Case Number: BC6584694 Hearing Date: January 29, 2019 Dept: 5
Superior Court of California
County of Los Angeles
Department 5
jennifer garnsey,
Plaintiff,
v.
Eric grice, et al.,
Defendants.
Case No.: BC584694
Hearing Date: January 29, 2019
[TENTATIVE] order RE:
motions to compel discovery responses
Defendants Eric Grice and Big Screen Cuisine, Inc. (“Defendants”) move to compel responses from Plaintiff Jennifer Garnsey (“Plaintiff”) to: (1) Request for Production of Documents (“RPD”), set two; and (2) Special Interrogatories (“SROG”), set two. The motions are denied as moot except with respect to sanctions. The Court grants the motions for sanctions against Plaintiff and Plaintiff’s counsel of record, Raymond D. McElfish, in the amount of $480.
Defendants served the RPD and SROG on Plaintiff by overnight mail on August 20, 2018. Defendants instructed Plaintiff to make responsive documents available for inspection and copying in response to the RPD on September 20, 2018. That date is before Plaintiff’s responses were due on September 21, 2018. (Code Civ. Proc., §§ 2031.030, subd. (c)(2), 1013, 2016.050, 2031.260.) However, Plaintiff did not respond to the RPD or SROG by September 21, 2018. Defendants did not receive responses by October 29, 2018, when they filed these motions. Plaintiff has now served responses. Therefore, Plaintiffs’ motions are denied as moot except with respect to sanctions.
In opposition, Plaintiff argues that she served responses well before the hearing date on these motions. Nonetheless, Plaintiff’s responses are untimely, and Plaintiff did not respond before Defendant filed these motions. As Defendants had to file these motions to obtain responses from Plaintiff, Defendants are entitled to sanctions.
The Court concludes that Plaintiff’s failure to timely respond to the discovery is an abuse of the discovery process. The Court awards sanctions against Plaintiff and Plaintiff’s counsel of record, Raymond D. McElfish, in the amount of $480, which represents three hours of attorney time to prepare the motions and attend the hearing at $160 per hour.
CONCLUSION AND ORDER
Defendants’ motions to compel responses to the RPD and SROG are denied as moot except with respect to sanctions. Plaintiff and Plaintiff’s counsel of record, Raymond D. McElfish, jointly and severally, are ordered to pay monetary sanctions in the amount of $480 to Defendants, by and through counsel, within 30 days of notice of this order.
Defendants are ordered to provide notice of this order and file proof of service of such.
DATED: January 29, 2019 ___________________________
Stephen I. Goorvitch
Judge of the Superior Court