"I DECLARE, IT IS NECESSARY"

Posted by Katherine Gallo on August 31, 2011

Southern Belle.jpgAs every lawyer is aware, a party may propound more than 35 specially prepared interrogatories or requests for admissions simply by attaching a Declaration of Necessity (pdf) pursuant to C.C.P. §2030.040 (pdf) and  C.C.P. §2033.040 (pdf) stating the reasons why they need more.  See C.C.P. §2030.050 (pdf) and C.C.P. §2033.050 (pdf).   However, when you receive more than 35 specially prepared interrogatories or requests for admissions, you should ask yourself the question "IS IT REALLY NECESSARY?"

 

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My Experts Go Last!

Posted by Katherine Gallo on October 26, 2010

arguing lawyers.jpgYou are within fifty days of trial and you are in receipt of defendant’s expert witness disclosure.  She has three experts and you have three experts.  All six of them need to be deposed in less than 35 days and you haven’t yet sent out a deposition notice.  You pick up the phone and meet and confer with opposing counsel to select dates.  During the conversation the attorney for the defendant states very adamantly

My expert will not be ready to testify until your expert testifies. Besides you are the plaintiff and you have to go first!  

Heard this before?  I have and there are some significant problems with defense counsel’s position. 

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SANCTIONS--DENIED!!!

Posted by Katherine Gallo on August 20, 2010

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When I started this blog I asked fellow attorneys what issues they would like me to address.  I received this response from a lawyer in San Francisco: 

Key problem – judges that won't crack down on parties that lodge bogus objections and don't answer interrogs, and object to discovery demands that are straight forward. Amount of sanctions awarded is usually pitiful. 

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When an Apology is a Discovery Response

Posted by Katherine Gallo on August 11, 2010

Referee.jpgNine years ago, in the middle of a Deposition, defense counsel called plaintiff counsel a "Bitch." Plaintiff counsel immediately filed a motion for a Discovery Referee and I was appointed. The court ordered that I sit in on all the depositions and attend the site inspection. All communication including the scheduling of discovery was to be done through me.

When I look back on this case,  I realize that the moment defense counsel used the word "Bitch" it became the turning point of the case. These two well-respected attorneys’ hostility toward one another drove the case. There were no more professional courtesies and the parties took extreme positions in their settlement negotiations. The case eventually went through a lengthy bench trial and appeal process that lasted years before plaintiff recovered an eight-figure judgement.

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Are Your Objections Garbage?

Posted by Katherine Gallo on July 29, 2010

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Not only are most objections garbage, we tend to recycle our garbage objections from one case to the next. Sometimes, we pick up other attorneys’ garbage objections and contribute to more litter. This is done over and over again without even thinking what it is doing to the environment of the litigation.

Garbage objections fuel the ire of opposing counsel. The “meet and confer” letter that is soon to follow is usually full of hostility and threats. Any amicable relationship you had hoped for with opposing counsel is on the cusp of being destroyed. More important, you are now costing your client more money in attorneys’ fees and possibly in settlement.  So before you throw out the trash, look at these common objections and why they will be overruled:

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