Judge: William A. Crowfoot, Case: 22AHCV01042, Date: 2023-11-13 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 22AHCV01042    Hearing Date: November 13, 2023    Dept: 3

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES - NORTHEAST DISTRICT

On November 9, 2022, plaintiff Jody Scott (“Plaintiff”) filed this action against defendant Dansko, LLC (“Defendant”) alleging she sustained a foot injury from a shoe. On May 5, 2023, Defendant served Form Interrogatories (Set Two), Special Interrogatories (Set Two), Request for Production of Documents (Set Two), and Request for Admissions (Set One) on Plaintiff.  No responses were received.  On June 14, 2023, defense counsel sent Plaintiff a letter and an email requesting responses. However, Plaintiff did not provide responses and Defendant filed these unopposed motions on July 21, 2023.

          Compel Responses

Where a party fails to serve timely responses to discovery requests, the court may make an order compelling responses.  (Code Civ. Proc., §§ 2030.290, 2031.300; 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 request, including ones based on privilege or the protection of attorney work product. (Code Civ. Proc., §§ 2030.290, subd. (a), 2031.300, subd. (a).)

Plaintiff did not oppose Defendant’s motions to compel and it is undisputed responses were not served.  Defendant’s motions to compel are GRANTED and Plaintiff is ordered to serve verified responses without objections to Defendant’s Form Interrogatories (Set Two), Special Interrogatories (Set Two) and Requests for Production of Documents (Set Two) within 20 days of the date of this Order.

Deem Admitted

Where a party fails to timely respond to a request for admission, the propounding party may move for an order that the genuineness of any documents and the truth of any matters specified in the requests be deemed admitted. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2033.280, subd. (b).) The party who failed to respond waives any objections to the demand, unless the court grants them relief from the waiver, upon a showing that the party (1) has subsequently served a substantially compliant response, and (2) that the party’s failure to respond was the result of mistake, inadvertence, or excusable neglect. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2033.280, subds. (a)(1)-(2).) The court shall grant a motion to deem admitted requests for admissions, “unless it finds that the party to whom the requests for admission have been directed has served, before the hearing on the motion, a proposed response to the requests for admission that is in substantial compliance with Section 2033.220.” (Code Civ. Proc., § 2033.280, subd. (c).)

Plaintiff did not oppose this motion and it does not appear that a proposed response has been served before this hearing. Accordingly, the motion to deem admitted is GRANTED.

Monetary Sanctions

The Code of Civil Procedure provides that the court shall impose a monetary sanction against the party who unsuccessfully makes or opposes a motion to compel, unless the party acted with substantial justification or the sanction would otherwise be unjust.  (Code Civ. Proc., § 2030.290, subd. (c), 2031.300, subd. (c).)  Where a party fails to provide a timely response to requests for admission, “[i]t is mandatory that the court impose a monetary sanction under Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 2023.010) on the party or attorney, or both, whose failure to serve a timely response to requests for admission necessitated this motion.”  (Code of Civ. Proc., § 2033.280, subd. (c).)

Defendant’s request for monetary sanctions is GRANTED and imposed against Plaintiff in the reduced amount of $1,446.60 for 4 hours at defense counsel’s hourly rate of $300 and $246.60 in filing fees, to be paid within 20 days of the date of this Order.

Moving party to give notice.

Dated this 13th day of November 2023

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.