Not stated

(Santa Monica Courthouse: Dept. I) September 1, 2026 DEPARTMENT I LAW AND MOTION RULINGS

If the parties wish to submit on the tentative ruling and avoid a court appearance on the matter, the moving party must contact the opposing party and all other parties who have appeared in the action and confirm that each will submit on the tentative ruling. Please call the court no later than 4:30 p.m. on the court day before the hearing, leave a message with the court clerk at (310) 260-3629 advising her that all parties will submit on the tentative ruling and waive hearing, and finally, serve notice of the Court's ruling on all parties entitled to receive service. If any party declines to submit on the tentative ruling, then no telephone call is necessary, and all parties should appear at the hearing.

applications by plaintiff. One is to allow further briefing on Perales. The court will not allow further briefing at this time. If, at the hearing, it becomes apparent that the court needs more briefing, the matter can be discussed then. That application is DENIED.

The second is to allow a supplemental declaration from counsel regarding defense counsel's claim that a letter plaintiff's counsel sent was generated by AI. The court does not believe that it will help to have further briefing on that. The application is DENIED.

The third relates to the McCourt deposition. The court is not sure of the status. The date plaintiff wanted was not convenient to McCourt, but it appeared that McCourt offered alternative dates if the motion for terminating sanctions was not granted. As it turns out, it was neither granted nor denied--it was continued. As such, it is likely that the suggested dates no longer work. However, it appears that McCourt is not objecting to a deposition if the motion is denied, so the court is inclined to have the parties work this out. For now, the matter is not ripe and the application is DENIED.

The fourth is an effort to file the various papers that were before the court last week but for which the court had not seen a request for leave to file them until the morning of the hearing. Plaintiff asks for leave to file it now. That request is DENIED. The court does not believe it will add anything useful to the mix, and filing 10 additional declarations in sur-reply is not proper.

In short, all four applications are DENIED. The court will not hear argument on this today.

Case Number: 23SMCV03744 Hearing Date: September 1, 2026 Dept: I

The matter is here for an FSC. It was also here for resolution on a motion that the case should be tried to the court and not a jury, but apparently all parties have agreed to waive jury, so the matter will proceed as a bench trial. The CMC was held on January 9, 2025, and a mediation completion date was set for February 28, 2026.

The court has received the following FSC Materials: (1) Witness list suggesting about 15 or so hours of testimony from 5 witnesses; (2) Joint Exhibit List with 108 exhibits; (3) Joint Deposition Chart (with almost all of the depositions designated); (4) Trial Briefs. It appears that the case is READY FOR TRIAL.