Judge: Mark H. Epstein, Case: 24SMCV01359, Date: 2024-09-11 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 24SMCV01359    Hearing Date: September 11, 2024    Dept: I

Plaintiff has filed a motion for leave to file a first amended complaint and defendant opposes.  Plaintiff wants to add a cause of action for fraud by omission.  (The court notes that the California Supreme Court just decided a case that might be on point.)  Defendant opposes on the ground of futility, stating that such a cause of action is doomed to failure.  Plaintiff is also seeking to add a new party—the dealer.  Defendant opposes that as well, stating that the new party will have rights, including the right to re-take the plaintiff’s deposition.

The court finds neither argument in opposition persuasive.  Leave to amend is liberally granted, and there is no trial date yet in this recently-filed case.  Plaintiff will, the court presumes, want to look at Ratigan to ensure that the complaint complies with that ruling, but the court will not prejudge the merits of that cause of action now.  Of course, defendants are free to demur.  As to the new party, the court sees no significant prejudice.  If the dealer wants to re-take plaintiff’s deposition, it likely has that right.  But the heavier burden of that will fall on plaintiff, not defendant.  And even were there a burden, the policy favoring liberal amendments would overcome it.

Finally, defendant complains that plaintiff has not complied with the Rules regarding amended complaints.  The compliance is not perfect, but it is good enough.

The motion is GRANTED.  Plaintiff has 5 court days to file an amended complaint as a standalone document.  Defendants will have the time allowed by law to answer or otherwise respond.  The court notes that the new defendant will need to be served in the manner allowed by the Code of Civil Procedure unless some stipulation regarding service is achieved.

To avoid potential discovery disputes in the future, the court appends hereto its standard discovery guidelines in Song-Beverly cases.

Song-Beverly Discovery Guidelines for Department I.

Discovery motions in Song-Beverly cases typically follow a pattern.  Plaintiff brings suit under the Song-Beverly Act, claiming that the client bought a vehicle, that the vehicle needed repair, and that after a reasonable number of attempts the defendant did not offer to buy back the vehicle.  Further, because the decision not to buy back the vehicle was improper (as defined in the statute) according to plaintiff, plaintiff seeks enhanced damages.  Defendant answers and denies the allegations.  Plaintiff sends out discovery concerning not only the vehicle in question, but more broadly seeking information about other vehicles.  The defendant usually provides whatever is sought as to the particular car in question, but otherwise objects on a raft of grounds.  The parties “meet and confer,” but generally they get nowhere because they have a fundamental difference of opinion as to how much discovery is appropriate.  Unfortunately, appellate authority on this question is not conclusive, although it tends to favor plaintiff to a point.

This court has reached the conclusion that a defendant generally has two choices: (1) it can successfully resist the discovery by stipulating that if plaintiff wins the case on the merits, enhanced damages are appropriate (thereby relieving plaintiff of the need to prove the factors that would give rise to such damages); or (2) it can provide the requested information to the extent it seeks information pertaining to the same make, model, year, and defect as the subject vehicle.  If, after that discovery has been produced, plaintiff seeks broader discovery, plaintiff will need to make an appropriate showing.  For example, plaintiff might demonstrate that if the defect is with the battery, the identical battery is used in other model years or other specific vehicle models.  Privileged documents may be withheld, but they must be logged.  Documents that truly disclose trade secrets must be produced but may be redacted to the extent of the trade secret and produced with a log.