Judge: Stephen I. Goorvitch, Case: 21STCV30514, Date: 2023-02-02 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 21STCV30514    Hearing Date: February 2, 2023    Dept: 39

Emi Ito, et al. v. Dongsik Benjamin Park, et al., Case No. 21STCV30514

Plaintiffs filed an ex parte application to advance the hearing date on their motions to compel, which is currently scheduled for April 3 and April 26, 2023.  Both motions seek to compel a third-party’s compliance with a subpoena.  As an initial matter, the motions do not appear to have been served correctly.  Per California Rules of Court, rule 3.1346: “A written notice and all moving papers supporting a motion to compel an answer to a deposition question or to compel production of a document or tangible thing from a nonparty deponent must be personally served on the nonparty deponent unless the nonparty deponent agrees to accept service by mail or electronic service at an address or electronic service address specified on the deposition record.”  Plaintiffs’ counsel does not appear to have complied with this rule.  For this reason alone, the Court cannot advance the hearing dates, as there must be statutory notice to the third-parties.    

Putting that aside, at present, Plaintiffs received the earliest available hearing date for these motions, given that the Court has 640 open cases.  The Court grants the ex parte application only insofar as the Court will hear both motions on the same date/time: April 3, 2023, at 8:30 a.m.  The ex parte application is otherwise denied.  Plaintiff’s counsel shall provide notice and file proof of such with the Court.