Bryan Pringle v. William Adams Jr et al

Filing 234

TRANSCRIPT for proceedings held on 1/23/12 9:48 a.m.. Court Reporter/Electronic Court Recorder: Exceptional Reporting Services, Inc., phone number (361) 949-2988. Transcript may be viewed at the court public terminal or purchased through the Court Reporter/Electronic Court Recorder before the deadline for Release of Transcript Restriction. After that date it may be obtained through PACER. Notice of Intent to Redact due within 7 days of this date. Redaction Request due 2/17/2012. Redacted Transcript Deadline set for 2/27/2012. Release of Transcript Restriction set for 4/26/2012. (mo)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA SOUTHERN DIVISION - SANTA ANA BRYAN PRINGLE, Plaintiff, vs. WILLIAM ADAMS, JR., ET AL, Defendants. ) CASE NO: SACV 10-01656-JST-RZx ) ) CIVIL ) ) Los Angeles, California ) ) Monday, January 23, 2012 ) ( 9:48 a.m. to 9:49 a.m.) ) (10:28 a.m. to 10:41 a.m.) DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO COMPEL SUPPLEMENTAL RESPONSES TO INTERROGATORIES AND FOR SANCTIONS BEFORE THE HONORABLE RALPH ZAREFSKY, UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE Appearances: See next page Court Reporter: Recorded; CourtSmart Courtroom Deputy: Ilene Bernal Transcribed by: Exceptional Reporting Services, Inc. P.O. Box 18668 Corpus Christi, TX 78480-8668 361 949-2988 Proceedings recorded by electronic sound recording; transcript produced by transcription service. EXCEPTIONAL REPORTING SERVICES, INC 2 APPEARANCES FOR: Plaintiff: GEORGE L. HAMPTON, ESQ. HamptonHolley, LLP 2101 E. Coast Highway, Suite 260 Corona Del Mar, CA 92625 JOSEPH G. VERNON, ESQ. Miller Canfield Paddock & Stone, PLC 150 W. Jefferson, Suite 2500 Detroit, MI 48226 Defendants: JONATHAN S. PINK, ESQ. Bryan Cave, LLP 3161 Michelson Dr., Suite 1500 Irvine, CA 92612 EXCEPTIONAL REPORTING SERVICES, INC 3 1 Los Angeles, California; Monday, January 23, 2012; 9:48 a.m. 2 (Call to Order) 3 THE COURT: All right. Let's call the calendar. 4 THE CLERK: Calling item number three, Case Number 5 SACV 10-01656-JST(RZx), Bryan Pringle versus William Adams, 6 Junior, et al. 7 Counsel, please make your appearances. 8 MR. PINK: 9 Good morning, your Honor. Jonathan Pink on behalf moving parties. 10 THE COURT: 11 Plaintiff's counsel? 12 MR. PINK: 13 THE COURT: 14 15 Good morning. Have you heard from I have not, your Honor. Do you have any reason to believe he is not going to be here? MR. PINK: No, your Honor. I believe he's coming 16 from Orange County, and I suspect that the traffic may be 17 holding him up. 18 THE COURT: 19 MR. PINK: 20 THE COURT: 21 Next case. 22 23 All right. Why don't we call this again. Thank you, your Honor. Thank you. (Proceeding was recessed from 9:49 a.m. to 10:28 a.m.; parties present) 24 THE COURT: Let's call the next case. 25 THE CLERK: Recalling item number three, Case Number EXCEPTIONAL REPORTING SERVICES, INC 4 1 SACV 10-01656-JST(RZx), Bryan Pringle versus William Adams, 2 Junior, et al. 3 Counsel, please make your appearances. 4 MR. PINK: Good morning, your Honor. Jonathan Pink 5 on behalf of William Adams, Adam Pineda -- Allen Pineda, Jaime 6 Gomez, Stacy Ferguson, the Black Eyed Peas, moving party. 7 THE COURT: 8 MR. HAMPTON: 9 10 George Pringle. THE COURT: 12 MR. VERNON: Good morning. Good morning, your Honor. Joseph Vernon also for the same parties as Mr. Hampton. 14 THE COURT: 15 MR. HAMPTON: 16 Good morning, your Honor. Hampton of Hampton Holley, local counsel for Plaintiff, Bryan 11 13 Good morning. Who's going to speak for the Plaintiff? I believe I am, your Honor, but Mr. Vernon may have specific knowledge on specific issues. 17 THE COURT: All right. Well, we have a lot of 18 interrogatories. 