on January 3, 2023. Defendant LVNV filed its amended answer on February 21, 2023.

On March 24, 2023, Plaintiff filed the instant Motion to Compel Further Responses to Request for Production of Documents and for Monetary Sanctions. Defendant LVNV filed its opposition on April 19, 2023.

Discussion

Procedural Requirements

Notice of the motion to compel further must be given “within 45 days of service of the verified response, or any supplemental verified response, or any specific later date to which the requesting party and the responding party have agreed in writing,” otherwise, the propounding party waives any right to compel a further response. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2030.310, subd. (c).) Defendant LVNV served its responses to the Request for Production of Documents, Set One—a written response and 69 pages of documents—on February 27, 2023. (Motion, Robenzadeh Decl., ¶4; Opp., Flynn Decl., ¶2.) The instant Motion, therefore, was timely filed and served on March 24, 2023.

Also, the Motion must be accompanied by a meet and confer declaration. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2030.300, subd. (b)(1).) Plaintiff’s counsel sent defense counsel a meet and confer letter on March 7, 2023 and requested supplemental responses by March 21, 2023. (Motion, Robenzadeh Decl., Exh. B.) Plaintiff’s counsel called on March 20, 2023 to meet and confer but apparently did not leave a message. (Opp., Flynn Decl., Exh. A.) On March 21, 2023, defense counsel responded with an email to which no response was made. (Id. at ¶¶4-5 and Exh. A.) This meet and confer effort was insufficient. The parties exchanged one letter each with no collaborative discussion. In particular, Plaintiff’s counsel did not leave respond to the March 21, 2023 email—which indicated a willingness to continue the meet and confer effort—and simply filed this motion three days later.

Finally, Cal. Rules of Court Rule 3.1345 requires all motions or responses involving further discovery contain a separate statement with the text of each request, the response, and a statement of factual and legal reasons for compelling further responses. (Cal. Rules of Court, Rule 3.1345, subd. (a).) Alternatively, “the court may allow the moving party to submit a concise outline of the discovery request and each response in dispute.” (Code Civ. Proc., § 2030.300, subd. (b)(2).) The Motion is not accompanied by a separate statement, nor has the Court allowed Plaintiff to submit a concise outline of the dispute. Instead, the request, response, and purported basis for ordering a further response are included in the body of the motion itself. (Motion, pp. 3:13-4:26.) Also, the Motion indicates that a copy of Defendant LVNV’s responses are attached as Exhibit A, but only provides a copy of the Request for Production of Documents, Set One. Without a separate statement and copy of the responses, it is not possible for the Court to accurately evaluate the sufficiency of Defendant LVNV’s response.

The parties are to meet and confer in good faith and submit a joint statement of the issues remaining regarding the documents produced by Defendant LVNV in response to the Request for Production of Documents. All relevant exhibits are to be attached to the joint statement.

Conclusion

Moving party to give notice.