Judge: Mark H. Epstein, Case: 20SMCV00216, Date: 2023-02-22 Tentative Ruling

The Court generally uploads tentative rulings the morning of the hearing.  Because of that, the parties cannot submit on the tentative the night before and not appear.  However, if after reviewing the tentative ruling ALL COUNSEL submit, they should tell the Court's judicial assistant when checking in and the Court will endeavor to either not hear the case in light of the submission or, if the Court believes that a hearing is still needed for some other reason, then the Court will be inclined to give priority.

In some cases, tentative rulings may be given by email the morning of the hearing rather than on the tentative ruling site.  Please check your email if you have not seen the tentative.  The email is generally sent to the persons who have signed up for a remote hearing.

For those appearing in the courtroom, the Court will provide a hard copy of the tentative ruling. 

Case Number: 20SMCV00216    Hearing Date: February 22, 2023    Dept: R

The ex parte application to strike defendants’ post trial brief is GRANTED.  The court discussed how to close the case out with the parties.  One option was a combination of briefing and argument but the parties agreed to go solely with argument.  As such, there was no leave to file a closing brief.  Had defendants wanted to do so, they could have sought leave of court (which likely would have been denied, but might have been granted if a compelling showing could have been made).  But doing it unilaterally was not proper.

The court has not reviewed the brief other than the headings.  The court agrees with plaintiff that the brief is improper and it is STRICKEN.  The request for sanctions, however, is DENIED.  Sanctions are not typically awarded for unauthorized briefs and there is no basis to do so here.  The court notes that plaintiff has not attempted to respond to the brief substantively, so the court assumes that plaintiff has not expended tremendous hours preparing a written response on the merits, and no such response will now be needed.

The court does not intend to hear argument on this matter today.

The court will set a hearing date at which time it will deliver its tentative decision, which might also be its proposed tentative statement of decision.  The date will be no later than March 14, 2023, at 1:30, but it may be earlier depending on the court’s trial schedule.