Smothers et al v. NorthStar Alarm Services, LLC

Filing 24

ORDER signed by Magistrate Judge Kendall J. Newman on 10/24/2017 DENYING without prejudice 19 Plaintiffs' Motion to Compel. (Reader, L)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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JULIAN SMOTHERS, et al.

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Plaintiffs,

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v.

No. 2:17-cv-548-KJM-KJN

ORDER

NORTHSTAR ALARM SERVICES, LLC,
Defendant.

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Plaintiffs Julian Smothers and Asa Dhadda, former non-exempt employees who worked as

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regular and supervisory alarm installation technicians for defendant Northstar Alarm Services,

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LLC, bring this action against their former employer both individually and on behalf of similarly

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situated employees for various alleged wage and hour violations under the California Labor Code,

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California’s Private Attorneys General Act, and the Fair Labor Standards Act.

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On June 30, 2017, the assigned district judge issued a pretrial scheduling order for class

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certification, which required fact discovery in the initial phase to be primarily focused on class

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certification. (ECF No. 18 at 2.)

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Presently pending before the court is plaintiffs’ motion to compel discovery responses.

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(ECF No. 19.) Upon review of the parties’ 113-page joint statement regarding the discovery

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disagreement, it is readily apparent that the parties have not properly exhausted their informal
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meet-and-confer obligations prior to filing a discovery motion with the court. As an initial

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matter, the parties tacitly acknowledge as much in their joint statement, stating that plaintiffs had

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sent one set of written correspondence to defendant, followed by a single meet-and-confer call

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during which the parties essentially just reaffirmed their positions. (ECF No. 19 at 3.)

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Moreover, despite such limited meet-and-confer efforts, the parties request the court to

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resolve their dispute as to: (a) 57 disputed Rule 30(b)(6) deposition topics; (b) 34 requests for

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production of documents; and (c) 7 interrogatories. (ECF No. 19 at 3.) Frankly, an inability to

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informally resolve such a large number of discovery issues can only be attributable to (1) a failure

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to devote the time and energy necessary to properly meet and confer, and/or (2) the

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unreasonableness of one or more parties. Indeed, even a cursory review of the joint statement

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reveals that many of the discovery requests at issue are overbroad and/or have questionable

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relevance to class certification, while on the other hand, many of the objections are focused on

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asserted vagueness and ambiguities, which can easily be resolved through proper meet-and-confer

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efforts. While the court is fully prepared to rule on discovery matters that are ripe for resolution

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after thorough discussions and good faith efforts towards informal resolution have been

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exhausted, the court declines the parties’ invitation to referee every minor spat and essentially

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conduct their meet-and-confer efforts for them.
Consequently, the court denies plaintiffs’ motion to compel without prejudice. After the

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parties have conducted adequate, good faith meet-and-confer efforts, plaintiffs may refile a

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discovery motion as to any discovery matters that remain. The parties are cautioned that any

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future failure to properly meet and confer prior to filing a discovery motion may result in the

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imposition of sanctions. Furthermore, the parties are encouraged to carefully evaluate the

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reasonableness of their positions with respect to each and every discovery request they bring

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before the court, because if the court finds that either or both parties were unreasonable, sanctions

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will be imposed on the offending party(ies).

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Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that:

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1. Plaintiffs’ motion to compel is DENIED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.

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2. The October 26, 2017 hearing is VACATED.

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This order resolves ECF No. 19.

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Dated: October 24, 2017

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