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Cynthia Castelliano v. 7-Eleven, Inc - Raymond Ghermezian is the attorney for the plaintiff in this matter per the court's ruling and the Los Angeles court online case summary.
Sanctions of $1418 are being ordered against attorney Raymond Ghermezian in a tentative ruling by a Los Angeles County judge. Note: this is a tentative ruling but Lawzilla believes the judge adopted the tentative as the court's final ruling.
From the ruling this is what happened:
Ghermezian represented the plaintiff in a trip and fall case.
The defendant noticed the plaintiff's deposition and it was set for a mutually agreed upon date.
So far ... nothing unusual.
But then it gets bizarre. Really bizarre.
Less than a week before the deposition attorney Ghermezian's office said there would be no deposition until defendant responded to discovery.
The problem? Plaintiff had not sent defendant any discovery to answer.
Attorney Ghermezian then wanted to know if there was video of the incident. (Note: something like this, in our view, could have been found out even before a lawsuit was filed.) Defense counsel said there was no video.
A day before the deposition Ghermezian's office wanted all videos, photographs and documents related to the incident. Defense counsel asked if discovery had been propounded. Ghermezian's office initially lied saying it had. But, again, no discovery had been sent.
Raymond Ghermezian then wanted defense counsel to agree no video would be produced at trial if it existed. Defense counsel obviously refused.
When the day came for the deposition it started, plaintiff was asked her name and birthdate, and then Raymond Ghermezian, Esq., interjected saying no further questions would be answered unless there was a stipulation no video existed. Ghermezian then left the deposition.
A motion to compel obviously resulted.
The judge said sanctions were warranted due to attorney Ghermezian's "misuse" of the discovery process.
The judge also noted if Mr. Ghermezian wanted any videos he could have simply asked for them in discovery. But he did not.
So what was going on here?
In our opinion attorney Raymond Ghermezian failed to do his due diligence before filing the lawsuit, or at least was not diligent in conducting discovery and asking for any video.
The lawsuit was filed in December 2016. That means for 13 MONTHS Ghermezian could have sent basic discovery inquiring about a video but apparently failed to do so.
When it came time for his client's deposition he may have believed there was a question about his client committing perjury so if there was a video he wanted to see it first so his client would know how to answer questions.
After all, it would not be good if the plaintiff testified to "X" during her deposition but then a surveillance video showed "Y".
This could have been avoided if basic discovery was timely served.
Any competent attorney would have done this.
The result was Raymond Ghermezian was sanctioned $1418.
In our view he was lucky the amount was this low.
And now his client gets to testify at a deposition - still without knowing for sure whether a video may exist which could contradict her sworn testimony.
ANA CORDON VS TJ GOLDEN WOK - Raymond Ghermezian is the attorney for the plaintiff in this matter per the court's online case summary and per a declaration he filed in this matter stating he had personal knowledge of events taking place.
Sanctions of $590 are being ordered against attorney Raymond Ghermezian in a tentative ruling by a Los Angeles County judge. Note: this is based on a tentative ruling. Lawzilla understands the tentative was adopted by the judge as a final ruling, with modifications. We are still obtaining those modifications and they could substantially change this analysis.
From the ruling this is what happened:
Mr. Ghermezian represented the plaintiff and the defendant sought to take her deposition.
Plaintiff and her attorney asked that the deposition be rescheduled three times.
Finally, when the deposition was to take place plaintiff failed to appear.
Not surprisingly, a motion to compel followed.
Attorney Ghermezian submitted a declaration saying the matter was moot as the deposition then took place.
But after reviewing the situation the judge ruled sanctions were warranted because there was no substantial justification for what transpired and Mr. Ghermezian's client not appearing at a deposition.
The court said it was specifically imposing $590 in sanctions against the attorney.
Note: In two rulings we have now seen two sanctions orders involving Raymond Ghermezian relating to deposition misconduct.
LAURA RAYMUNDO VS RALPHS GROCERY COMPANY
Sanctions of $715 are being ordered against the Raymond Ghermezian law firm in a tentative ruling by a Los Angeles County judge. Note: Lawzilla believes that the court's tentative ruling became the final ruling from the judge.
From the ruling this is what happened:
Mr. Ghermezian's firm represented the plaintiff, according to the Los Angeles online court summary for the case and the complaint, and the defendant sought to take plaintiff's deposition - FIVE TIMES.
The last time plaintiff's deposition was sought her attorney unilaterally cancelled it because defense counsel would not allow use a telephone. The attorney was also apparently miffed that despite being sent a video of the incident (a slip and fall) that he was not allowed to view the video on defense counsel's private computer.
The judge reviewed the situation and said "Plaintiff's counsel improperly cancelled Plaintiff's properly noticed deposition."
The court then sanctioned plaintiff's counsel $715.
Note: In three rulings we have now seen three sanctions orders involving Raymond Ghermezian's cases, and all three related to deposition misconduct. It seems that this attorney has a problem with letting depositions take place, and is repeatedly being sanctioned by judges for misconduct.
Raymond Ghermezian was admitted to the California Bar in 1998. Bar Number 198777.
Raymond Ghermezian, A Professional Law Corporation
3435 Wilshire Boulevard Suite 1800
Los Angeles, California 90010
Law School: Southwestern University