Order: Andrea Spears vs. Health Net of California Inc

• 
• 
• 
• 

						
                                
Preview
                                SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA,
                                   COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO
                                GORDON D SCHABER COURTHOUSE
                                           MINUTE ORDER
DATE: 12/18/2017                    TIME: 09:00:00 AM                 DEPT: 54
JUDICIAL OFFICER PRESIDING: Christopher Krueger
CLERK: M. Greco
REPORTER/ERM:
BAILIFF/COURT ATTENDANT: R. Mays

CASE NO: 34-2017-00210560-CU-OE-GDS CASE INIT.DATE: 04/05/2017
CASE TITLE: Spears vs. Health Net of California Inc
CASE CATEGORY: Civil - Unlimited


EVENT TYPE: Motion - Other - Civil Law and Motion


ASSOCIATED CASES: 34-2017-00216685-CU-OE-GDS
APPEARANCES

Nature of Proceeding: Motion for Order for Opt-Out Privacy Notice to be Sent to the Class
Members
TENTATIVE RULING
Plaintiff's motion for order re: opt-out privacy notice to be sent to potential class members is on the
Court's own motion CONTINUED to 1/4/2018 at 9:00 a.m. in this department to permit the parties to
meet-and-confer by telephone or in person on each of the issues presented by this motion and to file no
later than 12/27/2017 a joint statement, as discussed below.
The notice of motion does not comply with Code of Civil Procedure §1010 or CRC Rule 3.1110(a).

This is a putative class action relating to defendant's alleged violation of the wage-and-hour laws. It was
recently consolidated with another similar action brought by plaintiff Arana.
Plaintiff Spears now seeks an order requiring that notice to be sent to all of the putative class members
to permit them to opt out of the disclosure of their private, personal contact information pursuant to
Williams v. Superior Court (2017) 3 Cal.5th 531. In conjunction, plaintiff also seeks the appointment of a
third party administrator to handle these opt-out notices and the establishment of a date by which
defendant employer must thereafter provide the contact information of those who do not timely opt out of
the disclosure.
Defendant employer opposes, arguing inter alia that despite defendant's agreement to the proposed
notice procedure, plaintiff unreasonably failed to meet-and-confer on the notice's specific contents
before filing this motion and the shortcomings of plaintiff's proposed notice, including both inadvertent
omissions and overbreadth.
The Court notes that defendant's recent Case Management Conference Statement suggests the filing of
"consolidated complaint" for both the Spears and Arana actions would help resolve some of the issues
raised by the present motion and that on 12/8/2017 Judge Perkins granted leave for a "master complaint
for the consolidated cases" be filed no later than 12/29/2017. It remains unclear whether or to what



DATE: 12/18/2017                                MINUTE ORDER                                       Page 1
DEPT: 54                                                                                      Calendar No.
CASE TITLE: Spears vs. Health Net of California Inc           CASE NO: 34-2017-00210560-CU-OE-GDS




extent this may resolve issues presented by this motion.
At the outset, the Court must remind all counsel but especially plaintiff's that given the number of
motions such as this which must be addressed on a daily basis, there are simply not enough judicial
resources available to resolve each and every discovery dispute that could have and should have been
resolved informally. This serves to highlight the critical need for all counsel's legitimate, reasonable and
good faith meet-and-confer efforts before filing any discovery motion. Although it dealt with a motion to
compel answers to deposition questions, the decision of Townsend v. Superior Court (1998) 61
Cal.App.4th 1431 is instructive in that it clarifies that the meet-and-confer process is not intended to be
some perfunctory formality but rather it "requires...a serious effort at negotiation and informal resolution."
(Id., at 1438.) Nevertheless, at the expense of other matters on this crowded calendar, this Court will
address yet another unremarkable discovery dispute which could have and should have been resolved
by counsel via the meet-and-confer process without the use of already scarce judicial resources.
Particularly in light of a number of concessions found in plaintiff's reply, the parties shall promptly
meet-and-confer by telephone or in person on each of the issues presented by this motion and to file no
later than 12/27/2017 a joint statement which clearly identifies each individual issue presented and
states whether the parties' have resolved their dispute over each issue. For those issues which have not
been completely resolved, the joint statement shall clearly identify/explain the nature of the remaining
dispute(s) requiring resolution by the Court and shall describe each party's last position with respect to
the remaining dispute(s). The parties are encouraged to format this joint statement in a manner which
will enable the Court to most efficiently rule on the unresolved issues.
If the parties are able to resolve all issues raised by this motion, moving counsel shall promptly notify the
Court by telephone and letter that this matter may be dropped from calendar.
This minute order is effective immediately. No formal order or other notice is required. (Code Civ. Proc.
§1019.5; CRC Rule 3.1312.)
COURT RULING
The Court affirmed the tentative ruling.




DATE: 12/18/2017                                 MINUTE ORDER                                        Page 2
DEPT: 54                                                                                        Calendar No.