Judge: William A. Crowfoot, Case: 22AHCV00604, Date: 2024-04-16 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 22AHCV00604    Hearing Date: April 16, 2024    Dept: 3

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES - NORTHEAST DISTRICT

 

ENCORE AUTOMOTIVE, INC.,

                    Plaintiff(s),

          vs.

 

ROBERT Y. LEE, et al.,

 

                    Defendant(s).

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

)
)

      CASE NO.: 22AHCV00604

 

[TENTATIVE] ORDER RE: PLAINTIFF ENCORE AUTOMOTIVE, INC.’S MOTION TO COMPEL ROBERT Y. LEE’S RSPONSE TO RQUESTS FOR PRODUCTION

 

Dept. 3

8:30 a.m.

April 16, 2024

 

On August 24, 2022, plaintiff Encore Automotive, Inc. (“Plaintiff”) filed this action against defendant Robert Y. Lee (“Defendant”). On July 24, 2023, the parties filed a stipulation requesting an order lifting the stay which had been put into place after the parties were sent to arbitration. The stipulation further stated, “Whereas, on September 22, 2022, Encore served form interrogatories and requests for production on [Defendant]. In response to this stipulation, the Court entered an order lifting the stay of this action and as a result, Defendant’s deadline to respond to the outstanding discovery was August 23, 2023.

On March 22, 2024, Plaintiff filed this motion to compel Defendant’s responses to requests for production, set one (“First Set of Requests for Production”). In opposition, Defendant argues that the discovery requests were not properly served. This assertion is contradicted by the language within the parties’ stipulation, which admits that Plaintiff served the First Set of Requests for Production on Defendant and sets forth a deadline for his responses – effectively, August 23, 2023. Defendant also argues that this motion is “moot” because he will serve responses and produce responsive documents by April 22, 2024. The Court disagrees that the prospect of compliance is sufficient to moot this motion. Where a party fails to serve timely responses to discovery requests, the court may make an order compelling responses. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2030.290.) Here, it is undisputed that no responses have been served. Accordingly, Plaintiff’s motion is GRANTED and Defendant is ordered to serve verified responses without objections to Defendants First Set of Requests for Production within 15 days of the date of this Order.   

Moving party to give notice.

 

 

Dated this 16th day of April 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.