Judge: William A. Crowfoot, Case: 21STCV28580, Date: 2022-12-30 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 21STCV28580    Hearing Date: December 30, 2022    Dept: 27

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES - CENTRAL DISTRICT

          On August 3, 2021, Plaintiff Ronnie Palache (“Plaintiff”) filed this action against Defendant City of Los Angeles (“Defendant”) for injuries arising from an alleged trip and fall on September 9, 2020.  On December 20, 2021, Defendant served Form Interrogatories, Set One, and Special Interrogatories, Set One, on Plaintiff.  The deadline for Plaintiff to respond was January 24, 2022.  Having received no responses, Defendant proceeded to file these motions compelling Plaintiff to provide responses.   Defendant also requests monetary sanctions.

          Compel Responses

If a party to whom interrogatories are directed fails to serve a timely response, the court may make an order compelling responses.  (Code Civ. Proc., § 2030.290; Healthcare Consulting, Inc. v. Pacific Healthcare Consultants (2007) 148 Cal.App.4th 390, 403.)   A party that fails to serve timely responses waives any objections to the interrogatories, including ones based on privilege or the protection of attorney work product.  (Code Civ. Proc., § 2030.290, subd. (a).) 

On December 20, 2021, Defendant served Form Interrogatories, Set One and Special Interrogatories, Set One, on Plaintiff via electronic mail. (Kahramanian Decl., ¶ 2; Exs. A, B.)  Pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure Section 2030.260, subdivision (a), the deadline for Plaintiff to serve responses was January 24, 2022.

On July 19, 2022, defense counsel spoke with Plaintiff’s counsel via telephone. (Kahramanian Decl., ¶ 4.)  Plaintiff’s counsel represented that Plaintiff intended to provide discovery responses, and Defendant therefore agreed to hold off on filing the motion to compel until after July 22, 2022.  (Id., ¶ 4.)  Nonetheless, Plaintiff has failed to serve responses to Defendant’s Interrogatories. (Id., ¶ 4)

Accordingly, Defendant’s motion for an order compelling Plaintiff to respond to Form Interrogatories, Set One, and Special Interrogatories, Set One, is GRANTED.  Plaintiff is ordered to serve verified responses, without objections, to Defendant’s Form Interrogatories, Set One and Special Interrogatories, Set One within twenty (20) days of the date of this Order.

Monetary Sanctions

“The court shall impose a monetary sanction under Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 2023.010) against any party, person, or attorney who unsuccessfully makes or opposes a motion to compel a response to interrogatories, unless it finds that the one subject to the sanction acted with substantial justification or that other circumstances make the imposition of the sanction unjust.”  (Code Civ. Proc., § 2030.290, subd. (c).)  “The court may award sanctions under the Discovery Act in favor of a party who files a motion to compel discovery, even though no opposition to the motion was filed…”  (Cal. R. Ct., rule 3.1348, subd. (a).)

Counsel for Defendant requests $1,200 in sanctions.  Counsel states she spent two hours preparing this motion and anticipates spending another two hours preparing a reply and appearing at the hearing.  (Kahramanian Decl., ¶ 6.)  Counsel does not explicitly state her hourly rate, but it can be inferred to be $300. 

The Court finds defense counsel’s hourly rate to be reasonable.  However, the instant motion is unopposed and therefore counsel did not need to spend time preparing a reply.  Accordingly, the Court will compensate counsel at her hourly rate for the two hours she spent preparing this motion plus a half hour to attend the hearing.

Defendant’s request for sanctions is GRANTED.  Sanctions are imposed against Plaintiff and counsel of record, jointly and severally, in the reduced amount of $750.00 for two and a half hours at an hourly rate of $300.00, to be paid within twenty (20) days of the date of this Order.

Moving party to give notice.

Parties who intend to submit on this tentative must send an email to the Court at SSCDEPT27@lacourt.org indicating intention to submit on the tentative as directed by the instructions provided on the court website at www.lacourt.org.  Please be advised that if you submit on the tentative and elect not to appear at the hearing, the opposing party may nevertheless appear at the hearing and argue the matter.  Unless you receive a submission from all other parties in the matter, you should assume that others might appear at the hearing to argue.  If the Court does not receive emails from the parties indicating submission on this tentative ruling and there are no appearances at the hearing, the Court may, at its discretion, adopt the tentative as the final order or place the motion off calendar.