V E N A B L E L L P 20 49 C E N T U R Y P A R K E A S T , S U I T E 23 00 L O S A N G E L E S , CA 9 0 0 6 7 3 1 0 - 2 2 9 - 9 9 0 0 ow Nd ON Oo 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 VENABLE LLP CELESTE M. BRECHT (SBN 238604) cmbrecht@venable.com MATTHEW M. GURVITZ (SBN 272895) mmgurvitz@venable.com RAMANDA R. LUPER (SBN 313606) rrluper@venable.com 2049 Century Park East, Suite 2300 Los Angeles, CA 90067 Telephone: (310) 229-9900 Facsimile: (310) 229-9901 Attorneys for Defendants EAN HOLDINGS, LLC and ENTERPRISE RENT-A-CAR COMPANY OF LOS ANGELES, LLC (erroneously sued as ENTERPRISE RENT-A-CAR OF LOS ANGELES, LLC) SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA FOR THE COUNTY OF ORANGE MARICAR REGIS; PHILIP H DORANTES; THE DUC NGUYEN; VU PHI KHAC; ARTURO RUVALCABA, Plaintiffs, Vs. KEITH V. MURAOKA; PATRICIA PACHECO; PORTERMATT ELECTRIC, INCORPORATED; EAN HOLDINGS, LLC; ENTERPRISE RENT- A-CAR OF LOS ANGELES, LLC; GENERAL MOTORS LLC; DOES 1 THROUGH 1000; inclusive, Defendants. CASE NO. 30-2018-00991316-CU-PL-CJC [Assigned for all purposes to Hon. Richard Lee; Dept. C31] REPLY IN SUPPORT OF EAN HOLDINGS, LLC’S NOTICE OF MOTION FOR ORDER DEEMING REQUESTS FOR ADMISSION OF PLAINTIFF ARTURO RUVALCABA ADMITTED (Related to ROA # 378) Hearing Date: January 9, 2020 Time: 1:30 p.m. Dept.: Cal Reservation ID No.: 73086144 Action Filed: May 9, 2018 Trial Date: October 13, 2020 EAN’S REPLY ISO MOTION FOR ORDER DEEMING RUVALCABA’S REQUESTS FOR ADMISSION ADMITTED V E N A B L E L L P 20 48 C E N T U R Y P A R K E A S T , S U I T E 23 00 LO S A N G E L E S , CA 9 0 0 6 7 3 1 0 - 2 2 9 - 9 9 0 0 wm RB WL Oo 0 3 ON 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 23 23 24 25 26 27 28 IL. INTRODUCTION Plaintiff Arturo Ruvalcaba (“Plaintiff”) failed to oppose EAN Holdings, LLC’s (“EAN”) request for an order deeming EAN’s Requests for Admission, Set One admitted and request for sanctions. Plaintiff served responses on December 9, 2019. However, Plaintiff has failed to provide any justification for his delay in responding to EAN’s discovery. Nor does Plaintiff provide any explanation as to why he verified his responses on November 19, 2019, but did not serve EAN for twenty more days. Plaintiff has minimally complied with his discovery obligations-providing only enough to avoid termination of his case but failing to provide any factual basis for his claims. Plaintiff's abuse of the discovery process has forced EAN to file numerous discovery motions and incur significant expense. EAN is entitled to the mandatory sanctions under California Code of Civil Procedure section 2033.280 for costs associated with filing this motion. IL. ARGUMENT A. The Court Must Award EAN Mandatory Sanctions California Code of Civil Procedure section 2033.280 states that “it is mandatory that the court impose a monetary sanction . . . on the party or attorney, or both, whose failure to serve a timely response for requests for admission necessitated this motion.” Plaintiff has failed to respond to discovery in this litigation. Plaintiff’s failure to respond or even confer with EAN regarding the delay has forced EAN to incur significant expenses in hopes of obtaining even minimal information from Plaintiff. On November 21, 2019, this Court ordered Plaintiff to respond to Enterprise Rent-A-Car Company of Los Angeles, LLC’s (“ERAC”) first set of discovery requests and pay $1,088 within twenty days. Yet, Plaintiff has not provided any discovery responses or paid the sanction to date. In total, the Court has issued $4,624 in sanctions against Plaintiffs for failing to respond to EAN and ERAC’s discovery requests. The Court has awarded additional monetary sanctions to co-defendants General Motors LLC and Keith Muraoka for Plaintiffs’ failure to respond. The 1 EAN’S REPLY ISO MOTION FOR ORDER DEEMING RUVALCABA’S REQUESTS FOR ADMISSION ADMITTED V E N A B L E L L P 20 49 C E N T U R Y P A R K E A S T , S U I T E 23 00 L O S A N G E L E S , CA 90 06 7 3 1 0 - 2 2 9 - 9 9 0 0 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 threat of monetary sanctions appears to have no effect on Plaintiffs as both General Motors and Mr. Muraoka were forced to file motions to terminate for failure to respond to discovery. While this case has been pending for almost twenty