AAA ELECTRIC CO VS. MAHMOUD AHMAD ET AL

Matter on calendar for Monday, January 5, 2026, Line 4, PLAINTIFF AAA ELECTRIC CO.'s Motion For Terminating Sanctions And Monetary Sanctions For Failure To Comply With Orders Compelling Discovery Responses. (Part 1 of 3).

Plaintiff AAA Electric Co's Motion For Terminating Sanctions And Monetary Sanctions For Failure To Comply With Orders Compelling Discovery Responses is DENIED.

Plaintiff moves under Code of Civil Procedure section 2023.030 based on Defendant Mahmoud Ahmad's failure to comply with the court's October 29, 2025 Order compelling responses to interrogatories and the court's directive that Defendant appear for deposition, which Plaintiff never memorialized in a proposed order submitted to the court for signature, as require by San Francisco Local Rule 8.3(g).

"Misuses of the discovery process include, but are not limited to, the following: (a) Persisting, over objection and without substantial justification, in an attempt to obtain information or materials that are outside the scope of permissible discovery[;] (b) Using a discovery method in a manner that does not comply with its specified procedures[;] (c) Employing a discovery method in a manner or to an extent that causes unwarranted annoyance, embarrassment, or oppression, or undue burden and expense[;] (d) Failing to respond or to submit to an authorized method of discovery[;] (e) Making, without substantial justification, an unmeritorious objection to discovery[;] (f) Making an evasive response to discovery[;] (g) Disobeying a court order to provide discovery[;] (h) Making or opposing, unsuccessfully and without substantial justification, a motion to compel or to limit discovery[;] and, (i) Failing to confer in person, by telephone, or by letter with an opposing party or attorney in a reasonable and good faith attempt to resolve informally any dispute concerning discovery, if the section governing a particular discovery motion requires the filing of a declaration stating facts showing that an attempt at informal resolution has been made." (Code of Civil Procedure section 2023.010.)

"Destroying evidence in response to a discovery request after litigation has commenced would surely be a misuse of discovery within the meaning of section 2023, as would such destruction in anticipation of a discovery request." (Cedars-Sinai Med. Center v. Superior Court (1998) 18 Cal.4th 1, 12.)

(Continued to Part 2) =(302/JMQ). | |