Judge: Mark H. Epstein, Case: SC128809, Date: 2022-10-27 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: SC128809    Hearing Date: October 27, 2022    Dept: R

It might be that plaintiff believes the case is here for a final status conference.  It is not.  At the last hearing, plaintiff had (again) not attempted to engage defendant in the meet and confer process regarding the final status conference until it was too late actually to have a meaningful dialogue.  Because that is exactly what happened at the prior final status conference, the Court refused to re-set the FSC and instead set the matter for an OSC re: Dismissal for plaintiff’s failure to follow the Court’s FSC orders.  The Court will discuss with plaintiff’s counsel what steps, if any, plaintiff has taken to prepare this case for trial by engaging the defense.  If plaintiff has made a good faith effort to do so and the defense has simply stonewalled, then the Court will set the matter for trial (likely in February 2023) with the hope that plaintiff will continue to do so.  If, notwithstanding reasonable efforts by plaintiff, defendant continues to ignore the case, then the Court will be prepared to hold the FSC, impose the sanctions suggested by the Local Rules for one party’s failure to engage in the final status conference process, and then hold the trial.