Judge: Nathan R. Scott, Case: Mancia v. Behrstock, Date: 2022-10-14 Tentative Ruling

Defendant Barry Behrstock’s motion to consolidate is granted.  (See Code Civ. Proc., § 1048.) 

Mancia v. Behrstock (#21-1184394) and Lu v. Mancia (#21-1187808) are consolidated for all purposes, including trial.  Mancia #21-1184394 shall be the lead case; all future filings shall be under that case number.

All counsel in both cases shall meet and confer over the trial date.  Currently, Lu is set for trial on 2/17/23; Mancia is set for trial on 8/4/23.  The court has no independent preference which trial date to use – it would likely approve a stipulation to select an entirely different date (basically any Friday).  Lu also has a 1/6/23 MSC.  Do the parties still want that?

The two cases involve the same 3/29/19 auto accident.  While plaintiff John Lu contends in his opposition (filed in Lu #21-1187808) that consolidation will prejudice plaintiffs by encouraging the jury to compare their injuries, “[j]udges commonly order consolidation of actions involving [¶] [i]njuries to different plaintiffs attributable to a particular defendant and arising out of the same incident.”  (Cal. Judges Benchbook (CJER 2022) Civil Proc. Before Trial, § 2:85.)

Defendant shall give notice.