Party Discovery: MARGARITA HERRERA VS. CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO ET AL

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                                DEBORAH KOCHAN (S.B. #152089)
             1    dkochan@kochanstephenson.net
                  MATHEW STEPHENSON (S.B. #154330)                                                               ELECTRONICALLY
             2    mstephenson@kochanstephenson.net
                  KOCHAN & STEPHENSON
                                                                                                                    F  I  L   E  D
                                                                                                                 Superior Court of California,
             3    1680 Shattuck Avenue                                                                            County of San Francisco
                  Berkeley, California 94709
             4    Telephone:       (510) 649-1130                                                                    04/21/2021
                                                                                                                 Clerk of the Court
                                                                                                                   BY: SANDRA SCHIRO
             5    Attorneys for Plaintiff                                                                                     Deputy Clerk


             6    MARGARITA HERRERA

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                                                 SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA
             9
                                                     COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO
           10                                     UNLIMITED CIVIL JURISDICTION

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           12     MARGARITA HERRERA,                                         Case No. CGC-19-578026
                                    Plaintiff,
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                                    v.                                       DISCOVERY
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                  CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN                                     DECLARATION OF DEBORAH
           15     FRANCISCO and DOES 1 through 15,                           KOCHAN IN SUPPORT OF
           16                       Defendants.                              PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO COMPEL
                                                                             COMPLIANCE WITH THE JUDGE PRO
           17                                                                TEM’S ORDER RE PLAINTIFF’S FORM
           18                                                                INTERROGATORIES – EMPLOYMENT
                                                                             AND FOR AN AWARD OF A
           19                                                                MONETARY SANCTION AGAINST
                                                                             DEFENDANT AND ITS COUNSEL,
           20
                                                                             MATTHEW YAN, IN THE AMOUNT OF
           21                                                                $4,047.50

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                                                                             Date: May 18, 2021
           23                                                                Time: 9:00 am
           24                                                                Dept: 302

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                  I, DEBORAH KOCHAN, do hereby declare:
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                  DK Declaration ISO Plaintiff’s Motion to Compel Compliance                             Case No. CGC-19-578026
             1             1.       I am an attorney duly admitted to practice before all Courts of the

             2    State of California and an attorney of record for Plaintiff, Margarita Herrera.                              I

             3    have personal knowledge of the facts set forth below and, if called upon to do so,

             4    could and would testify competently thereto.                   My partner Mat Stephenson and I

             5    made a good faith attempt to resolve the discovery dispute presented in this motion

             6    by attempting to meet and confer with defense counsel, Matthew Yan, both via

             7    email and by phone.

             8             2.       I spoke with Mr. Yan by phone on April 7, 2021.                     During that

             9    conversation Mr. Yan, in distinguishing this case from the typical disability

           10     discrimination/failure to accommodate matter, explained that this case was

           11     complicated in that it covered a relatively large expanse of time and a great many

           12     communications.          In connection with that explanation Mr. Yan also said that to

           13     provide the sort of detailed response that Plaintiff expected would involve a lot of

           14     his time and effort.        In response I explained that it was precisely the fact that the

           15     case was more complicated than the average case that made it all the more

           16     important that Defendant provide all of the information called for by the

           17     interrogatories.       I also explained that Defendant would actually benefit from having

           18     gone through the exercise of responding to the interrogatories in that with a

           19     detailed understanding of the facts in support of its defense, Defendant would be in

           20     a better position to evaluate the case for settlement purposes (something the parties

           21     have agreed to do once this discovery dispute is resolved and Plaintiff can proceed

           22     with the Defendant’s PMK deposition on certain key subjects).                           I also explained that

           23     Plaintiff was not asking Defendant to do anything she hadn’t already done herself

           24     in that Plaintiff has provided detailed responses in support of her claims including

           25     reference, by bates number, to the documents in support thereof.

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                  DK Declaration ISO Plaintiff’s Motion to Compel Compliance                             Case No. CGC-19-578026
             1
                           I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California
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                  that the foregoing is true and correct.               Executed on April 21, 2021.
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                                                                        ________________________________________
             5                                                          Deborah Kochan
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                  DK Declaration ISO Plaintiff’s Motion to Compel Compliance                             Case No. CGC-19-578026