Case Number: BC505730??? Hearing Date: July 27, 2016??? Dept: 97
27
KENIA RAMIREZ, et al.,
Plaintiffs,
v.
BENJAMIN SALAS GONZALES, et al.,
Defendants.
Case No.: BC505730
Hearing Date: July 27, 2016
[TENTATIVE] ORDER RE:MOTION TO COMPEL RELEASE OF PSYCHIATRIC RECORDS OF PLAINTIFF ROXANNE VALENZUELA
Defendants United Parcel Service, Inc. and Benjamin Salas Gonzalez (?Defendants?) move for an order compelling Plaintiff Roxanne Valenzuela (?Plaintiff?) to produce her mental health records. Defendants? motion is unopposed.
Defendants provide evidence that Plaintiff has sought mental health treatment for injuries sustained as a result of the incident, however, Defendants have not provided evidence that Defendants have requested Plaintiff?s mental health records via subpoena or by any other discovery method. Instead, Defendants provide evidence that on May 12, 2016, Plaintiff?s counsel agreed to provide Plaintiff?s mental health records, but Plaintiff?s counsel did not provide them.
The Court cannot enforce an informal discovery arrangement that was agreed to outside of the purview of the Court, and Defendants have presented no statutory or case authority in support of their particular request. California appellate authority holds that the trial court does not have the power to create additional methods of discovery, and the Court refuses to do so here. (See, e.g., San Diego Unified Port Dist. V. Douglas E. Barnhart, Inc. (2002) 95 Cal.App.4th 1400, 1405 and the cases referenced therein.)
Defendants? motion is denied. Defendants are ordered to provide notice of this order.