Case Number: BC572887??? Hearing Date: April 25, 2016??? Dept: 97
31 and 32
SAEID VOJDANY,
Plaintiff,
v.
LIVONIA GLATT MARKET, INC. and DOES 1-20,
Defendants.
Case No.: BC 572887
Hearing Date: April 25, 2016
[TENTATIVE] ORDER RE:MOTIONS TO CONTINUE TRIAL
Presently before the Court are (i) Defendant Livonia Glatt Market, Inc.?s motion to continue the August 19, 2016 trial date for at least 90 days, and (ii) Defendant Aramark Uniform & Career Apparel, LLC?s similar motion to continue the trial date. Both of the moving papers are substantially the same ?Defendants claim that the earliest available dates for a hearing on their anticipated motions for summary judgment are in September 2016, several weeks after the trial date of August 19, 2016. Defendants seek a brief continuance of 90 days to allow the motions for summary judgment to be heard before the trial date. (CRC 3.1332.)
In Opposition, Plaintiff argues Defendants have been dilatory in filing their motions for summary judgment because the case has been pending for over a year. Plaintiff likewise argues Defendants have been dilatory in filing the present motions to continue the trial date, in that Defendants waited several months after they purportedly reserved a MSJ hearing date in January 2016 before filing the present motions. Plaintiff argues the factors set forth in Rules of Court 3.1332 support denying the motions.
Trial dates are generally considered ?firm?. (CRC 3.1332(a).) A party seeking a continuance of the date set for trial must make a motion as soon as reasonably practical once the necessity for the continuance is discovered. (CRC 3.1332(b).) Rules of Court 3.1332(c) and (d) set forth a non-exclusive list of grounds that may indicate ?good cause? to continue a trial and other factors that may be relevant to the Court?s determination.
The Court agrees that Defendants? anticipated motions for summary judgment should be heard before the trial date. Plaintiff?s contention that Defendants have been dilatory is without merit. Defendants sought to schedule their motions for summary judgment in January 2016, over six months before the trial date, and Defendants have explained that they have attempted to reach a stipulation with Plaintiff?s counsel to continue the trial date prior to bringing this motion. The other factors set forth in Rules of Court 3.1332(d) support a continuance as well ? there has been no previous extensions of time, Defendants are seeking only a brief 90 day continuance, and hearing the motions for summary judgment before the trial date will further the interest of justice and potentially reduce the burden on the Court by eliminating certain issues. Indeed, the Court?s supplemental instructions to the Fifth Amended General Order Re: Personal Injury Court Procedures contemplated the present scenario, with the instructions providing: ?The Court encourages and expects the parties to meet and confer and to stipulate, rather than litigate, reasonable requests for continuance of trial dates? If Court Reservation System (CRS) indicates that a PI Court?s earliest available motion dates are untimely (i.e., within 30 days of trial or after the trial date), the moving party should reserve the earliest available hearing date and the parties should stipulate to continue the trial to a date at least 30 days after that hearing date.? (Kim Decl., ? 5, Ex. 3, ?? 15-16.)
However, the Court is mindful that Plaintiff is presently 82 years old. Although Plaintiff has not petitioned the Court for a preference (CCP ? 36), the Court will continue the trial two months instead of three. The Court will advance the date reserved by Livonia Glatt Market, Inc. from September 19, 2016 to September 14, 2016 at 1:30 p.m.in Department 97 so their Motion for Summary Judgment will be heard on the same date reserved by Aramark Uniform & Career Apparel, LLC for their Motion for Summary Judgment. The trial is continued October 19, 2016 at 8:30 am in Department 97 and the Final Status Conference is continued to October 11, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. in Department 97.
Defendant Livonia Glatt Market, Inc.to give notice of this order.