Judge: Michael Small, Case: 22STCV06760, Date: 2023-08-31 Tentative Ruling

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Case Number: 22STCV06760     Hearing Date: August 31, 2023    Dept: 57

The Plaintiffs previously have been deemed vexatious litigants under Code of Civil Procedure Section 391.  Pending before the Court, is the Plaintiffs' motion to vacate this Court's ruling of June 28, 2023 in which the Court granted the motion of Defendant AHMC San Gabriel Valley Medical Center, LP, dba San Gabriel Valley Medical Center ("SGVMC") to impose monetary sanctions on the Plaintiffs under Section 128.7(b) for filing a frivolous motion.  The pending motion is itself frivolous too, and this Court is denying it.  Because the pending motion is frivolous, it too is sanctionable through a monetary penalty, just like the prior motion that was the subject of the sanctions order that Plaintiffs seek to vacate in the pending motion. The Court thus anticipates that SGVMC will file another motion to impose monetary sanctions against the Plaintiffs. 

The prospect of another sanctions motion begs the question, however, whether that action by SGVMC will deter Plaintiffs from filing further frivolous motions in this case.  After all, it is the Plaintiffs' history of frivolous filings that led to them being deemed vexatious litigants, and yet, here we are again confronted with another frivolous filing by the Plaintiffs in the form of the pending motion.  Given that state of affairs, SGVMC urges this Court to impose a stronger deterrent.  Specifically, in its opposition to the pending motion, SGVMC asks this Court pursuant to Section 391.7(a) to enter a prefiling order against the Plaintiffs prohibiting them, as vexatious litigants, from filing any new litigation in California courts without first obtaining approval from the presiding justice or presiding judge of the court in which the litigation is proposed to be filed.  Under Section 391.7(d), such a prefiling order would apply to motions that Plaintiffs seek to file.  (See In re R.H. ( 2009) 170 Cal.App.4th 678, 698=699, overruled on other grounds in John v. Superior Court (2016) 63 Cal.4th 91.)  While the Court has the authority to grant this request on its own motion (see Section 391.7(a)), the Court is of the view that it would be more prudent to SGVMC to seek a Section 391.7(a) prefiling order through a noticed motion of its own.