Judge: Mark H. Epstein, Case: 23SMCV04555, Date: 2025-05-27 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 23SMCV04555    Hearing Date: May 27, 2025    Dept: I

This is here on a request to continue the trial, which is currently set for November 24, 2025.  The case was filed on September 5, 2023, and the trial date was set on May 16, 2024.  The action is one for negligence.  The ground for the continuance is that two of the attorneys in the case lost their homes in the January fires.  The court will discuss the matter further, but the court at present does not see that this is a ground to continue the trial.  The trial is not taking place until November of this year—a full ten months after the fires.  The court well understands that the fire’s impact extends well beyond the date it was finally contained given that counsel lost their homes.  But the court needs more specificity as to why there still is not an ability to complete that which needs to be done by the date it needs to be completed. 

The court is not trying to be difficult.  The problem is that the court has over 1250 cases on its docket.  Its current assumption is that at least 95% of its cases resolve without trial and without being continued.  That might not be wrong, but it is not low.  When the court continues a trial, it has a ripple effect on the other cases and on the court’s ability to get cases tried.  The court will discuss the matter further at the hearing.