Discovery, Sanctions: No Abuse Of Discretion In Trial Court’s Imposition Of $12,250 In Sanctions Against Plaintiff For Abuse Of The Discovery Process.

Plaintiff Was Not Substantially Justified In Initially Providing Objection-Only Responses And Failed To Meet His Burden In Showing An Abuse Of Discretion In The Trial Court’s Finding That Defendants’ Sufficiently Engaged In Meet And Confer Efforts.

            In Kramer v. Dale, Case No. D077610 (4^th Dist., Div. 1 September 24, 2021) (unpublished), the 4/1 DCA found no abuse of discretion and affirmed a trial court’s order imposing $12,250 in sanctions against a plaintiff who abused the discovery process by initially providing objection-only responses to all discovery requests propounded by defendants . 

            The panel found plaintiff’s argument that he was substantially justified in initially providing objection-only responses because he feared that providing substantive responses and producing documents would constitute a waiver of his claim for disqualification of defendants’ counsel to be unsupported by authority.  Additionally, plaintiff’s objections to the discovery requests made no mention of this fear concerning waiver of his claim – which claim was not made until the day plaintiff served his objection-only responses.  Next, the panel concluded that plaintiff failed to meet his burden to show that the trial court abused its discretion in determining that defendants adequately engaged in meet and confer efforts before filing their motion to compel.  Plaintiff’s argument that the factors identified in Obergon v. Superior Court, 67 Cal.App.4^th 424 (1998) , were mandatory elements for the trial court to consider in making such a determination went nowhere – with the panel finding that plaintiff “gloss[ed] over the deferential abuse of discretion standard of review [it] must apply here.”  Rather the panel found that Obergon made clear that “[t]he level of effort at informal resolution which satisfies the ‘reasonable and good faith attempt’ standard depends upon the circumstances,” and that the trial court was to use its “broad powers and responsibilities to determine what measures and procedures are appropriate” in the circumstances presented. (Id. at 430.)