Superior Court of California 

County of Los Angeles 

Department 78 

¿ 

 

I. BACKGROUND 

On August 1, 2024, plaintiff Gevorg Gyozalyan (“Plaintiff”) filed three motions to compel defendant L.A. Security & Patrol, Inc. (“Defendant”) to provide further responses to Plaintiff’s discovery, in addition to paying monetary sanctions. 

On September 6, 2024, the parties participated at an Informal Discovery Conference (IDC), wherein Defendant was ordered to produce documents for the years 2022 and 2024 through August. Production and code-complaint responses were due by September 17, 2024 at 12:00 p.m. The IDC was continued to September 20, 2024. 

On September 20, 2024, the IDC was continued to September 30, 2024. 

On September 30, 2024, Plaintiff represented that the supplemental discovery responses were received and additional time was needed to review the supplemental responses. The IDC was continued to October 4, 2024. 

On October 4, 2024, the IDC was held off the record. The IDC was continued to October 10, 2024 and the parties were ordered to appear in-person. 

On October 10, 2024, Plaintiff represented that the verified responses have been received. The substantive portions of the motions were therefore moot, and only sanctions would be addressed on October 24, 2024. 

On October 16, 2024, Defendant filed an opposition to the sanctions. 

On October 18, 2024, Plaintiff filed a reply. 

 

II. DISCUSSION 

“The court shall impose a monetary sanction under Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 2023.010) against any party, person, or attorney who unsuccessfully makes or opposes a motion to compel a further response to interrogatories, unless it finds that the one subject to the sanction acted with substantial justification or that other circumstances make the imposition of the sanction unjust.” (CCP §§ 2030.300(d); 2031.310(h).) 

The Court has reviewed the briefs and its own recollection of this matter. The Court will grant Plaintiff’s request for Defendant to Bates Stamp the 636 pages of record produced in response to Plaintiff’s RPDs.  

Further, the Court finds it appropriate to award sanctions to Plaintiff as it relates to the time spent at the IDCs only. For the time spent preparing and participating at the four IDCs, the Court awards Plaintiff five hours of time at the requested rate of $375.00 per hour for a total of $1,875.00 in attorney fees. 

 

III. CONCLUSION 

Defendant is ordered to provide further verified responses to Plaintiff’s RPDs by producing a Bates Stamped version of the 636 pages of record that had been previously produced to Plaintiff within fifteen (15) days. 

Sanctions are also imposed against Defendant and/or its counsel of record, jointly and severally. They are ordered to pay sanctions to Plaintiff, by and through counsel of record, in the total amount of $1,875.00 within fifteen (15) days. 

 

Moving Party is ordered to give notice. 

 

DATED: October 23, 2024 

__________________________ 

Hon. Michelle C. Kim 

Judge of the Superior Court 

 

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE: 

• 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 SMCDEPT78@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.