SHAWN HOLLE VS. EDWARD OCHI ET AL

Set for Law and Motion/Discovery Calendar on Friday, December 19, 2025, Line 3.

Defendant City and County of San Francisco's motion for terminating sanctions against Plaintiff Shawn Holle is DENIED.

Defendant moves for terminating sanctions under Code of Civil Procedure section 2023.030(d)(3). Section 2023.030 authorizes the court to impose sanctions "against anyone engaging in conduct that is a misuse of the discovery process." In Crawford v. JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. ((2015) 242 CA 4th 1265,1271, the appellate court upheld the imposition of terminating sanctions when a self-represented attorney threatened to use a taser and pepper spray on opposing counsel during a deposition. Defendant also cites Del Junco v.

Hufnagel (2007) 150 CA 4th 789, 796, in which a trial court ruling striking a defendant's answer was upheld based on proof that the defendant had "failed to respond to discovery, failed to abide by court orders and procedures, failed to pay sanctions, and violated the preliminary injunction." Although the jurisdictional basis for the order in Del Junco is not specified in the published part of the opinion, the defendant's refusal to respond to discovery clearly implicated CCP 2023.030(d)(3).

The court finds that Section 2023.030 does not apply here because the present motion has not been brought to address an abuse of the discovery process. Even if the motion was properly brought pursuant to section 2023.030, Defendant's factual statement does not support the relief requested. The authority to dismiss a case "should be exercised only in extreme situations, such as where the conduct was clear and deliberate and no lesser sanction would remedy the situation." (Crawford, supra, 242 CAth at 1271) Based on the totality of the circumstances, it is clear that other remedies short of terminating sanctions are available to protect Defendant's witness, Edward Ochi, from hostile interactions with Plaintiff.

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Any party who contests a tentative ruling must send an email to contestdept302tr@sftc.org with a copy to all other parties by 4pm stating, without argument, the portion(s) of the tentative ruling that the party contests. The subject line of the email shall include the line number, case name and case number. The text of the email shall include the name and contact information, including email address, of the attorney or party who will appear at the hearing.

Counsel for the prevailing party is required to prepare a proposed order which repeats verbatim the substantive portion of the tentative ruling and must email it to contestdept302tr@sftc.org prior to the hearing even if the tentative ruling is not contested.

The court no longer provides a court reporter in the Law & Motion Department. Parties may retain their own reporter, who may appear in the courtroom or remotely. A retained reporter must be a California certified court reporter (CSR), for only a CSR's transcript may be used in California courts. If a CSR is being retained, include in your email all of the following: their name, CSR and telephone numbers, and their individual work email address. =(302/CM) |