Judge: Robert B. Broadbelt, Case: BC571210, Date: 2023-11-30 Tentative Ruling
Case Number: BC571210 Hearing Date: January 8, 2024 Dept: 53
Superior Court of California
County of Los Angeles – Central District
Department
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BC571210 |
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January
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[Tentative]
Order RE: plaintiff’s motion to compel responses to
special interrogatories, set one |
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MOVING PARTY: Plaintiff Juan Cruz Rodriguez
RESPONDING PARTY: Unopposed
Motion to Compel Responses to Special Interrogatories, Set One
The court
considered the moving reply papers filed in connection with this motion. No opposition papers were filed.[1]
DISCUSSION
Plaintiff Juan Cruz Rodriguez (“Plaintiff”) moves the court for an
order (1) compelling defendant John Stich (“Defendant”) to serve responses,
without objections, to Plaintiff’s Special Interrogatories, Set One, numbers
1-35, and (2) awarding sanctions in favor of Plaintiff and against Defendant in
the amount of $1,660.
If
a party to whom interrogatories are directed fails to serve a timely response,
the propounding party may move for an order compelling response to the
interrogatories.¿ (Code Civ. Proc., § 2030.290, subd. (b).)¿¿
Plaintiff
served Defendant with the Special Interrogatories, Set One, on November 4,
2022, by mail and email. (Rodriguez
Decl., ¶ 5; Rodriguez Decl., Exs. 1-2.)
Defendant did not serve timely responses and had not served responses as
of the date that Plaintiff filed this motion.
(Rodriguez Decl., ¶¶ 10, 13.)
Defendant did not file opposition papers or other evidence with the
court establishing that responses have since been served. The court therefore grants Plaintiff’s
motion. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2030.290,
subd. (b).)
The court
grants Plaintiff’s request for monetary sanctions. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2030.290, subd.
(c).) The court finds that $660 ((1.5
hours x $400 hourly rate) + $60 filing fee) is a reasonable amount of sanctions
to impose against Defendant in connection with this motion. (Rodriguez Decl., ¶ 15.)
ORDER
The court grants plaintiff Juan Cruz
Rodriguez’s motion to compel responses to special interrogatories as follows.
Pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure
section 2030.290, the court orders defendant John Stich to serve on plaintiff
Juan Cruz Rodriguez full and complete verified answers, without objections, to
plaintiff Juan Cruz Rodriguez’s Special Interrogatories, Set One, within 20
days of the date of service of this order.
The court orders defendant John
Stich to pay monetary sanctions to plaintiff Juan Cruz Rodriguez in the amount
of $660 within 30 days of the date of service of this order.
The court orders plaintiff Juan Cruz
Rodriguez to give notice of this ruling.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
DATED:
_____________________________
Robert
B. Broadbelt III
Judge
of the Superior Court
[1]
The court continued the hearing on this motion in its November 30, 2023 order,
finding that plaintiff Juan Cruz Rodriguez had not filed a proof of service in
connection with this motion. Thereafter,
on November 30, 2023, plaintiff Juan Cruz Rodriguez filed (1) a proof of
service stating that this motion was served on defendant John Stich on March 7,
2023, and (2) a notice of the court’s ruling continuing the hearing on this
motion, which was served on defendant John Stich on November 30, 2023.