Motion To Compel Defendant Volkswagen Group Of America, Inc.S Response, Without Objection Or Refernce To Extrinsic Writing, To Plaintiffs First Set Of Special Interrogatories
SF Superior Court - Law & Motion / Discovery Dept 302 - CGC25629262 - May 13, 2026 Hearing date: May 13, 2026 Case number: CGC25629262 Case title: CLAIRE HEITLINGER VS. VOLKSWAGEN GROUP OF AMERICA, INC. ET AL Case Number: | | CGC25629262 | Case Title: | | CLAIRE HEITLINGER VS. VOLKSWAGEN GROUP OF AMERICA, INC. ET AL | Court Date: | | 2026-05-13 09:00 AM | Calendar Matter: | | Motion To Compel Defendant Volkswagen Group Of America, Inc.S Response, Without Objection Or Refernce To Extrinsic Writing, To Plaintiffs First Set Of Special Interrogatories | Rulings: | | Set for Law and Motion/Discovery on Wednesda,y May 13, 2026, Line 9, 2-PLAINTIFF CLAIRE HEITLINGER'S Motion To Compel Defendant Volkswagen Group Of America, Inc.'s Response, Without Objection Or Refernce To Extrinsic Writing, To Plaintiffs First Set Of Special Interrogatories.
Plaintiff Claire Heitlinger's Motion To Compel Defendant Volkswagen Group Of America, Inc.'s Response, Without Objection Or Reference To Extrinsic Writing, To Plaintiffs First Set Of Special Interrogatories is DENIED.
The court finds Plaintiff agreed or should have agreed to extend the time for Defendant's responses to 4/14/2026. Defendant provided responses by 4/14/2026, which was before Plaintiff filed this motion and, more important, within the time allowed (or that should have been allowed) by agreement (or that would have been allowed by court order). Thus, the motion is denied.
Plaintiff is reminded of her duty to meet and confer. All parties must make reasonable and good faith efforts to resolve discovery disputes informally amongst themselves before presenting them to the court for resolution. (See Code of Civil Procedure section 2016.040.)
The Civil Discovery Act is intended to be self-executing; court involvement is the exception, not the rule. (See Obregon v. Superior Court (1998) 67 Cal.App.4th 424, 434, quoting Townsend v. Superior Court (1998) 61 Cal.App.4th 1431, 1434 ["[I]t is a 'central precept' of the Civil Discovery Act ... that discovery 'be essentially self-executing[.]' "].)
Self-execution of the Discovery Act is possible only if the parties work together and engage in reasonable and good faith efforts to informally resolve the discovery disputes before their presentation to the court. Here, reasonable counsel would have expressly and without hesitation agreed to extend the time for responses to 4/14/2026. Plaintiff's counsel contention this didn't happen is belied by the record. In any event, the failure to so stipulate was unreasonable.
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