2013-00141893-CU-OE

Nakea Hammonds vs. Hot Topic, Inc.

Nature of Proceeding: Motion to Compel Responses to Production of Documents

Filed By: Witte, Alexandria

Plaintiff’s Motion to Compel Responses and Production of Documents in Reponses to
Request for Production of Documents is CONTINUED to Monday, Dec. 30, 2013. If the
new date is inconvenient for any party, then counsel shall meet and confer and inform
the Department 53 clerk of their request for a different, subsequent date.

It appears to the Court that defense counsel has failed to provide a reasonable
extension of time in which to file this motion, so that the issues between the parties
could be resolved.

Having reviewed the moving and opposing papers, and the numerous discovery
requests that the parties dispute, it is apparent to the court that counsel must resume
the meet-and-confer process in good faith before drawing upon the court’s limited
resources. Counsel for the parties are thus ordered to resume the meet-and-confer
process in order to resolve or substantially narrow their discovery dispute.

Counsel shall meet and confer in person no later than Friday, Dec. 6, 20132. After
thoroughly meeting and conferring in an attempt to resolve each and every issue that
the motion currently encompasses, and no later than Friday, Dec. 20, 2013, counsel
shall file a joint statement indicating which discovery issues have been resolved, and
which issues (if any) remain outstanding. For each outstanding issue, counsel shall
set forth in the joint statement their respective positions, citing the relevant facts and
authorities. Boilerplate or cut-and-paste arguments are strongly discouraged.

Counsel are reminded that this court does not have the resources to tend to and
resolve every discovery issue that could have and should have been resolved
informally. (See Young v. Rosenthal (1989) 212 Cal.App.3d 96, 117 [“The very
purpose of an order to meet and confer is to obtain a negotiated resolution of a
discovery dispute without having to expend judicial time to sort out which party is
correct and what relief should be granted. What the court seeks is an agreement by
the parties which resolves the dispute”].)

Counsel are also reminded that this court has adopted, as part of its local rules, the
California Attorney Guidelines of Civility and Professionalism, promulgated by the
State Bar of California. In particular, the court refers counsel to Sections 4, 6, 9 and
10. The court is bound to impose monetary sanctions against any party who
unsuccessfully makes or opposes a motion to compel further discovery responses,
absent a substantial justification or other reason making the imposition of sanctions
unjust. The court may also impose sanctions for the failure to meet and confer in good
faith or otherwise misuse the discovery process. (See Cal. Code Civ. Proc. §§
2023.010-2023.030.)

The court will consider each side’s meet-and-confer efforts in deciding whether to
impose sanctions.