Discovery: 4/3 DCA Affirms Substantial $586,600 Discovery Order, With A Remand On A Relatively Smaller, Potential Add-On Amount, Against Plaintiffs, But Not Their Counsel

Principles Of Compulsion, Causation, And Reasonableness Are Beacons For Discovery Sanctions.

            Justice Fybel, the author of Cornerstone Realty Advisors, LLC v. Summit Healthcare REIT, Inc., Case No. G057176 (4^th Dist., Div. 3 Oct. 28, 2020) (published) on behalf of a 3-0 panel, has penned a decision which all litigation clients and attorneys should consult with respect to what principles govern discovery sanctions, given that much of modern day litigation expense is devoted to the discovery stage of a case in many instances.

            Plaintiffs got hit with terminating sanctions (not at issue) and monetary sanctions (at issue) for various discovery abuses under Code of Civil Procedure section 2023.030.  The defense requested about $2 million in sanctions, but the lower court awarded $586,600 instead, but only against Plaintiffs (not their counsel).  This awarded amount was three times over that recommended by a discovery referee (yep, referees are appointed all so often in contentious, high stake matters).  However, the defense appealed, arguing that more sanctions should have been awarded and they should have been awarded against Plaintiffs’ counsel.

            The 4/3 DCA affirmed a huge amount of the rulings, but it remanded for a fairly insubstantial amount at issue—agreeing that sanctions were not warranted against counsel.  This opinion is mandatory reading for litigators, because it teaches that three principles should always guide discovery sanctions requests by litigants, their counsel, and presiding trial judges.  Those principles are these:  compulsion; causation; reasonableness.  Read the decision to see why!