Valencia v. Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC ( 2023 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 8 9 ANAHI VALENCIA, 10 Plaintiff, 11 v. Case No. 1:22-cv-00098-ADA-SKO 12 MERCEDES-BENZ USA, LLC, 13 Defendant. 14 _____________________________________/ 15 16 ORDER 17 18 On March 16, 2023, the parties appeared telephonically for an informal discovery dispute 19 conference. Allen Amarkarian, Esq., appeared on behalf of Plaintiff Anahi Valencia 20 (“Plaintiff”), and Nathaniel Cowden, Esq., appeared on behalf of Defendant Mercedes-Benz 21 USA, LLC (“Defendant”). 22 After reviewing the parties’ submissions and hearing the parties’ arguments, the Court 23 makes the following findings and orders: 24 1. Defendant’s Issues: Deposition of Plaintiff and the Vehicle Inspection 25 The parties confirmed that, per the parties’ prior agreement, Plaintiff’s deposition 26 commenced today and the inspection of the subject vehicle1 is set to occur on March 20, 2023. 27 28 1 “Subject Vehicle” refers to the new 2019 Mercedes-Benz A220W, VIN No: WDD3G4EB0KW034178 purchased 1 Accordingly, the Court deems these issues resolved. 2 2. Plaintiff’s Issues 3 Plaintiff requests that the Court order Defendant to produce documents encompassed by 4 the following three requests: 5 a. Request 1 6 First, Plaintiff seeks “internal policies and procedures regarding [Defendant’s] compliance 7 with its affirmative duty under the Song-Beverly Act for repurchase of defective vehicles it is 8 unable to repair after a reasonable number of attempts.” Defendant represented that it has 9 produced all non-privileged documents in its possession, custody, or control that are delineated 10 by this request. Accordingly, Plaintiff’s request for these documents is DENIED as MOOT. 11 b. Request 2 12 Second, Plaintiff seeks “internal reports concerning [Defendant’s] evaluation of the same 13 defects found in vehicles of the same year, make, and model, that are present and can be identified 14 within the Subject Vehicle’s ECU.” The Court finds that this information is relevant, limited, and 15 appropriately designed to obtain information about the alleged vehicle defects at issue in this 16 litigation. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). Thus, the Court GRANTS Plaintiff’s request for these 17 documents. Defendant is hereby ORDERED to produce internal reports concerning its 18 evaluation of the “same defects found in vehicles of the same year, make, and model that are 19 present and can be identified within the Subject Vehicle’s ECU.” Such information shall be 20 limited to those vehicles sold in United States, not solely in California. See Scherer v. FCA US, 21 LLC, 538 F. Supp. 3d 1002, 1004-07 (S.D. Cal. 2021) (“The Court also finds that the correct 22 geographical limitation is the United States, not California.”). 23 c. Request 3 24 Third, Plaintiff seeks the “Xentry report found within the Subject Vehicle’s ECU that log[s] 25 all fault codes ever identified and archived by the Subject Vehicle, which includes codes and 26 defects not disclosed within the repair orders provided to consumers like Plaintiff.” The Court 27 finds that this request seeks discoverable information and is appropriately limited to the particular 28 vehicle at issue in this case. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). Thus, the Court GRANTS Plaintiff’s 1 request for this document. Defendant is hereby ORDERED to produce the “Xentry report found 2 within the Subject Vehicle’s ECU that log[s] all fault codes ever identified and archived by the 3 Subject Vehicle, which includes codes and defects not disclosed within the repair orders provided 4 to consumers like Plaintiff.” See, e.g., Scherer, 538 F. Supp. 3d at 1005-06. 5 3. Deadlines for Compliance and Limited Enlargement of the Non-Expert Discovery 6 Deadline 7 To permit the parties time to comply with this Order, the Court hereby EXTENDS the 8 deadline for non-expert discovery to May 26, 2023, for the sole purpose of (1) Defendant 9 producing all non-privileged documents within its possession, custody, or control that are 10 encompassed by the foregoing two requests for documents by April 17, 2023; and (2) for the 11 deposition of Defendant’s corporate designee(s) under Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(b)(6) by May 11, 2023. 12 IT IS SO ORDERED. 13 14 Dated: March 16, 2023 /s/ Sheila K. Oberto . UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28