Superior Court of California 

County of Los Angeles 

Department 78 

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I. BACKGROUND 

Plaintiff Ana Madrid (“Plaintiff Madrid”) served on in pro per defendant Agustina Cervantez (“Defendant Agustina”) form interrogatories, set one, on April 22, 2024. (Decl. Brinton, ¶ 2; Exh. A.) To date, Defendant Agustina has not served responses despite counsel’s office repeatedly calling and writing to her. (Id. ¶ 3.) Plaintiff Madrid therefore seeks an order compelling Defendant Agustina to respond to the outstanding discovery and to pay sanctions. 

Any opposition was due on or before September 10, 2024. No opposition has been filed to date. 

  

II. MOTION TO COMPEL RESPONSES 

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.) 

Because the evidence shows Defendant Agustina was properly served with discovery and failed to timely respond, any objections have been waived. Defendant Agustina has not opposed the motion demonstrating otherwise. 

Plaintiff Madrid’s motion is therefore GRANTED. Defendant Agustina is ordered to serve verified responses to Plaintiff Madrid’s form interrogatories, set one, without objections, within fifteen (15) days. (CCP §2030.290(a),(b).) 

 

III. SANCTIONS 

Sanctions are mandatory against any party, person, or attorney who unsuccessfully makes or opposes a motion to compel a response, unless a court makes certain findings.¿(Code Civ. Proc., § 2030.290(c)). Defendant Agustina did not file any opposition. However, sanctions may be awarded, even though no opposition was filed, pursuant to CRC 3.1348(a).  

Plaintiff Madrid seek sanctions in the amount of $600 for 1 hour preparing the motion, and 0.5 hours to attend the hearing, at the rate of $400 per hour. The request is granted. Defendant Agustina is ordered to pay sanctions to Plaintiff Madrid, by and through counsel of record, in the total amount of $600, within twenty (20) days. 

 

Moving Party is ordered to give notice. 

 

DATED: September 20, 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.