Judge: Shirley K. Watkins, Case: 22VECV00612, Date: 2023-05-04 Tentative Ruling

If ALL parties submit on the tentative, then no appearance is necessary unless some other matter (i.e., Case Management Conference) is on calendar. It is not necessary to call the court to request oral argument. Oral argument is permitted on all tentative rulings.

Case Number: 22VECV00612    Hearing Date: May 4, 2023    Dept: T

22VECV00612 FABIAN OLIVARES vs SHERMAN POINTE INC.

Tentative Ruling:

Ex Parte Application for discovery orders or order shortening time on motion to compel:  Denied.  No good cause shown.

Defendant has been in this case since August 2022.  New counsel substituted in 1/24/2023.  Apparently, no discovery was done by prior counsel.  After substituting into the case, new defense counsel waited 59 days to serve any written discovery and waited 72 days to notice the plaintiff’s deposition.  There is no explanation for the delay in serving discovery and deposition notice after substituting into the case knowing that the discovery cutoff was 5/9/2023 and the discovery motion cutoff was 4/23/2023.  There is no explanation for the failure to conduct any discovery in the 8 months since the defendant has been in the case.  Defendant’s delay does not constitute an emergency for the court.  Had the discovery been timely served, there would have been plenty of time to have the discovery motions served.  For an order shortening time, CRC 3.1204 requires “exceptional circumstances” which are not shown here. There is no showing of irreparable harm or immediate danger when reviewed in the context of defendant’s own conduct. In the absence of a showing of good cause for the delay and for the relief sought, the ex parte application is denied.  The court is not inclined to special set a discovery motion when the Final Status Conference is in 5 days and the trial is in 19 days.