California Motion to Compel

Introduction

Key Things to Know

1. 1

   A California motion to compel asks the superior court to order the other side to answer discovery it ignored, answered evasively or objected to, and the deadline is the first thing to settle. Section 2030.300(c) gives you 45 days from service of the verified response, and if you miss it the statute says you waive any right to compel a further response. Sections 2031.310(c) and 2033.290(c) repeat it for inspection demands and requests for admission. The parties can agree a later date, but the statute requires that agreement to be in writing.

2. 2

   There is no single California statute to cite. Pick by the device you served: Section 2030.300 for interrogatories, Section 2031.310 for a demand for inspection or production, Section 2033.290 for requests for admission, Section 2025.480 for a deposition answer. The deposition one is the odd one out on timing too, because Section 2025.480(b) measures its 60 days from completion of the record of the deposition rather than from service of anything.

3. 3

   The second fork matters as much as the first. A response that arrived and is inadequate goes on the further-response track. A total failure to serve any response goes to Sections 2030.290, 2031.300 or 2033.280, and those sections are more favourable to you in three ways: no 45-day window, no separate statement needed, and under Section 2030.290(a) the silent party waives any objection to the interrogatories, including one based on privilege or on the protection for work product.

4. 4

   Requests for admission with no timely response are not a motion to compel at all. Section 2033.280(b) gives the requesting party a motion for an order that the genuineness of the documents and the truth of the matters specified be deemed admitted. Section 2033.280(c) says the court shall make that order unless the responding party has served a substantially compliant proposed response before the hearing, and its sanction clause carries no substantial-justification escape.

5. 5

   On the further-response track expect to prepare a second document. California Rules of Court rule 3.1345(a) requires a separate statement with any motion involving the content of a discovery request or the responses to it, and rule 3.1345(c) requires it to be full and complete so that no person is required to review any other document. It must carry the text of each request, the text of each response and objection, and the factual and legal reasons for compelling a further answer as to each matter in dispute. Rule 3.1345(b) exempts a motion where no response was provided at all, and Section 2030.300(b)(2) lets the court allow a concise outline instead.

6. 6

   Section 2030.300(d) is the provision to read before you decide whether to file. The court shall impose a monetary sanction against any party, person, or attorney who unsuccessfully makes or opposes a motion to compel a further response, unless it finds the person acted with substantial justification or that other circumstances make the sanction unjust. The verb is shall and the exposure is symmetrical: losing the motion puts you and potentially your attorney on the paying side.

7. 7

   Count the response clock before filing anything, because the motion is premature until it has run. Section 2030.260(a) gives 30 days after service of interrogatories, and Sections 2031.260 and 2033.250 do the same for inspection demands and requests for admission. In an unlawful detainer or another proceeding under Section 1159 and following, those 30 days drop to five. The deadline moves only by court order, and Section 2030.250 requires the response to be signed under oath unless it contains only objections.

California Requirements for Motion to Compel

• The Date the Verified Response Was Served, and the Forty Fifth Day After It

  Take the date from the proof of service on the response, not from the day you read it, and compute the forty fifth day. Section 2030.300(c) provides that unless notice of the motion is given within 45 days of service of the verified response, or any supplemental verified response, or a specific later date the parties agreed to in writing, the propounding party waives any right to compel a further response. Sections 2031.310(c) and 2033.290(c) are identical for inspection demands and requests for admission. A motion to compel a deposition answer runs instead on 60 days from completion of the record of the deposition under Section 2025.480(b).

• Which of the Four Statutes Applies, Chosen by the Device You Served

  California has no single rule here, so cite by device: Section 2030.300 for interrogatories, Section 2031.310 for a demand for inspection, copying, testing or sampling, Section 2033.290 for requests for admission, and Section 2025.480 for a deposition answer or a production noticed with a deposition. Each carries the same subdivisions in the same order, so they read alike, but the numbers are not interchangeable and the wrong one is visible on the face of the motion.

• Whether a Response Arrived at All, Which Decides Your Track

  Settle this before drafting. An inadequate response puts you on the further-response track, with the 45-day window and the separate statement. A total failure to serve any response puts you on Sections 2030.290, 2031.300 or 2033.280, where there is no window, no separate statement is required, and under Section 2030.290(a) the silent party waives any right to exercise the option to produce writings and any objection, including one based on privilege or on the protection for work product, subject to the relief the statute allows. For requests for admission with no response the vehicle changes entirely to the deem-admitted motion at Section 2033.280(b).

• The Requests Identified by Set and Number

  Rule 3.1345(d) of the California Rules of Court requires the motion to identify the interrogatories, demands or requests by set and number. Do that rather than describing the dispute in general terms. If three sets of interrogatories have been served, the set number is doing real work, and the order you are asking the court to sign has to be specific enough for the other side to comply with and for you to enforce.

• The Separate Statement, or the Concise Outline the Statute Permits Instead

  On the further-response track, California Rules of Court rule 3.1345(a) requires a separate statement with any motion involving the content of a discovery request or the responses to it. Rule 3.1345(c) requires it to be full and complete so that no person is required to review any other document to determine the full request and the full response, which rules out incorporation by reference. It carries the text of each request, the text of each response and objection, and the factual and legal reasons for compelling a further answer as to each matter in dispute. Two exceptions: rule 3.1345(b) does not require one where no response was provided at all, and Section 2030.300(b)(2) provides that in lieu of a separate statement the court may allow a concise outline of the request and each response in dispute.

• The Declaration of Informal Efforts That Accompanies the Motion

  Section 2030.300(b)(1) requires the motion to be accompanied by a declaration under Section 2016.040, and Sections 2031.310(b)(2), 2033.290(b)(1) and 2025.480(b) do the same. Keep the correspondence that supports it, because the same record is what answers the substantial-justification question if the sanction is argued either way.

• The Sanction Request, and Your Own Exposure Under It

  Section 2030.300(d) provides that the court shall impose a monetary sanction under the Chapter commencing with Section 2023.010 against any party, person, or attorney who unsuccessfully makes or opposes a motion to compel a further response, unless it finds that the one subject to the sanction acted with substantial justification or that other circumstances make the imposition unjust. Sections 2031.310(h), 2033.290(d) and 2025.480(j) carry the same sentence. The verb is shall and the exposure is symmetrical, so read it as a reason to drop marginal requests before filing rather than only as a remedy. Support the amount with a declaration.

• Proof That the Response Period Had Already Run

  Section 2030.260(a) gives 30 days after service of interrogatories, and Sections 2031.260 and 2033.250 the same for inspection demands and requests for admission, shortened or extended only by court order. In an unlawful detainer action or another proceeding under Section 1159 and following, the period is five days rather than 30, which catches people in housing cases. Section 2030.250 requires the response to be signed under oath unless it contains only objections, which matters because the 45-day clock the statute describes runs from a verified response. State the computation in the motion: a motion filed before the period has run is premature, and the symmetrical sanction makes that an expensive error.