STEVEN BRUCE VS. LAND ROVER N. AMERICA ET AL

Matter on the Law & Motion/Discovery Calendar for Wednesday, July 30, 2025, line 9, PLAINTIFF STEVEN BRUCE'S Motion For Reconsideration Of Order Granting Defendant'S Motion To Compel Arbitration (Tentative ruling part 1 of 2)

Plaintiff Steven Bruce's motion for reconsideration of the court's order compelling arbitration is denied.

"Code of Civil Procedure section 1008 requires that a party seeking reconsideration do so 'within 10 days after service upon the party of written notice of entry of the order....' (Code Civ. Proc., section 1008, subd., (a).) A motion for reconsideration must be based on new or different facts, circumstances or law (ibid.), and facts of which the party seeking reconsideration was aware at the time of the original ruling are not new or different. In addition, a party must provide a satisfactory explanation for failing to offer the evidence in the first instance." (In re Marriage of Herr (2009) 174 Cal.App.4th 1463, 1468 [some citations and internal quotation marks omitted].)

Bruce provides a declaration stating that he never signed an arbitration agreement and did not notice the arbitration agreement buried in the owner's manual of his car. These are significant facts going to whether the parties agreed to arbitrate, but Bruce provides no explanation of why he did not include them in his declaration when he initially opposed the motion.

The judicial economy purpose of Section 1008 is clear: if parties were only required to provide substantive opposition to a motion after they lose the motion on the first go-round, courts would have to decide many motions more than once. The law instead reserves reconsideration for instances where a party could not reasonably have presented the significant fact on the first go-round. That circumstance is not present here.

Bruce acknowledges he is an attorney who has appeared in the law and motion department; the ruling herein holds him to the same standard as any litigant.

Defendants seek sanctions; this request is denied.

(end of tentative ruling part 1 see part 2) = (302/CVA) | |