19 them. 20 there something that somebody feels compelled to say? 21 I'm not sure it makes any sense to argue over The papers are pretty full. MR. HAMPTON: I'm prepared to rule. Yes, your Honor, I would. Is I think -- 22 George Hampton -- I think the one thing that's missing from the 23 context of this argument is the fact that shortly -- I believe 24 a couple days before this motion was filed, a Motion for 25 Summary Judgment was filed by one of the other group of EXCEPTIONAL REPORTING SERVICES, INC 5 1 Defendants. And the issues that are currently before Judge 2 Tucker specifically relating to the sample claim as well as 3 this spoliation claim, which Mr. Pink talked about in his 4 supplemental memorandum, are currently before Judge Tucker. 5 So to the extent that this is akin to playing one 6 parent off the other, I think it would be improper to do that 7 because some of these issues are currently before Judge Tucker 8 in connection with a Motion for Summary Judgment that's 9 currently set to be heard a week from today. 10 THE COURT: 11 MR. PINK: All right. Mr. Pink? Well, with respect to that, your Honor, it 12 is true that Judge Tucker has a Motion for Summary Judgment 13 that's been fully briefed. 14 argument date set, which may be moved. 15 There is a -- there's an oral I don't see that it is playing one parent off of the 16 other, your Honor. 17 spoliation arguments exist here as there. 18 asking for a complete dismissal of the case there. 19 suspect that your Honor is going to go that far here, although 20 -- 21 22 23 The same points remain. THE COURT: We -- the same That's true. We're I don't I don't think I have the authority to dismiss a case. MR. PINK: Fair enough. I think that the -- there's 24 a recent case that we cited in our supplemental reply that may 25 give that to you. But in any event, I don't suspect that we're EXCEPTIONAL REPORTING SERVICES, INC 6 1 going there today. 2 3 THE COURT: Where we're going today is ruling on the specific interrogatory seriatim. 4 5 No. MR. PINK: Okay. Well, I have nothing else to add, your Honor. 6 THE COURT: 7 MR. PINK: Okay. I would just ask if I could reserve the 8 right to comment following the ruling or the -- I don't know if 9 it's going to be a tentative or if it's -- 10 11 THE COURT: No, it's not going to be a tentative. There's nothing tentative. 12 MR. PINK: 13 Well, then -- THE COURT: It's going to be a ruling. So if you 14 want to argue, now is the time to do it. 15 because you know, when you get these motions where you have 15, 16 20, 30, 50 requests to produce or interrogatories, I mean, all 17 really one can do is say granted, denied, granted, denied and 18 here are some reasons. 19 interrogatory or a request that sticks out and deserves special 20 attention. 21 MR. PINK: I'm not advising it Unless every now and then there is an Your Honor, I mean, absent a question 22 about a specific one, which I am more than happy to address, I 23 think I would be wasting the Court's time to simply seriatim go 24 through and make my arguments for each. 25 THE COURT: All right. EXCEPTIONAL REPORTING SERVICES, INC 7 1 2 3 MR. PINK: If the other side wishes to argue, I would just ask to -- the right to reply. THE COURT: Well, I just gave them the chance, and I 4 think they declined except to tell me about the fact that 5 there's a Summary Judgment motion in front of Judge Tucker. 6 Right, Mr. Hampton? 7 8 9 MR. HAMPTON: Yes, your Honor. Mr. Vernon, though, just reminded me of additional small point. THE COURT: Go ahead. 10 MR. HAMPTON: Go ahead, Mr. Vernon. 11 MR. VERNON: 12 Thank you, your Honor. Thank you. There was a point raised and 13 a line of authority raised in Defendants' Reply in Support of 14 the Motion for Summary Judgment that I think is especially 15 relevant here, and that's there's no obligation to provide 16 supplemental or corrective information that has otherwise been 17 made to known to parties in writing or during discovery. 18 we set forth in our Joint Stipulation and Supplemental Brief 19 why we think the objections are improper here and why we think 20 we've answered the precise questions that were posed. 