Judge: Michelle C. Kim, Case: 21STCV41888, Date: 2023-03-30 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 21STCV41888    Hearing Date: March 30, 2023    Dept: 31

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES - CENTRAL DISTRICT

Defendant Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (“Defendant”) propounded form interrogatories, set one, special interrogatories, set one, and request for production of documents (“RPDs”), set one, on Plaintiff Quiana Jones (“Plaintiff”) on April 28 and May 11, 2022.  To date, despite an extension of time to respond and attempts to meet and confer, Plaintiff has not served responses.  Defendant therefore seeks an order compelling Plaintiff to respond, without objections, to the outstanding discovery and to pay sanctions.

Defendant’s motions are unopposed and granted.  Plaintiff is ordered to serve verified responses to form interrogatories, set one, special interrogatories, set one, and RPDs, set one, without objections, within twenty (20) days.  (CCP §§ 2030.290(a), (b), 2031.300(a), (b).)

Sanctions are mandatory.  (CCP §§ 2030.290(c), 2031.300(c).)  Defendant is awarded one hour for preparing each form motion to compel [three hours] and one hour to appear at the hearing- but is awarded this time only once- all at the reasonable rate of $200 per hour, for a total of $800 in attorney fees.  Further, Defendant is awarded three motion filing fees of $60, or $180 total, as costs. 

Sanctions are sought and imposed against Plaintiff and Plaintiff’s attorney of record at the time the discovery was served- Downtown L.A. Law Group- jointly and severally; they are ordered to pay sanctions to Defendant, by and through Defendant’s counsel of record, in the total amount of $800.00, within twenty days.

Moving Defendant is ordered to give notice. 

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE:

• The Court is not available to hear oral argument on this date.  If the parties do not submit on the tentative and want oral argument, the hearing will have to be continued, and the parties must work with the clerk to find an available date for the continuance.
• Parties are encouraged to meet and confer after reading this tentative ruling to see if they can reach an agreement.
• If a party intends to submit on this tentative ruling, the party must send an email to the court at sscdept31@lacourt.org with the Subject line “SUBMIT” followed by the case number.  The body of the email must include the hearing date and time, counsel’s contact information, and the identity of the party submitting.  
• Unless all parties submit by email to this tentative ruling, the parties should arrange to appear remotely (encouraged) or in person for oral argument.  You should assume that others may appear at the hearing to argue.  
• If the parties neither submit nor appear at hearing, the Court may take the motion off calendar or adopt the tentative ruling as the order of the Court.  After the Court has issued a tentative ruling, the Court may prohibit the withdrawal of the subject motion without leave. 

Dated this 30^th day of March 2023