months, EAN has no information as to the basis of Plaintiff’s claims against EAN beyond the allegations in the Second Amended Complaint. Regardless of the mandatory nature of sanctions under Section 2033.280, the Court should impose sanctions for Plaintiff's abuse of the discovery process and order Plaintiff to pay the reasonable expenses that EAN has incurred as a result. See Cal. Civ. Proc. § 2023.030. B. The Court Should Not Consider Any Untimely Filed Opposition If Plaintiff files an opposition late or attempts to argue at the hearing, the Court should decline to hear such arguments as Plaintiff has not provided EAN with appropriate notice. See Cal. R. Ct. 3.1300 (a court may refuse to consider a “late filed paper”). Permitting Plaintiff to untimely file or provide argument at the hearing would provide Plaintiff with an unfair advantage because EAN has not had an adequate opportunity to respond. III. CONCLUSION For the foregoing reasons, EAN respectfully requests that the Court enter an Order imposing monetary sanctions against Plaintiff in the amount of $272. Dated: January 2, 2020 VENABLE LLP By: ppnemael A Celeste M. Brecht Matthew M. Gurvi Ramanda R. Luper Attorneys for Defendants EAN HOLDINGS, LLC and ENTERPRISE RENT-A-CAR COMPANY OF LOS ANGELES, LLC (erroneously sued as ENTERPRISE RENT-A-CAR OF LOS ANGELES, LLC) 2 EAN’S REPLY ISO MOTION FOR ORDER DEEMING RUVALCABA’S REQUESTS FOR ADMISSION ADMITTED V E N A B L E L L P 20 49 C E N T U R Y P A R K E A S T , S U I T E 23 00 LO S A N G E L E S , CA 9 0 0 6 7 3 1 0 - 2 2 9 - 9 9 0 0 Oo 0 3 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 2] 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 PROOF OF SERVICE STATE OF CALIFORNIA ) ) ss. COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES ) I am employed in the County of Los Angeles, State of California. I am over the age of 18 and not a party to the within action; my business address is Venable LLP, 2049 Century Park East, Suite 2300, Los Angeles, California. On January 2, 2020, I served a copy M / original [1 of the foregoing document(s) described as REPLY IN SUPPORT OF EAN HOLDINGS, LLC’S NOTICE OF MOTION FOR ORDER DEEMING REQUESTS FOR ADMISSION OF PLAINTIFF THE DUC NGUYEN ADMITTED on the interested parties in this action addressed as follows: SEE ATTACHED SERVICE LIST M1 By placing true copies thereof enclosed in a sealed envelope(s) addressed as stated above. M BY OVERNIGHT DELIVERY (FRCP 5(b)(2)(F)): I am readily familiar with the firm’s practice of collection and processing items for delivery with Overnight Delivery. Under that practice such envelope(s) is deposited at a facility regularly maintained by Overnight Delivery or delivered to an authorized courier or driver authorized by Overnight Delivery to receive such envelope(s), on the same day this declaration was executed, with delivery fees fully provided for at 2049 Century Park East, Suite 2300, Los Angeles, California, in the ordinary course of business. I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the above is true and correct. Executed on January 2, 2020, at Los Angeles, California. Norma Maftinez PROOF OF SERVICE V E N A B L E L L P 20 49 C E N T U R Y P A R K E A S T , S U I T E 23 00 L O S A N G E L E S , CA 9 0 0 6 7 3 1 0 - 2 2 9 - 9 9 0 0 Ww NN SY 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 SERVICE LIST Edward J. Korducki, Esq. Korducki Law Offices P.O. Box 9246 Anaheim, CA 92812 Phone: (323) 898-8115 Email: ekorducki@yahoo.com Tamara A. Bush, Esq. Dykema Gossett LLP 333 South Grand Avenue, Suite 2100 Los Angeles, CA 90071 Phone: (213) 457-1800 Fax: (213) 457-1850 Email: tbush@dykema.com Jeff I. Braun, Esq. Nicole C. Barilla, Esq. McNeil, Tropp & Braun LLP 2 Park Plaza, Suite 620 Irvine, CA 92614 Phone: (949) 259-2890 Fax: (949) 259-2891 Email: jbraun@mtbattorneys.com nbarilla@mtbattorneys.com James Whitemyer, Esq. Law Offices of Anthony T. Schneider 4685 MacArthur Court, Suite 200 Newport Beach, CA 92660 Phone: (949) 250-5548 (direct) (949) 553-1359 (front desk) Fax: (213) 222-3853 (business mobile) Email: whitj26@nationwide.com Counsel for Plaintiffs Counsel for Defendant, General Motors LLC Counsel for Defendants, Keith Muraoka and Patricia Pacheco Counsel for Defendant, Portermatt Electric, Inc. PROOF OF SERVICE
