Tentative Rulings

The following Tentative Rulings will become the ruling of the Court unless a party desires to be heard. If you desire to appear and present oral argument as to any motion, it will be necessary for you to contact the Judicial Assistant by telephone at (707) 521-6732 by 4:00 p.m., Thursday, April 19, 2018. Any party requesting an appearance must notify all other opposing parties of their intent to appear. 

 

 

 

 

 

LAW & MOTION TENTATIVE RULINGS

DEPARTMENT 23

JUDGE SHELLY J. AVERILL

April 20, 2018

 

1.     SFL 72405-Marriage of Coleman:  Respondent/Wife’s (hereinafter “Wife”) request to enforce the settlement agreements previously read onto the record on April 6, 2017 and June 22, 2017 and request for attorney’s fees and sanctions is GRANTED.  Code of Civil Procedure §664.6, provides “If parties to pending litigation stipulate, in a writing signed by the court or orally before the court, for settlement of the case, or part thereof, the court, upon motion, may enter judgment pursuant to the terms of the settlement.  If requested by the parties, the court may retain jurisdiction over the parties to enforce the settlement until performance in full of the terms of the settlement.”  In the instant action the parties and counsel were present in court on April 6, 2017 and June 22, 2017, when terms of their settlement agreements were read onto the record.  Further, the Court confirmed with both parties that they understood these agreements were enforceable orders. Wife’s counsel attempted to resolve this matter with Petitioner/Husband (hereinafter “Husband”) through his counsel for 7 months prior to filing the pending Request for Order to no avail.  Wife may submit the proposed Judgment and Notice of Entry of Judgment set forth in her pleadings as Exhibit X for entry.  Said documents may be submitted directly to chambers.  Husband shall pay to Wife the sum of $5,000 in attorney’s fees and $1,500 in sanctions pursuant to Family Code §271.  Said sums shall be paid within 60 days.

 

2.     SFL 076418-Marriage of Ponte: Petitioner/Husband’s (hereinafter “Husband”) request to compel production of Respondent/Wife’s (hereinafter “Wife”) Preliminary Declarations of Disclosure, Responses to Form Interrogatories, and Respond to Demand for Production and Copying of Documents is GRANTED.  Wife has failed to comply with the time requirements as set forth in Family Code §2104(f), CCP§2030.290 and CCP §2031.260 to respond to the propounded discovery.  Wife is ordered to respond to all discovery demands within 30 days.  The Court notes that discovery was propounded on June 5, 2017 and the instant motion was not filed until January 9, 2018, after multiple attempts to resolve these issues informally.  Sanctions are mandatory pursuant to Family Code § 2107(c), CCP§2030.290(c) and CCP §2031.060(h) as a result of Wife’s failure to respond to the discovery demands or timely object to the demands.  Accordingly, Wife is ordered to pay Husband the sum of $1,500 in sanctions for failure to timely respond to the discovery requests.   

 

3.     SFL 078411-Toal v. McNamara:  The request of Richard James McNamara’s counsel to be relieved as counsel pursuant to CCP §284(2) is GRANTED.