Superior Court of California¿ 

County of Los Angeles¿ 

Department 78¿ 

¿ 

 

I. BACKGROUND 

On May 28, 2024, defendant KKR Investment Properties (“Defendant”) filed the instant motion to compel the deposition of plaintiff Sheila Elizabeth Merrill (“Plaintiff”). Defendant asserts it served a notice of deposition on Plaintiff in April 2024, and that counsel for both parties met and conferred to coordinate a mutually agreeable date for the deposition. Plaintiff’s counsel did not provide any alternative dates, thus Defendant proceeded with the deposition date as noticed with Plaintiff failing to appear. Defendant therefore seeks to compel Plaintiff to appear for her deposition. 

On June 7, 2024, the Court granted Plaintiff’s counsel’s motion to be relieved as counsel. As of June 10, 2024, Plaintiff is in pro per. (Proof of Service, June 10, 2024.) 

The motion is unopposed. 

 

II. DISCUSSION 

A motion to compel deposition “shall be accompanied by a meet and confer declaration under Section 2016.040, or, when the deponent fails to attend the deposition and produce the documents, electronically stored information, or things described in the deposition notice, by a declaration stating that the petitioner has contacted the deponent to inquire about the nonappearance.” (CCP § 2025.450(b)(2).) 

Here, defense counsel’s last contact was with Plaintiff’s former counsel before the deposition. (Kaufman Decl. ¶ 4.) The declaration does not state whether Defendant contacted Plaintiff to inquire about her April 22, 2024 non-appearance prior to bringing the motion. The Court will not grant the motion until the requirement of Section 2025.450(b)(2) has been met, especially as Plaintiff is now in pro per. 

 

III. CONCLUSION 

Accordingly, the motion is DENIED. The denial is without prejudice as to Defendant re-filing the motion with the required meet and confer declaration. 

 

Moving Party is ordered to give notice. 

 

DATED: August 8, 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.