Judge: William A. Crowfoot, Case: 22AHCV00114, Date: 2024-02-14 Tentative Ruling


Case Number: 22AHCV00114    Hearing Date: February 28, 2024    Dept: 3

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES - NORTHEAST DISTRICT

 

VIOLETA MARTIN,

                   Plaintiff(s),

          vs.

 

DONALD RANCE WELCH, et al.,

 

                   Defendant(s).

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      CASE NO.: 22ahcv00114

 

[TENTATIVE] ORDER RE: PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR) ORDER ESTABLISHING ADMISSIONS OF FACT BY DEFENDANT SARA WELCH

 

Dept. 3

8:30 a.m.

February 28, 2024

 

On January 24, 2024, plaintiff Violeta Martin (“Plaintiff”) filed this motion for an order deeming admitted the matters within Requests for Admission (Set One) propounded on defendant Sara I. Welch (“Defendant”). Although Plaintiff claims that the discovery requests were served on Defendant’s counsel of record on September 22, 2023, and refers to a Declaration of Juan F. Dotson, no such declaration or proof of service is on file and there is no copy of the discovery requests at issue. Furthermore, it does not appear that the discovery was properly served. The attorney on the caption page of the answer purportedly filed by Defendant, Chris Prussak, has admitted that he did not have authority to file the answer on Defendant’s behalf because he did not represent Defendant and has not had contact with Defendant in 10 years. If Prussak did not represent Defendant, serving only Prussak with the discovery requests would not be sufficient to effectuate service on Defendant.

Accordingly, the motion is DENIED without prejudice.

Additionally, based on the allegations of the Complaint, it does not appear to the Court that Defendant was even served properly with the summons and complaint because Plaintiff alleges that Defendant resides in South Carolina and voluntarily surrendered her license to practice law in California in 2021. (Compl., para. 3.) However, the proof of service of summons shows that the summons and complaint were served by substituted service on “John Doe” at 801 S. Garfield Ave Ste 288 in Alhambra, which is the address for Welch Law Firm, on May 2, 2022. Therefore, it does not appear that Defendant could be served at the business address for Welch Law Firm as her place of business. Also, the name on the proof of the service is “Sara Lone Welch”, which does not match the name on the Complaint.

Moving party to give notice.

Dated this 28th day of February 2024

 

 

 

 

William A. Crowfoot

Judge of the Superior Court

 

Parties who intend to submit on this tentative must send an email to the Court at ALHDEPT3@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.