JOSE DELGADO VS JUANA BERNAL

Tentative Rulings

Case Number: 19STLC00229    Hearing Date: August 03, 2020    Dept: 26

MOTION FOR SANCTIONS

(CCP § 2025.430)

TENTATIVE RULING:

Plaintiff Jose Delgado’s Motion for Sanctions is GRANTED AGAINST DEFENSE COUNSEL GEOFFREY T. HILL IN THE AMOUNT OF $760.00. SANCTIONS ARE TO BE PAID TO PLAINTIFF’S COUNSEL WITHIN 30 DAYS’ NOTICE OF THIS ORDER.ANALYSIS:

Plaintiff Jose Delgado (“Plaintiff”) filed the instant action for motor vehicle negligence against Defendant Juana Bernal on January 15, 2019. On December 4, 2019, Plaintiff filed the instant motion for sanctions. Plaintiff filed an opposition on July 2, 2020.

The Motion for Sanctions is brought pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 2025.430, which states: “If the party giving notice of a deposition fails to attend or proceed with it, the court shall impose a monetary sanction under Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 2023.010) against that party, or the attorney for that party, or both, and in favor of any party attending in person or by attorney, unless it finds that the one subject to the sanction acted with substantial justification or that other circumstances make the imposition of the sanction unjust.” (Code Civ. Proc., § 2025.430.)

Plaintiff moves for sanctions of $3,560.00 against defense counsel Geoffrey T. Hill. It is undisputed that defense counsel noticed Plaintiff’s deposition for October 16, 2019 but then failed to proceed with the deposition on that date. (Motion, Yadidi Decl., ¶3.) Plaintiff’s counsel contends he spent four hours traveling to and from the deposition and that Plaintiff incurred attorney’s fees and lost a day of work as a result. (Ibid.) Defense counsel refused to reimburse Plaintiff’s counsel the $1,400.00 in attorney’s fees incurred. (Id. at ¶4 and Exhs. A-B.)

Defense counsel acknowledges the deposition did not go forward due to his failure to schedule a court reporter. (Opp., Hill Decl., ¶¶2-3.) Hill declares that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the deposition was rescheduled and took place over videoconferencing. (Id. at ¶5.) He argues that since no additional travel expenses were incurred for the second deposition date, because the deposition was conducted over teleconference, sanctions are not justified. (Ibid.)

The Court finds it must award sanctions under the mandatory language of the statute. Defense counsel does not argue that he acted with substantial justification, nor show that the imposition of sanctions would be unjust. Despite not incurring travel expenses for the deposition over videoconferencing, Plaintiff’s counsel still spent additional time attending the deposition on the second date. Time and effort also went into bringing the instant Motion. (Id. at ¶6.) However, the Court finds that the amount requested in sanctions is excessive. Based on a lodestar calculation, a sanctions award of $760.00 is appropriate based on two hours of time billed at $350.00 per hour plus the $60.00 motion fee. (Motion, Yadidi Decl., ¶6.)

Conclusion

Plaintiff Jose Delgado’s Motion for Sanctions is GRANTED AGAINST DEFENSE COUNSEL GEOFFREY T. HILL IN THE AMOUNT OF $760.00. SANCTIONS ARE TO BE PAID TO PLAINTIFF’S COUNSEL WITHIN 30 DAYS’ NOTICE OF THIS ORDER.

Moving party to give notice.