TENTATIVE RULING:
????????????Defendant?s Motion for an Order Dismissing the Action of Plaintiff as a Terminating Sanction is granted.? The action is dismissed with prejudice.?? Defendant is awarded $489 in sanctions against plaintiff and plaintiff?s counsel of record, Timothy Casey.
????????? This court denied defendant?s prior motion for terminating sanctions without prejudice due to service issues.? The notices of ruling for the discovery motions at-issue and the prior motion for terminating sanctions were not served on plaintiff?s attorney, Timothy Casey.? While Casey?s motion to be relieved was granted on 7-5-17 and the court signed the order on 7-6-17, no POS showing the order was served was ever filed.? As a result, the order granting the motion to be relieved is, as yet, not in effect, and Casey remains counsel of record for plaintiff.? Additionally, the street address used to serve plaintiff was not the address set forth on the order granting the motion to be relieved.
????????? After the prior motion was denied without prejudice, defendant again served the notices of ruling, this time on both defendant and attorney Casey.? And, the current motion was also served on defendant and attorney Casey.? As a result, the court can now reach the merits.?? And, on the merits, the motion succeeds.? Plaintiff failed to respond to the underlying discovery, failed to respond to the prior motions to compel, failed to respond to the court?s order to provide responses, and failed to file opposition to the pending motion explaining any of the prior failures.? These circumstances show plaintiff failed to comply with a court order and that the failure was willful.? Terminating sanctions for misuse of the discovery process are thus warranted (R.S. Creative, Inc. v. Creative Cotton, Ltd.?(1999) 75 Cal.App.4th 486, 496; CCP 2023.030(d)(3))
????????? In addition, defendant is awarded $489 in sanctions [1 hour for preparing the motion; 2 hours for the hearing; at $143/hour; $60 filing fee] against plaintiff and his counsel of record, Timothy Casey.