Judge: Mark H. Epstein, Case: 22SMCV01883, Date: 2024-12-26 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 22SMCV01883    Hearing Date: December 26, 2024    Dept: I

This is a motion to continue the trial by plaintiffs.  Defendant Zeray filed a statement that he has no opposition to the request.  Plaintiffs contend that they have not been able to complete discovery and counsel is on paternity leave until the start of the year, making it impossible to prepare for a trial set for March 10, 2025.  Among other things, plaintiffs contend that they propounded discovery on Zeray and did not receive responses until September of 2024, and that those responses were not adequate.  Eventually, following an IDC, it appears that the dispute had been resolved, but Zeray’s deposition still has not been completed.  Plaintiffs also contend that there are issues regarding Lyft.

The court is not happy about this.  The court’s FSC and trial orders were given in November 2023—over a year ago—and the trial has been set since then.  With over 1200 cases on its docket, this request likely means that another case was unable to go to trial on March 10, 2025, because the slot was given to this case.  It also means that if this case is not dropped to the back of the line, the court may need to bump another case that has been proceeding diligently.  The court would likely not agree to continue the matter but for the paternity leave.  The court understands that this resulted in a 2 month period where the case could not really move forward.  The court will discuss why that leave requires a continuance.  It would seem that counsel has two months to prepare for the trial after the leave has ended, and others could help while lead counsel is on leave.  If a new date is set, it will not be moved absent extraordinarily compelling reasons.  Further, this case will likely have the lowest priority on the date that will now be set.  Finally, the court cannot guarantee when the new date will be.