Case Number: 19STCV03291 Hearing Date: September 10, 2019 Dept: 5

Superior Court of California
County of Los Angeles
Department 5

samehesha sheffield,

Plaintiff,

v.

county of los angeles,

Defendant.

Case No.: 19STCV03291

Hearing Date: September 10, 2019

[TENTATIVE] order RE:

motions to compel discovery responses

Defendant County of Los Angeles (“Defendant”) moves to compel responses from Plaintiff Samehesha Sheffield (“Plaintiff”) to: Form Interrogatories, Set One (“FROG”), Special Interrogatories, Set One (“SROG”), and Requests for Production of Documents, Set One (“RPD”). Defendants also move to deem admitted matters specified in Requests for Admissions, Set One (“RFA”). The motions are granted.

Defendant served the FROG, SROG, RPD, and RFA on Plaintiff by mail on June 4, 2019. Plaintiff’s responses were thus due by July 9, 2019. Defendant sent a meet-and-confer letter on July 17, 2019, affording Plaintiff until July 31, 2019. As of the filing date of these motions, which was August 12, 2019, Plaintiff has not served responses.

Oppositions to the instant motions were due on or before nine court days before the hearing, per Code of Civil Procedure section 1005. Because the motions were noticed for hearing on September 10, 2019, the oppositions were due on or before August 27, 2019. Plaintiff filed untimely oppositions on September 4, 2019, representing that she has complied with her discovery obligations. Based upon the foregoing, the Court denies the motions as moot.

Defendant seeks sanctions from Plaintiff and her counsel-of-record, jointly and severally. The Court finds that Plaintiff’s failure to respond to the outstanding discovery requests prior to the deadline constitutes an abuse of the discovery process. The Court finds that the motions were necessary to compel Plaintiff to comply with her discovery obligations. Therefore, the Court orders sanctions in the amount of $800, based upon five hours of attorney time at a rate of $160 per hour. Defendant is not entitled to any filing fees because they are exempt from paying them. (Gov. Code, § 6103.) The Court cannot impose sanctions based on filing fees that Defendant has not paid.

CONCLUSION AND ORDER

Defendant’s motions to compel are denied as moot. The Court orders Plaintiff and her counsel-of-record, jointly and severally, to pay sanctions in the amount of $800 within thirty (30) days of notice of this order. Defendant shall provide notice and file proof of such with the Court.

DATED: September 10, 2019 ___________________________

Stephen I. Goorvitch

Judge of the Superior Court