BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1183| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- CONSENT Bill No: AB 1183 Author: Jones (R) Amended: As introduced Vote: 21 SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 6-0, 6/4/13 AYES: Evans, Anderson, Corbett, Jackson, Leno, Monning NO VOTE RECORDED: Walters ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 4/15/13 (Consent) - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Civil discovery: motion to compel further response SOURCE : Conference of California Bar Associations DIGEST : This bill provides that the 45-day period from service of a response or supplemental response in which notice of a motion to compel further response to discovery or must occur, begins to run after the receipt of a verified response or supplemental verified response. ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1. The Civil Discovery Act sets forth the scope, procedures, and timeframes by which parties may conduct discovery. (Code Civil Procedure [CCP] Section 216.010) CONTINUED AB 1183 Page 2 2. The Civil Discovery Act, authorizes a party to a civil action to obtain discovery, as specified, by inspecting documents, electronically stored information, tangible things, and land or other property in the possession of any other party to the action. (CCP Section 2017.010) 3. Provides that any party may obtain discovery as follows: A. By propounding to any other party to the action written interrogatories to be answered under oath. (CCP Section 2030.010(a)) B. By inspecting, copying, testing, or sampling documents, tangible things, land or other property, and electronically stored information in the possession, custody, or control of any other party to the action. (CCP Section 2031.010(a)) C. By a written request that any other party to the action admit the genuineness of specified documents, or the truth of specified matters of fact, opinion relating to fact, or application of law to fact. A request for admission may relate to a matter that is in controversy between the parties. (CCP Section 2033.010(a)) 4. Requires a party to whom the above requests are directed to respond within 30 days after service of requests, as specified, unless the court has shortened or extended the time for response. (CCP Sections 2030.260(a), (c); 2031.250(a), 2033.250(a)) 5. Requires that the party to whom the above requests are directed sign the response under oath, unless the response contains only objections, in which case the attorney must sign the response under oath. (CCP Sections 2030.250(a), (c); 2031.250(a), (c); 2033.240(a), (c)) 6. Provides that upon receipt of a response to the above discovery requests, the requesting party may move for an order compelling further response to the demand under specified circumstances. (CCP Sections 2030.300(a), 2033.290(a)) 7. Provides that unless notice of a motion to compel further CONTINUED AB 1183 Page 3 response is given within 45-days of service of the response, or any supplemental response, or on or before any specific later date to which the requesting party and the responding party have agreed in writing, the requesting party waives any right to compel a further response to the demand. (CCP Sections 2030.300(c), 2031.310(c), 2033.290(c)) This bill amends the above sections to instead specify that unless notice of the motion is given within 45-days of the service of the verified response, or any supplemental verified response, or on or before any specific date to which the requesting party and the responding party have agreed in writing, the requesting party waives any right to compel a further response to the demand. Background Discovery is the formal exchange of evidentiary information and materials between parties to a pending action. Generally, California's Civil Discovery Act permits any party to a civil action to obtain discovery regarding any matter, not privileged, that is relevant to the subject matter in the pending action or to the determination of any motion made in that action, if the matter either is admissible in evidence or appears reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. Under that Act, discovery can be obtained by inspecting documents, electronically stored information, tangible things, and land or other property in the possession of any other party to the action. Primary devices to conduct discovery include interrogatories, depositions, requests for admissions, and requests for production. Under existing law, the party who receives an interrogatory, demand for inspection, copying, testing or sampling of documents, or request for admission, must respond to the request within 30 days and must verify their response (or, in the case wherein only objections to the request are made, their attorney must verify the response). Separately, existing law provides that upon receipt of a response to a party's request for interrogatories, production of evidence, and admissions, the requesting party may move to compel further response under certain circumstances, such as where the response was incomplete or evasive. The requesting party, however, must make the motion to compel further response within 45-days of service of the CONTINUED AB 1183 Page 4 response or supplemental response to their request, or else will be deemed to have waived any right to make this motion. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 6/4/13) Conference of California Bar Associations (source) California Chamber of Commerce Civil Justice Association of California ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author: The purpose of [this bill] is to help decrease abuses of the discovery process. The only way that discovery can work effectively is if responses to discovery demands are made under penalty of perjury. However, it currently is not clear whether a propounding party is at risk of losing his right to compel further responses if he chooses to wait for promised verifications. There is [case law] authority that an unsworn response is tantamount to no response at all (see Appleton v. Superior Court (1988) 206 Cal.App.3d 632, 636), which many practitioners hold by. However, the law in this area simply is not clear, which allows for attempted games-playing by some practitioners. AB 1183 would amend Code of Civil Procedure [Secs.] 2030.300, 2031.310, [and] 2033.290 to specify that the time to bring motions to compel further responses to requests for responses to interrogatories, for document production[,] and for admissions, begins to run only after verified responses are received. ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 4/15/13 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom, Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Maienschein, Mansoor, CONTINUED AB 1183 Page 5 Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Torres, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NO VOTE RECORDED: Harkey, Lowenthal, Vacancy AL:d 6/5/13 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED