Judge: Michael E. Whitaker, Case: 20STCV21079, Date: 2023-03-14 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 20STCV21079    Hearing Date: March 14, 2023    Dept: 32

PLEASE NOTE:   Parties are encouraged to meet and confer concerning this tentative ruling to determine if a resolution may be reached.  If the parties are unable to reach a resolution and a party intends to submit on this tentative ruling, the party must send an email to the Court at sscdept32@lacourt.org indicating that party’s intention to submit.  The email shall include the case number, date and time of the hearing, counsel’s contact information (if applicable), and the identity of the party submitting on this tentative ruling.  If the Court does not receive an email indicating the parties are submitting on this tentative ruling and there are no appearances at the hearing, the Court may place the motion off calendar or adopt the tentative ruling as the order of the Court.  If all parties do not submit on this tentative ruling, they should arrange to appear in-person or remotely (which is highly encouraged).  Further, after the Court has posted/issued a tentative ruling, the Court has the inherent authority to prohibit the withdrawal of the subject motion and adopt the tentative ruling as the order of the Court. 

TENTATIVE RULING

MOTION

            Defendant Tamara Dunn (Defendant) moves to dismiss the complaint of Plaintiffs Leticia Cortez and Nicholas Cortez (collectively, Plaintiffs) as a terminating sanction and moves for monetary sanctions.  Plaintiffs have not opposed the motion.  

ANALYSIS

When a party misuses the discovery process by disobeying a court order to provide discovery, the court in its discretion may impose a terminating sanction by striking a party’s pleading or dismissing the action of the party.  (Code Civ. Proc., §§ 2023.010, subd. (g), 2023.030, subds. (d)(1) & (d)(3); 2030.290, subd. (c), 2031.300, subd. (c).) 

California discovery law authorizes a range of penalties for a party's refusal to obey a discovery order, including monetary sanctions, evidentiary sanctions, issue sanctions, and terminating sanctions.  A court has broad discretion in selecting the appropriate penalty, . . . . Despite this broad discretion, the courts have long recognized that the terminating sanction is a drastic penalty and should be used sparingly.  A trial court must be cautious when imposing a terminating sanction because the sanction eliminates a party's fundamental right to a trial, thus implicating due process rights.  The trial court should select a sanction that is tailored to the harm caused by the withheld discovery.  Sanctions should be appropriate to the dereliction, and should not exceed that which is required to protect the interests of the party entitled to but denied discovery.

(Lopez v. Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of New York, Inc. (2016) 246 Cal.App.4th 566, 604 [cleaned up].)  Equally important, “a terminating sanction issued solely because of a failure to pay a monetary discovery sanction is never justified.”  (Newland v. Superior Court (1995) 40 Cal.App.4th 608, 615.)

Here, on October 5, 2022, the Court ordered Plaintiffs to serve verified responses, without objections, to Defendant’s Form Interrogatories, set one, and Request for Production of Documents, set one, and to pay $1,065 in monetary sanctions to Defendant, within 30 days of notice of the Court’s orders. (See October 5, 2022 Minute Order.)  Defendant gave Plaintiffs notice of the Court’s orders on November 11, 2022, by mail and electronically.  Plaintiffs thus had until December 16, 2022, to serve the responses and pay monetary sanctions in compliance with the Court’s orders of October 5, 2022.

As of the filing date of the motion, Plaintiffs have not served the responses or paid monetary sanctions.  Plaintiffs have thus disobeyed this Court’s orders of October 5, 2022.  Further, Plaintiffs have not opposed the motion, and have thus waived the right to argue that a terminating sanction is unwarranted.  (Sexton v. Superior Court (1997) 58 Cal.App.4th 1403, 1410.) 

CONCLUSION AND ORDER

Therefore, the Court grants Defendant’s motion for a terminating sanction, and dismisses the complaint of Plaintiffs Leticia Cortez and Nicholas Cortez Shane without prejudice.  With the dismissal of the action, the Court finds the imposition of monetary sanctions to be unwarranted and denies Defendant’s request.    

Defendant shall provide notice of this Court’s ruling and file a proof of service of such.