Lawzilla Additional Information:
Per the Los Angeles court records defendant is represented by attorney John Wolcott who is being sanctioned by the court.

Case Number: EC064905 Hearing Date: April 27, 2018 Dept: B

# 9

Oriental enterprise lk, inc.,

Plaintiff,

v.

SHU JUN ZHANG, et al.,

Defendants.

Case No.: EC064905

Hearing Date: April 27, 2018

[TENTATIVE] order RE:

(1) plaintiff’s motions to compel resposnes

(2) defendants’ motions to compel further responses

Background

In this action, Plaintiff Oriental Enterprise LJ, Inc. (“Plaintiff”) alleges that Defendant Shu Jun Zhang (“Zhang”) agreed to act as secretary for Plaintiff in April 2015. Plaintiff alleges that Zhang had the obligations to ensure that certain bills and expenses incurred by Plaintiff were paid. Plaintiff alleges that Zhang wrote himself a $9,000.00 check using a company check and unlawfully cashed it.

The complaint, filed January 27, 2016, alleges causes of action for: (1) fraud; (2) unjust enrichment; (3) money had and received; and (4) theft/conversion.

On February 28, 2018, Plaintiff filed 4 motions to compel responses against Zhang. Defense counsel filed a declaration in response to the motions.

On April 2, 2018, Zhang filed 2 motions to compel further responses against Plaintiff. Plaintiff opposes.

DISCUSSION

A. Plaintiff’s Motions to Compel Responses

Plaintiff filed 4 motions to compel responses from Zhang for: (1) Form Interrogatories (“FROG”), set one; (2) Special Interrogatories (“SROG”), set one; (3) Request for Production of Documents (“RPD”), set one; and (4) Requests for Admissions (“RFA”), set one.

On January 3, 2018, Plaintiff served on Zhang the discovery requests. As of the filing of the motions on February 28, 2018, Plaintiff states that it has not received responses from Zhang.

On April 17, 2018, John F. Wolcott, counsel for Zhang, filed his declaration wherein he states that he has responded to the discovery responses.

Accordingly, Plaintiff’s motions to compel responses to the FROG, SROG, RPD, and RFA are moot as responses have been provided.

Plaintiff requests sanctions against Zhang and his attorney in connection with bringing these motions. The requests are granted. Zhang and his counsel of record, jointly and severally, are ordered to pay monetary sanctions in the amount of $840.00 to Plaintiff, by and through counsel, within twenty (20) days of notice of this order.

B. Zhang’s Motions to Compel Further Responses

Zhang filed 2 motions to compel further responses against Plaintiff for: (1) SROG; and (2) RPD.

1. Timeliness

Motions to compel further responses must be brought within 45 days of receiving the verified or supplemental verified responses, or as otherwise agreed upon between the parties in writing. (CCP §§2030.300(c), 2031.310(c).) An additional 5 days is added where the response is served by mail. (See CCP §1013.)

The 45-day limitation to move to compel further responses as to interrogatories and document requests is jurisdictional, and courts are without authority to rule on untimely motions to compel except just to deny them. (See, e.g., Sexton v. Superior Court (1997) 58 Cal.App.4th 1403, 1410; and Sperber v. Robinson (1994) 26 Cal.App.4th 736, 746 [later motion did not relate back to earlier motion taken off calendar].) The deadline cannot be circumvented by propounding the same discovery again. (Prof. Career Colleges etc. v. Superior Court (1989) 207 Cal.App.3d 490, 492.)

Zhang propounded the discovery on Plaintiff on November 10, 2016. Plaintiff responded to the discovery on November 8, 2017. These motions were filed on April 2, 2018. As such, the motions are untimely. Plaintiff points this out in its opposition as well. In addition, Zhang’s counsel admits that the motions are untimely in his declaration filed on April 17, 2018. (See Wolcott Decl., ¶4.)

As such the motions to compel further responses from Plaintiff are denied.

Conclusion and order

Plaintiff’s motions to compel responses to the FROG, SROG, RPD, and RFA are moot as responses have been provided. Zhang and his counsel of record, jointly and severally, are ordered to pay monetary sanctions in the amount of $840.00 to Plaintiff, by and through counsel, within twenty (20) days of notice of this order.

Zhang’s motions to compel further responses are denied.

Each party is ordered to provide notice of their respective motions.