Judge: Serena R. Murillo, Case: 19STCV03327, Date: 2022-08-15 Tentative Ruling
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Case Number: 19STCV03327 Hearing Date: August 15, 2022 Dept: 29
TENTATIVE
Defendant Yolanda Yvette Coleman’s motion to reopen discovery is GRANTED.
Legal
Standard
Except as otherwise
provided, “any¿party shall be entitled as a matter of right to complete
discovery proceedings on or before the 30th day, and to have motions concerning
discovery heard on or before the 15th day, before the date initially set for
trial of the action.”¿ (Code Civ. Proc., § 2024.020(a).)¿ “[A]¿continuance¿or
postponement of the trial date does not operate to reopen discovery
proceedings” unless a motion to reopen discovery is filed and granted pursuant
to¿CCP¿section 2024.050.¿ (Code Civ. Proc., § 2024.020(b);¿Pelton-Shepherd
Industries, Inc. v. Delta Packaging Products, Inc.¿(2008) 165 Cal.App.4th
1568.)¿¿CCP¿section 2024.050 provides that “[o]n¿motion of any party, the court
may grant leave to complete discovery proceedings, or to have a motion
concerning discovery heard, closer to the initial trial date, or to reopen
discovery after a new trial date has been set.”¿ (Code Civ. Proc., §
2024.050(a).)¿
The reopening of
discovery is a matter that is committed to the trial court’s sound discretion.¿
(Code Civ. Proc., § 2024.050(a), (b).)¿ In exercising that discretion, the
trial court considers “any matter relevant to the leave requested,”
including:¿¿
1. The necessity and the reasons for the
discovery.¿¿
2. The
diligence or lack of diligence of the party seeking the discovery or the
hearing of a discovery motion, and the reasons that the discovery was not
completed or that the discovery motion was not heard earlier.¿¿
3. Any
likelihood that permitting the discovery or hearing the discovery motion will
prevent the case from going to trial on the date set, or otherwise interfere
with the trial calendar, or result in prejudice to any other party.¿¿
4. The
length of time that has elapsed between any¿date¿previously set, and the date
presently set, for the trial of the action.¿¿
(Code Civ. Proc., §
2024.050(b).)¿¿
A motion to reopen
discovery pursuant to¿CCP¿section 2024.050 must be accompanied by a meet and
confer declaration demonstrating a good faith effort at informal resolution.¿
(Code Civ. Proc., § 2024.050(a).)¿
Discussion
I. Necessity and
Reasons for the Discovery and Defendant’s Diligence
Defendant moves to reopen discovery,
arguing that Plaintiff only recently disclosed that she was making a traumatic
brain injury claim, and designated a new expert, neurologist Dr. Fisk, after
the trial date was continued two times. Plaintiff’s treater, Kevin Aminian,
M.D. told plaintiff to undergo an MRI in 2019. Plaintiff waited an unexplained
three years before she underwent the recommended MRI and then produced the MRI
one month before the July 12, 2022, trial date. Defendant must be given the
equal opportunity to investigate plaintiff’s newly alleged injury. Defendant
should also be given the opportunity to review plaintiff’s new MRI result, and
conduct a neuropsychological examination of plaintiff. Further, the trial date
was continued so that Defendant can depose two of Plaintiff’s experts, who had
not appeared for their depositions.
Defendant has demonstrated
that Plaintiff’s MRI result and the opportunity to conduct a neuropsychological
examination, along with the expert depositions, are all necessary for this
litigation.
As to diligence, Plaintiff argues that Defendant has not
been diligent in conducting discovery and failed to timely designate a
neurologist expert witness in the initial exchange of expert witness
information. Defendant has known at least since June 10, 2019, that Plaintiff
alleges that she has suffered a TBI due to this accident when Plaintiff’s Form
Interrogatory Responses advised Defendant that Plaintiff’s injuries included
“[c]oncussion, contusion of scalp, headache, dizziness, blurry vision” and that
these injuries required “[n]eurological evaluation” that was provided by Dr.
Kevin Aminian, among other evidence.
However, Defendant could not have
conducted discovery relating to Plaintiff’s traumatic brain injury claim
because Plaintiff did not undergo treatment that was recommended by Dr. Aminian
in June 2019 until May 2022; therefore there were no records to obtain before
May 2022. Further, the Court agrees with Defendant’s observation that although
there may have a generic diagnosis for a blunt head injury, there was no
diagnosis that plaintiff sustained a traumatic brain injury until June of 2022
when Plaintiff informed Defendant.
In sum, the court
finds that the necessity and reasons for the discovery weigh in favor of
continuing the discovery cutoff dates, and there was no lack of diligence on
the part of Defendant in seeking the subject discovery.
II. The Likelihood
that Permitting the Discovery Will Prevent the Case from Going to Trial on the
Date Set, Prejudice, and the Length of Time Between the Date Previously Set for
Trial and the Current Trial Date
Defendant
contends that allowing the parties additional time to complete discovery will
not prevent the case from going to trial or otherwise prejudice
Plaintiff.
Plaintiff argues
that she would be prejudiced by continuation of the discovery cutoff date
because she would have to incur additional costs. Plaintiff does not,
however, cite any legal authority to support its assertion that the fact that
it would incur additional costs related to the additional discovery sought
provides sufficient prejudice to warrant denial of a motion to reopen
discovery. Further, Defendant
argues that Plaintiff’s claim that she would have to pay the cost of additional
depositions and discovery is meritless as Dr. Williams has already been
designated and is on the witness list.
Accordingly, the
court finds that this factor favors continuing the relevant discovery cutoff
dates.
The final factor
is the length of time that has elapsed between any date previously set and the
date presently set for the trial of the action. (Code Civ. Proc., §
2024.050, subd. (b)(4).) The parties do not raise
arguments concerning this factor and the court therefore does not find that it
weighs for or against continuing the discovery cutoff date.
As such, because the factors all weigh in
favor of continuing the discovery cutoff date, Defendant’s motion is granted.
Conclusion
Based on the
foregoing, Defendant’s motion to reopen discovery is GRANTED.
Moving party is
ordered to give notice.