Judge: Mark H. Epstein, Case: SC128695, Date: 2023-02-01 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: SC128695    Hearing Date: February 1, 2023    Dept: R

This case is here for an FSC.  The FSC order was given no later than February 9, 2021.

On January 20, 2023, defendant filed a “General Denial” with 9 affirmative defenses.

The court is in receipt of the following timely FSC materials: (1) Plaintiff’s witness list (7 witnesses totaling 19.5 hours of direct examination; no indication of cross-examination); (2) Plaintiff’s exhibit list (61 exhibits, no objections from the defense). 

The court received an amended plaintiff’s witness list on January 30, 2023 adding a witness and reducing direct examination time to 18.75 hours.  On January 31, 2023, the court received plaintiff’s proposed jury instructions.

The court is NOT in receipt of: (1) a JOINT witness list; (2) a JOINT exhibit list; (3) short statement of the case to be read to the jury; (4) JOINT jury instructions; (5) jury verdict form; (6) deposition designations; (7) statement of unusual issues.  The court has also not received any trial briefs, but they are optional.

The court will inquire as to why there are no joint documents of any kind.  That is a mutual obligation on both parties.  However, if one party attempted to obtain joint submissions and the other would not participate, then the fault lies only with the non-participating party.

This case was very hotly contested earlier on, but has been relatively quiet for some time.  The court’s inference from the foregoing is that defendant is not really interested in going forward.  However, it could also be that plaintiff made no effort to work with defendant to provide joint materials.  In any event, the case does NOT appear ready for trial at this time.

The court notes that there is a motion to quash the DMV subpoena that is set for February 9, 2023.  To the extent that the motion does not become entirely moot by virtue of the case not being ready for trial, the court will decide the matter then.