Judge: Mark H. Epstein, Case: 22SMCV00749, Date: 2022-12-06 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 22SMCV00749    Hearing Date: December 6, 2022    Dept: R

Plaintiff filed its opposition at midnight on December 5, 2022 (which the court thinks means between Sunday night and Monday morning).  It was only uploaded this morning.  The court has read it, but is unsure whether to rule on the matter today or continue it to a later date and will discuss that with the parties. 

At yesterday’s FSC, defendant appeared but plaintiff did not.  The court continued the FSC until today and noted that plaintiff had filed a witness list and exhibit list and defendant had filed a trial brief.  The court inquired of defendant whether plaintiff had reached out to discuss the need to file joint FSC materials.  Defendant indicated that such was not done until the day that plaintiff’s FSC materials were filed.  At an earlier hearing the court emphasized to plaintiff’s counsel the importance of working with defendant—who is self-represented—to get the FSC papers filed in a timely manner.  However, if what defendant says is true, plaintiff made little or no effort to do so in a good faith way.  Instead, by literally waiting until the day the papers were filed, plaintiff essentially precluded the possibility of compliance with the court’s orders. 

If what defendant says about the FSC papers is true, the court is inclined to VACATE THE TRIAL DATE and re-set the matter for trial in the Spring.  Any right plaintiff may have had to priority was waived when plaintiff failed to do what was necessary to comply with the court’s final status conference rules if what defendant says is true.  That might also allow the court time to more carefully review plaintiff’s opposition to the motion for summary judgment and allow defendant an opportunity to reply.