Halteh v Progressly and Box, San Mateo County Superior Court Case Number 18-CIV-3658.



Ashley Shively from the Reed Smith law firm is one the attorneys representing the defendant Box.




Plaintiff alleged that Progressly owes rent. Progressly was in some manner acquired by Box and Box has disclaimed any responsibility for the rent owed. Plaintiff's attorney then served 10 requests for documents to help evaluate if Box is liable or not.




"Defendant Box has taken the position that it is not liable for Progressly's obligations under the lease, although Progressly, a start-up acquired by Box and Progressly breached the lease because all of its employees moved over to the Box headquarters and became employees of Box.... There were ten requests set forth in the First Request for Production and they related to the acquisition of Progressly by Box."

Plaintiff's counsel claimed he tried to resolve a dispute about objections Box made to the requests for documents, but attorney Ashley Shively was not responsive. As a result a motion to compel was filed.




Plaintiff's attorney then said Ashley Shively, Esq., did not provide a document to the judge which reflected an important issue in dispute. According to the document (provided by plaintiff's attorney) it appears Ms. Shively tried to create an agreement where her client could unilaterally decide what documents it wanted to produce or not. Lawzilla is not an attorney but even we see this as being a problem.




After the motion to compel was filed Ms. Shively's office apparently served supplemental responses to the discovery. But the responses did not match the request for documents, and Shively's client was providing responses to 19 requests for documents even though only 10 were propounded.




It is Lawzilla's understanding Ms. Shively is the one who signed the "nonsensical" 19 responses to only 10 requests.




Again, Lawzilla is not legal counsel, but this appears incompetent.

Plaintiff had originally sought $6390 in sanctions when the motion to compel was filed. But after having to deal with the "nonsensical" discovery responses and opposition to the motion to compel, plaintiff asked for an additional $3375 in sanctions.




The judge then reviewed the situation and granted plaintiff's motion to compel. The judge also sanctioned attorney Ashley Shively and another attorney in her office, John Bovich, the sanctions being sought, including the additional sanctions for a total amount of $9765.

Ashley Shively was admitted to the California Bar in 2009. Bar Number 264912.

Reed Smith
101 2nd Street Suite 1800
San Francisco, California 94105

Law School: UC Davis

Sanctions are Recoverable as a Judgment - Analysis of the little known fact that sanctions awarded in a lawsuit can be enforced as their own separate judgment. Surprise someone by putting a lien on their bank account, home, wages, etc.