Case Number: BC618904 Hearing Date: June 24, 2019 Dept: 5

Superior Court of California
County of Los Angeles
Department 5

andrea figueroa lopez,

Plaintiff,

v.

forest city enterprises, inc., et al.,

Defendants.

Case No.: BC618904

Hearing Date: June 24, 2019

[TENTATIVE] order RE:

motions to compel discovery responses

Defendants Forest City Enterprises, Inc. and Federal Building Services (“Defendants”) move to compel responses from Plaintiff Andrea Figueroa Lopez (“Plaintiff”) to: Form Interrogatories (“FROG”), set two; Special Interrogatories (“SROG”), set two; Supplemental Interrogatories (“SuppROG”); Requests for Production of Documents (“RPD”), set two; and Supplemental Requests for Production of Documents (“SuppRPD”). Defendants also move to deem admitted matters specified in Requests for Admissions (“RFA”), set two. The motions are granted.

Defendants served the FROG, SROG, RPD, and RFA on Plaintiff by mail on February 15, 2019. Defendants served the SuppROG and SuppRPG on Plaintiff by mail on March 4, 2019. Defendants granted Plaintiff an extension of time to respond to April 23, 2019. As of the filing date of this motion, Plaintiff has not served responses. Plaintiffs have not opposed the motions, and there is nothing in the record to suggest that they have complied with their discovery obligations.

Accordingly, the motions to compel responses to the FROG, SROG, SuppROG, RPD, and SuppRPD are granted per Code of Civil Procedure sections 2030.290 and 2031.300. Plaintiff is ordered to serve responses to Plaintiff’s FROG, SROG, SuppROG, RPD, and SuppRPD without objections, within 30 days of service of this order.

Defendants also move to deem the matters specified in the RFA. Where a party fails to respond to requests for admissions, the propounding party may move for an order that the genuineness of any documents and the truth of any matters specified in the requests be deemed admitted, as well as for a monetary sanction. (Code of Civ. Proc., § 2033.280, subd. (b).) The court “shall” grant a motion to deem admitted the matters specified in the requests for admissions, “unless it finds that the party to whom the requests for admission have been directed has served, before the hearing on the motion, a proposed response to the requests for admission that is in substantial compliance with Section 2033.220.” (Code of Civ. Proc., § 2033.280, subd. (c).) As Plaintiff failed to respond to Defendants’ RFA, the Court grants the motion to deem admitted matters specified in the RFA.

Defendants seek sanctions against Plaintiff and her counsel-of-record in connection with the motions. The Court finds Plaintiff’s failure to respond to Defendants’ discovery a misuse of the discovery process. The Court imposes sanctions against Plaintiff and her counsel of record, Bob B. Khakshooy, in the amount of $2,160, which represents nine hours of attorney time to prepare the motions and attend the hearing at a reasonable billing rate of $200 per hour, plus $360 in filing fees.

CONCLUSION AND ORDER

Defendants’ motions to compel responses to the FROG, SROG, SuppROG, RPD, and SuppRPD are granted per Code of Civil Procedure sections 2030.290 and 2031.300. Plaintiff is ordered to serve verified responses, without objections, within 30 days of notice of this order.

Plaintiff is deemed to have admitted the truth of all matters specified in the RFA as of this date.

Plaintiff and her counsel of record, Bob B. Khakshooy, jointly and severally, are ordered to pay monetary sanctions in the amount of $2,160 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: June 24, 2019 ___________________________

Stephen I. Goorvitch

Judge of the Superior Court