Petconnect Rescue, Inc. v. Salinas ( 2022 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 PETCONNECT RESCUE, INC., et al., Case No.: 20-cv-00527-LL-DEB 12 Plaintiffs, ORDER GRANTING EX PARTE 13 v. APPLICATION FOR ORDER QUASHING NOTICE OF WITNESS 14 DAVID SALINAS, et al., DEPOSITION OF DAVID SALINAS 15 Defendants. [DKT. NO. 189] 16 17 Before the Court is Defendant David Salinas’ (“Salinas”) Ex Parte Application for 18 Order Quashing Notice of Witness Deposition of David Salinas, and Request for 19 Imposition of Sanctions (“Motion to Quash”). Dkt. No. 189. Plaintiffs oppose the Motion 20 to Quash and propose to limit the Salinas deposition to facts related to Defendants Select 21 Puppies, Inc. (“Select”) and Brian Mohrfeld (“Mohrfeld”). Dkt. No. 190. For the reasons 22 discussed below, the Court grants Salinas’ Motion to Quash. 23 A. Discussion 24 The Court previously denied Plaintiffs’ request to extend the discovery cut-off to 25 take the Salinas deposition. Dkt. No. 148. Despite the Court’s Order, Plaintiffs unilaterally 26 noticed the Salinas deposition for January 25, 2022, necessitating this emergency Motion 27 28 1 to Quash by defendant Salinas. Although Plaintiffs now propose limiting the noticed 2 Salinas deposition to issues regarding new defendants Select and Mohrfeld, Plaintiffs did 3 not seek reconsideration of or relief from the Court’s previous ruling denying leave to take 4 the Salinas deposition. Instead, Plaintiffs engaged in self-help by noticing the Salinas 5 deposition despite the Court’s previous order. Salinas’ Motion to Quash is granted. 6 B. Sanctions 7 “Salinas asks the Court to reimburse him the reasonable expenses incurred as a 8 consequence of the preliminary events and the ex parte application pertaining to the 9 Deposition Notice . . .” in the amount of $2,275. Dkt. No. 189 at 8. And Plaintiffs 10 “request[ ] the Court sanction [defense counsel] and Mr. Salinas in the amount on $4,225 11 as reasonable attorney’s fees” for the time Plaintiffs’ counsel spent responding to this 12 Motion. Dkt. No. 190 at 8. 13 Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(a)(5), the party that prevails on a 14 discovery motion is entitled to reasonable expenses, including attorney’s fees unless the 15 non-prevailing party’s motion or opposition “was substantially justified, or if other 16 circumstances make an award of expenses unjust.” The Court finds Plaintiffs’ position is 17 substantially justified (because discovery remains open for defendants Select and 18 Mohrfeld) and Salinas’ position is substantially justified (because the Court previously 19 denied Plaintiffs’ request to take the Salinas deposition). The Court, therefore, declines to 20 21 22 1 Both parties’ submissions described failures to meet and confer on this Motion to Quash. 23 Dkt. Nos. 189 at 7; 190 at 2–6. Failing to meet and confer is a recurrent problem in this case, with counsel regularly claiming unavailability due to their busy schedules in response 24 to a party’s meet and confer requests. See also Dkt. No. 142 at 14–15. Going forward, 25 counsel must prioritize meeting and conferring in their schedules and make themselves available to meet and confer in person or by videoconference within 48 hours of the 26 opposing party’s request. See Magistrate Judge Butcher’s Civil Chambers Rule VI.A. All 27 failures to do so will result in sanctions unless the party claiming unavailability can document extraordinary circumstances. 28 1 || award sanctions to either party. See Glass Egg Digital Media v. Gameloft, Inc., No. 17-cv- 2 ||04165-MMC-RMI, 2019 WL 5720731, at *4, *12 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 5, 2019) (declining to 3 ||impose sanctions on the unsuccessful moving party after finding other circumstances made 4 ||such an award unjust where neither party was “entirely blameless” with respect to the 5 || parties’ discovery issues). 6 C. Conclusion 7 Based on the foregoing, the Court GRANTS Defendant David Salinas’ Motion to 8 || Quash and declines to award either party sanctions. 9 IT IS SO ORDERED. 10 Dated: January 24, 2022 — Dando oa 12 Honorable Daniel E. Butcher United States Magistrate Judge 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28