21 And To the extent that the Defendants require additional 22 information or more detail, that has been provided in 23 declarations and in deposition testimony and, as I know the 24 Court is aware, it's kind of set forth at length in our Joint 25 Stipulation. But they have all of this information, your EXCEPTIONAL REPORTING SERVICES, INC 8 1 Honor, and, your Honor, we feel that it's inappropriate for 2 them to continue this motion in light of that fact. 3 THE COURT: 4 MR. VERNON: 5 THE COURT: All right. Thank you. All right. I'm -- as I said, I'm going 6 to go seriatim and in the same order that they're listed in the 7 Joint Stipulation, which is not always the order of the 8 interrogatories. 9 All right. So Interrogatory Number 1, which asks 10 Plaintiff to identify each song of the Black Eyed Peas that 11 Plaintiff has sampled, the objections of over breadth and 12 burdensomeness are silly, particularly given Plaintiff's 13 further response of none. 14 cannot be burdensome to say so nor is the question overly 15 broad, nor is there any plausible argument as to relevance, nor 16 is there any basis for saying that investigation continues. 17 Plaintiff knows whether he sampled any songs and he does not 18 need any further investigation to answer. 19 to Interrogatory Number 1. If none truly is the answer, it Motion is granted as 20 Number 2, the objections have no merit. 21 Plaintiff has answered the interrogatory, except he has left 22 himself some wiggle room by saying that investigation 23 continues. 24 shall serve an amended answer without objection. 25 supplemental information to be provided as a result of Time for investigation has ended. EXCEPTIONAL REPORTING SERVICES, INC But So Plaintiff If there is 9 1 investigation that continued, that information shall be 2 provided also. 3 Number 3, the objections have no merit. 4 answer is evasive and not responsive to the interrogatory. 5 Responsive answers shall be served. 6 Number 4, the answer is sufficient. 7 Number 16, the objections have no merit. Plaintiff's In his 8 argument, but not in his answer to the interrogatory, Plaintiff 9 says that the matter he identified is the only document that is 10 responsive to the interrogatory, so it should be a simple 11 matter to say so in response to the interrogatory. 12 shall serve an amended answer. Plaintiff 13 Number 17, the answer is sufficient. 14 Number 18, the answer is sufficient. 15 Number 19, the objections do not have merit. 16 Plaintiff has provided only a partial answer indicating when 17 the file was created and when it was last modified but not when 18 it was otherwise accessed or modified. 19 an amended answer. 20 Plaintiff shall serve Number 21, it is unclear whether Plaintiff is saying 21 that in fact he accessed the file only twice in 2010. If that 22 is his answer, then he needs to say so explicitly. 23 accessed the file other times in 2010, then he needs to 24 identify those as well. 25 answer. If he Plaintiff shall serve an amended EXCEPTIONAL REPORTING SERVICES, INC 10 1 Number 22, the answer is sufficient. 2 Now, there's a Number 18 that's on Page 37 of the 3 Joint Stipulation, which is different from a prior 4 Interrogatory 18. 5 that's on Page 37 of the Joint Stipulation. 6 evasive, even as amended. 7 that he knows that any Defendant physically appropriated "Take 8 a Dance." 9 purpose of discovery is to get the facts. So what I'm about to say refers to the one And that answer is Plaintiff can state all the facts Plaintiff cannot reserve any rights here. The If Plaintiff knows 10 no facts that are responsive, then Plaintiff should say that. 11 If he knows facts that are responsive, he should identify them. 12 So Plaintiff shall serve a further amended response. 13 Interrogatory Number 5, the interrogatory would be 14 overly broad except that in his argument, Plaintiff states that 15 he has provided all the information that he has. 16 the interrogatory itself, however, does not say that. 17 Plaintiff shall serve an amended response stating that the 18 information he has provided is the only information that he 19 has. The answer to So 20 Interrogatory Number 6, Plaintiff shall serve an 21 amended response without objections stating what he states 22 here, that he had no communications with Defendant Pineda. 23 attempt to grasp at some straw by using the word "direct" is 24 silly lawyerese. 