Judge: Michelle C. Kim, Case: BC724220, Date: 2023-08-14 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: BC724220    Hearing Date: August 15, 2023    Dept: 31

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA  

FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES - CENTRAL DISTRICT 

 

ALICE COLLIER, 

Plaintiff(s), 

vs. 

 

SMART & FINAL STORES, INC, ET AL., 

 

Defendant(s). 

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      CASE NO: BC724220 

 

[TENTATIVE] ORDER RE: PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO COMPEL AND MOTION TO DEEM REQUESTS FOR ADMISSIONS ADMITTED 

 

Dept. 31 

1:30 p.m. 

August 15, 2023 

 

Plaintiff Alice Collier (“Plaintiff”) propounded request for admissions (“RFAs”), set one, and form interrogatories, set one, on Defendant Smart & Final Stores, Inc. (“Defendant”) on April 18, 2023. On May 22, 2023, Defendant served unverified responses. On June 27, 2023, Plaintiff’s counsel avers that, as of the date of the filing of the instant motion, Plaintiff’s counsel has not received verifications. Plaintiff therefore seeks an order compelling Defendant to respond, without objections, to the outstanding form interrogatories. Plaintiff also requests the RFAs, set one, be deemed admitted or in the alternative compel verified responses, without objections.   

In opposition, defense counsel contends that signed verifications were served to Plaintiff’s counsel on July 24, 2023. In light of Defendant’s representation that verifications were served on Plaintiff prior to the hearing, the Court finds the motions moot.  (St. Mary v. Superior Court (2014) 223 Cal.App.4th 762, 776.)  

Furthermore, Plaintiff filed the instant motions on July 21, 2023. The Court continued the June 20, 2023 trial date to July 24, 2023, and specified that only expert discovery would run with the new trial date. (Min. Order, June 5, 2023.) At the Final Status Conference on July 10, 2023, the Court briefly continued the trial date to August 21, 2023; all non-expert discovery remained closed. (Min. Order, July 10, 2023.) Therefore, Plaintiff’s motions are also untimely because discovery is closed 30 days before trial and the last day to hear discovery motions is 15 days before trial. (CCP § 2024.020.) A continuance or postponement of the trial date does not operate to reopen discovery proceedings. (Ibid.)  

 

Accordingly, Plaintiff’s motions and request for sanctions are denied in its entirety.  

 

Plaintiff is ordered to give notice. 

 

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¿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 14th day of August 2023 

  

 

 

Hon. Michelle C. Kim 

Judge of the Superior Court