Judge: Mark H. Epstein, Case: 22SMCV02957, Date: 2023-05-16 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 22SMCV02957    Hearing Date: May 16, 2023    Dept: R

This is a motion to continue the trial, presently set for May 30, 2023.

Defendant contends that she has been in settlement talks with plaintiff, but that talks have not yet been successful.  At the hearing on May 10, 2023, she suggested that she was willing to vacate the premises, but that the parties could not resolve the entire case because they disagreed on money.

The court is inclined to do the following.  If defendant is in fact prepared to vacate, the court is prepared to continue the trial for a short time.  Defendant must pay the rent that would accrue during that time into court (or directly to plaintiff) to obtain the continuance.  If she commits to doing that, and in fact does so before the current trial date, then the continuance will be granted.  The court will discuss the appropriate amount of time for a continuance, and the court notes that the entire sum of rent that will accrue must be paid into court—it is not sufficient to pay the money in bits and pieces to obtain the continuance.  Further, the court is likely to do this only once.

If defendant has used that time to vacate the premises, as she claims she intends, then the court would be inclined to vacate the trial date entirely once she has left and hold a trial setting conference to resolve the remainder of the case on the court’s regular trial docket—which would not be for a while.  That is because possession would no longer be an issue. But the court will not presume that to be the case unless and until the parties agree that possession is no longer at issue.