25 7 as to Defendant Gomez and Interrogatory Number 8 as to The The same is true as to Interrogatories Number EXCEPTIONAL REPORTING SERVICES, INC 11 1 Defendant Ferguson. 2 Interrogatory Number 12, motion is granted as to this 3 interrogatory. 4 Defendants have asked a contention interrogatory, which is 5 perfectly appropriate, but Plaintiff never answers the 6 contention. 7 If he answers yes, then there is further information that is 8 required. 9 an answer. 10 Plaintiff's answer is completely evasive. The If he answers no, that is the end of the matter. Reference to answers to other interrogatories is not Plaintiff shall serve an amended response. As to Interrogatory Number 13, Plaintiff has answered 11 the contention here but the factual basis for his answer. 12 He needs to provide that in an amended response. 13 Interrogatory Number 14, if Plaintiff has any further 14 support for his answer to the contention in this interrogatory, 15 he shall provide it in an amended response. 16 17 Interrogatory Number 15 and Number 25, the answers are sufficient. 18 19 The request for sanctions, in the discretion of the Court, is denied. 20 21 Let's get the amended responses served within -- do you have a discovery cutoff? 22 MR. HAMPTON: 23 THE COURT: 24 25 I'm sorry. It is past, your Honor. It's past. Let's get those served within 10 days. MR. PINK: Your Honor, if I may just ask for EXCEPTIONAL REPORTING SERVICES, INC 12 1 clarification. A number of the interrogatories, which you 2 instructed that supplemental responses should -- or amended 3 responses should be served, the existing responses say 4 investigation continues. 5 one interrogatory, but can we get a clear ruling that -- 6 THE COURT: 7 You addressed that with respect to discovery is closed. 8 MR. PINK: 9 THE COURT: 10 MR. PINK: 11 THE COURT: 12 MR. PINK: 13 THE COURT: 14 MR. PINK: That's clear, I mean, especially if 15 Okay. Investigation is over. Right. So -- We need answers. Okay. Or you need answers. Okay. So just so it is clear, they may not say investigation continues in any amended answer, correct? 16 THE COURT: You know, I've never thought that was 17 appropriate even if discovery was beginning. 18 interrogatory; you have to give an answer. 19 information arises, the rules provide for supplementing 20 responses. MR. PINK: 22 THE COURT: 23 MR. HAMPTON: 25 If supplemental So I don't think it's a valid response at any time. 21 24 You're asked an Okay. Thank you, your Honor. Anything further, Mr. Hampton? Yes, your Honor. Would you happen to have a written ruling about going through each one ad seriatim? THE COURT: No, that's it. EXCEPTIONAL REPORTING SERVICES, INC 13 1 MR. HAMPTON: Okay. Then can I ask for clarification 2 on Number 13 because I was writing furiously and I skipped over 3 Number 13? 4 THE COURT: Number 13, what I said is Plaintiff has 5 answered the contention here but not the factual basis for his 6 answer. 7 gave an answer to what you contend. 8 says, "If you contend X, provide the factual basis." 9 The interrogatory said, "Do you contend X," and you MR. HAMPTON: 10 THE COURT: 11 MR. VERNON: 12 MR. PINK: 13 Thank you, your Honor. All right. Thank you, your Honor. And you said supplemental responses will be due when, your Honor? 14 THE COURT: 15 MR. PINK: 16 THE COURT: 17 And then the interrogatory Well, I said 10 days. Oh, I must have missed that. All right. Those are to be served not filed, obviously. 18 MR. HAMPTON: 19 THE COURT: 20 MR. VERNON: 21 THE COURT: 22 Any other matters, Ilene? 23 THE CLERK: No, that's the one. 24 THE COURT: All right. 25 Thank you, your Honor. All right. Thank you. Thank you, gentlemen. We'll be in recess. (This proceeding was adjourned at 10:41 a.m.) EXCEPTIONAL REPORTING SERVICES, INC 14 CERTIFICATION I certify that the foregoing is a correct transcript from the electronic sound recording of the proceedings in the aboveentitled matter. January 27, 2012 Signed Dated TONI HUDSON, TRANSCRIBER EXCEPTIONAL REPORTING SERVICES, INC

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