I. Motions to Compel¿ 

Defendant 21st Century Insurance Company (“Defendant”) propounded request for production of documents (“RPDs”), set one, on plaintiff Samuel Yun (“Plaintiff”) on October 25, 2022. Additionally, Defendant propounded form interrogatories, set two, on Plaintiff on December 15, 2022. On November 25, 2022, Plaintiff’s counsel served unverified responses to the RPDs, and served unverified responses to the form interrogatories, set two, on January 14, 2023. Defense counsel sent several correspondences requesting verified responses without objections. To date, Defendant has not received verified responses. Defendant therefore seeks an order compelling Plaintiff to respond, without objections, to the outstanding discovery and to pay sanctions.  

Any opposition was due on or before February 26, 2024. Plaintiff filed a number of untimely oppositions on March 5, 2024. Even if the Court were to consider it, Plaintiff has not affirmatively demonstrated that verified responses were indeed served because no copies were provided. Further, Plaintiff counsel’s declarations are unsigned.  

For a motion to compel initial discovery responses, all a propounding party must show is that it properly served its discovery requests, that the time to respond has expired, and that the party to whom the requests were directed failed to provide a timely response. (See Leach v. Superior Court (1980) 111 Cal.App.3d 902, 905 906.) Where a party fails to serve timely responses to discovery requests, the court may make an order compelling responses.  (Code Civ. Proc., § 2030.290, § 2031.300; Sinaiko Healthcare Consulting, Inc. v. Pacific Healthcare Consultants (2007) 148 Cal.App.4th 390, 403.)   A party that fails to serve timely responses waives any objections to the request, including ones based on privilege or the protection of attorney work product.  (Code Civ. Proc., § 2030.290, subd. (a); § 2031.300, subd. (a).)  

CCP § 2030.260 and § 2031.260 provides that the party whom discovery is directed to shall serve responses within 30 days of service. Furthermore, the parties are provided with an additional 5 days if served by mail, and 2 days if served by electronic mail. (CCP § 1013.) Here, Defendant propounded discovery on October 25, 2022 and December 15, 2022 via electronic mail. Therefore, Plaintiff’s responses to Defendant’s discovery were due, respectively, on or before November 28, 2022 for the RPDs and January 15, 2023 for form interrogatories, set two. Plaintiff timely served responses on November 25, 2022 and on January 14, 2023; however, Plaintiff’s verifications were unsigned. (RPD Mot. Exh. B; Form Mot. Exh. D.) Plaintiff’s responses are comprised of a mixture of both objections and substantive responses. (Ibid.) Accordingly, the Court is guided by Food 4 Less Supermarkets, Inc. v. Superior Court (1995) 40 Cal. App.4th 651, 658, which stands for the proposition that omission of the verification portion of the response containing fact-specific responses merely renders that portion of the response untimely and therefore creates a right to move for orders and sanctions as to those responses, but does not result in a waiver of objections made. 

Therefore, because a signed verifications have not been served, and Plaintiff has failed to demonstrate otherwise, Defendant’s motions are GRANTED IN PART. Plaintiff is ordered to serve verifications to Defendant’s form interrogatories, set two, and RPDs, set one, within fifteen (15) days. (CCP §§ 2030.290(a),(b), 2031.300(a),(b).) 

II. Sanctions¿ 

Sanctions are mandatory against any party, person, or attorney who unsuccessfully makes or opposes a motion to compel a response to interrogatories, unless a court makes certain findings.¿(Code Civ. Proc., § 2030.290(c), 2031.300(c).) Defendant seeks sanctions in the amount of $585 for each motion.  

Defendant is awarded 1 hour to prepare each motion to compel, and 1 hour to appear at the hearing (awarded only once), all at the reasonable rate of $120 per hour, for a total of $360 in attorney fees. Further, Defendant is awarded two motion filing fees of $60, for a total of $120 as costs.   

Sanctions are imposed against Plaintiff and Plaintiff’s attorney of record, jointly and severally.  Plaintiff and/or Plaintiff’s counsel are ordered to pay sanctions to Defendant, by and through counsel of record, in the total amount of $480, within twenty (20) days. 

Moving party is ordered to give notice.   

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE: