On November 02, 2018 a
dec
was filed
involving a dispute between
Abel, Richard,
and
Albini, Ed,
Davis, Dale,
Duval, Jacinda,
Fung, Lenora Verne,
Fung, Verna,
Hing, Bill,
Mccutchan, B Edward, Jr,
Nord, James,
Nord, Jim,
Peritore, Evalina,
Poeng, Justin,
Schulte, D. Mark,
Severson, Richard,
Spiridonoff, Walter,
Sunderland Mccutchan, Inc., A California Corporarion,
Sunderland Mccutchan, Llc, A California Limited Liability Company,
Sunderland Mccutchan, Llp,
Sunderland, Robert J.,
Weil, Nansi Ida,
Zdanek, Matthew,
for 25: Unlimited Professional Negligence
in the District Court of Sonoma County.
Preview
1 JOSEPH S. PICCHI, ESQ. (State Bar No. 157102)
AARON T. SCHULTZ, ESQ. (State Bar No. 222949)
2 ALEXANDER D. PROMM, ESQ. (State Bar No. 318412)
GALLOWAY, LUCCHESE, EVERSON & PICCHI
3 A Professional Corporation
2300 Contra Costa Blvd., Suite 350
4 Pleasant Hill, CA 94523-2398
Tel. No. (925) 930-9090
5 Fax No. (925) 930-9035
E-mail: apromm@glattys.com
6
7 Attorneys for Defendants
B. EDWARD McCUTCHAN, JR.; ROBERT J. SUNDERLAND; and SUNDERLAND |
8 McCUTCHAN, LLP
9 IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
10 IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF SONOMA
11 RICHARD ABEL, an individual, Case No. SCV263456
12 Plaintiff, The Honorable Jennifer V.
Dollard
13 vs.
DECLARATION OF ALEXANDER D.
14 B. EDWARD McCUTCHAN JR., an PROMM, ESQ. OPPOSITION TO
individual; SUNDERLAND/McCUTCHAN, PLAINTIFF'S MOTION TO COMPEL
15 LLP, a general partnership; and DOES 1 FURTHER RESPONSES, AND
through 100, inclusive, FOR MONETARY SANCTIONS AGAINST
16 SUNDERLAND/MCCUTCHAN, INC.
Defendants.
17
Date: March 23, 2022
18 Time: 3:00 p.m.
Dept: 18
19 Date Complaint Filed: November 2, 2018
Trial: October 7, 2022
20
21
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23 I, ALEXANDER D. PROMM, ESQ., declare as follows:
24 1. I am an attorney at law duly licensed to practice before all the courts in the
25 State of California and am a partner with the Pleasant Hill law firm of Galloway, Lucchese,
26 Everson & Picchi, attorneys of record for defendant herein.
27 2. I make this declaration on behalf of said defendant SUNDERLAND |
28 MCCUTCHAN, INC’s opposition of Plaintiff’s instant Motion to compel further responses
GALLOWAY, LUCCHESE,
EVERSON & PICCHI __________________________________ 1
2300 Contra Costa Blvd.,
SCV263456: DECL OF ALEXANDER D. PROMM, ESQ. OPPOSITION TO PLNF'S MTN TO 956-10761/ADP/1225014
Suite 350
COMPEL FURTHER RSPS, AND FOR MONETARY SANCTIONS AGAINST SUNDERLAND
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
(925) 930-9090
MCCUTCHAN, INC.
1 from personal knowledge unless otherwise stated, and if called as a witness, I could and
2 would competently testify to the information contained within this declaration.
3 3. On September 16, 2021, Plaintiff served written discovery to Sunderland
4 McCutchan Inc. responding party which consisted of twenty-six (26) Requests for
5 Admission, one (1) Set of form interrogatories on the approved judicial council form, and
6 eleven (11) Demands for Inspection of Documents (hereafter "Discovery"). Attached
7 hereto as Exhibit “A” is a true and correct copy of Plaintiff’s served written discovery to
8 Sunderland McCutchan Inc.
9 4. On September 21, 2021, Counsel for Sunderland McCutchan Inc.
10 attempted to meet and confer with Plaintiff over his propounded discovery and the
11 impropriety of the timing of these requests given the pending demurrer hearing and his
12 knowledge of their non-involvement with the underlying matter or his representation. On
13 September 24, 2021, Plaintiff responded merely parroting and disagreeing with the meet
14 and confer effort of counsel for Sunderland McCutchan Inc. Attached hereto as Exhibit
15 “B” is a true and correct copy of Sunderland McCutchan Inc.’s correspondence to Plaintiff
16 regarding this discovery on September 21, 2021.
17 5. Having failed in the attempt to meet and confer with Plaintiff, on October 20,
18 2021, after several parallel instances where the defense attempted to reason with Plaintiff
19 and have him cease his abuses of the litigation and discovery process, Defendants were
20 forced to move ex parte for a protective order due to Plaintiff’s unwillingness to meet and
21 confer in good faith or provide an extension to this discovery to resolve these issues.
22 Attached hereto as Exhibit “C” is a true and correct copy of Sunderland McCutchan
23 Inc.’s correspondence to Plaintiff regarding Ex Parte application on October 20, 2021.
24 6. The Ex Parte application was filed and served on October 21, 2021.
25 Attached hereto as Exhibit “D” is a true and correct copy of Sunderland McCutchan
26 Inc.’s Ex Parte application for Protective order.
27 7. While this ex parte application was being decided by the Court, responding
28 party served timely, objections-only responses to the discovery as a defensive
GALLOWAY, LUCCHESE,
EVERSON & PICCHI __________________________________ 2
2300 Contra Costa Blvd.,
SCV263456: DECL OF ALEXANDER D. PROMM, ESQ. OPPOSITION TO PLNF'S MTN TO 956-10761/ADP/1225014
Suite 350
COMPEL FURTHER RSPS, AND FOR MONETARY SANCTIONS AGAINST SUNDERLAND
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
(925) 930-9090
MCCUTCHAN, INC.
1 preservation of these objections. In every response, responding party objected to the
2 discovery on the same or similar grounds upon which the motion for protective order is
3 based. Attached hereto as Exhibit “E” is a true and correct copy of Sunderland
4 McCutchan Inc.’s Objections-Only discovery responses served on Plaintiff.
5 8. On November 1, 2021, the Court granted this ex parte application pending
6 the outcome of a hearing, which was set for January 21, 2021. This order further stated
7 that Sunderland McCutchan Inc. shall not be required to answer the discovery pending
8 the outcome of the hearing. Plaintiff was served with a Notice of Entry of this Order on
9 November 1, 2021. Attached hereto as Exhibit “F” is a true and correct copy of
10 Sunderland McCutchan Inc.’s Notice of Entry of Order and attached order served on
11 Plaintiff.
12 9. On November 16, 2021, Plaintiff sent a “Second Meet and Confer Letter” in
13 which he stated that he had sent an initial meet and confer on October 21, 2021. Attached
14 hereto as Exhibit “G” is a true and correct copy of Plaintiff’s Second Meet and Confer
15 letter.
16 10. It seems that Plaintiff had failed to send this initial meet and confer to all
17 counsel and did not label itas a meet and confer effort thus we were unaware of the
18 attempt and had not responded. Attached hereto as Exhibit “H” is a true and correct
19 copy of Plaintiff’s email correspondence on October 21, 2021.
20 11. We responded to the Second Meet and Confer letter with an itemized
21 response to the issues presented in the meet and confer effort. We informed Plaintiff that
22 the Court had provisionally ruled on our protective order and had relieved us of the
23 obligation to respond pending the outcome of the hearing. Attached hereto as Exhibit
24 “I” is a true and correct copy of the response to Plaintiff’s Second Meet and Confer letter.
25 12. Plaintiff again attempted to meet and confer but offered no additional
26 information or authority in the face of our rebuttal of his Second Meet and Confer. He
27 continued to conclusively state that we were required to respond and had waived
28 objections without any authority or reasonable argument surrounding this contention.
GALLOWAY, LUCCHESE,
EVERSON & PICCHI __________________________________ 3
2300 Contra Costa Blvd.,
SCV263456: DECL OF ALEXANDER D. PROMM, ESQ. OPPOSITION TO PLNF'S MTN TO 956-10761/ADP/1225014
Suite 350
COMPEL FURTHER RSPS, AND FOR MONETARY SANCTIONS AGAINST SUNDERLAND
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
(925) 930-9090
MCCUTCHAN, INC.
1 Attached hereto as Exhibit “J” is a true and correct copy of Plaintiff’s Third Meet and
2 Confer letter.
3 13. We responded and reiterated the Court’s Ruling on our protective order and
4 stated that we will comply with the Court’s order on the matter. Attached hereto as
5 Exhibit “K” is a true and correct copy of response to Plaintiff’s Third Meet and Confer
6 letter.
7 14. Plaintiff simply responded to our outline of issues with “I disagree.
8 Therefore, it is my understanding from your response that you will not serve any amended
9 responses, so I will proceed with timely filing the Motion.” Plaintiff did not try to meet and
10 confer over this discovery after this last attempt. Attached hereto as Exhibit “L” is a true
11 and correct copy of emails after Plaintiff’s Third Meet and Confer letter.
12 15. As a result of Plaintiff’s failure, Defendants have been forced to incur
13 reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs in bringing the within Motion. The undersigned’s
14 billable rate is $185.00 per hour. The current Motion has taken 6 hours to prepare and if
15 opposed, it is anticipated that it will take 1 hour to appear for the hearing, totaling $1,295.
16 It is also anticipated that Defendants will incur a $60.00 fee in filing this Motion for a grand
17 total of $1,355.
18 I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the
19 foregoing is true and correct.
20 Executed this 8th day of March, 2022 at Pleasant Hill, California.
21
22
ALEXANDER D. PROMM, ESQ.
23
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25
26
27
28
GALLOWAY, LUCCHESE,
EVERSON & PICCHI __________________________________ 4
2300 Contra Costa Blvd.,
SCV263456: DECL OF ALEXANDER D. PROMM, ESQ. OPPOSITION TO PLNF'S MTN TO 956-10761/ADP/1225014
Suite 350
COMPEL FURTHER RSPS, AND FOR MONETARY SANCTIONS AGAINST SUNDERLAND
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
(925) 930-9090
MCCUTCHAN, INC.
1 PROOF OF SERVICE
2 I declare under penalty of perjury that:
3 I am a citizen of the United States and am employed in the County of Contra Costa. I am
over the age of eighteen years and not a party to the within action. My business address
4 is 2300 Contra Costa Boulevard, Suite 350, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523-2398.
5 On the date set forth below, I caused the attached DECLARATION OF ALEXANDER D.
PROMM, ESQ. IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANT B. EDWARD MCCUTCHAN, JR.;
6 ROBERT J. SUNDERLAND; AND SUNDERLAND | MCCUTCHAN, LLP’S MOTION
FOR OPPOSITION TO PLAINTIFF'S MOTION TO COMPEL to be served on the parties
7 to this action as follows:
8
[ X ] BY MAIL. *as to plaintiff only
9
I placed a true copy thereof, enclosed in a sealed envelope with postage thereon
10
fully prepaid, in the United States mail at Pleasant Hill, California, addressed to the
11 parties as set forth on the attached service list. C.C.P. §§ 1013(a), 2015.5.
12 [ X ] BY ELECTRONIC SERVICE.
13 I electronically served a true copy thereof to the persons at the e-mail address(es)
listed below based on notice previously provided that, during the Coronavirus
14 (Covid-19) pandemic, this office will be primarily working remotely, unable to send
physical mail as usual, and is therefore using only electronic mail. No electronic
15
message or other indication that the transmission was unsuccessful was received
16 within a reasonable time after the transmission.
17
Mr. Richard Abel Plaintiff in propria persona
18 P. O. Box 9301
Santa Rosa, CA 95405
19 Fax:
Email: perere1@gmail.com
20
21 B. Edward McCutchan, Jr., Esq. Counsel for Defendant JIM NORD
Sunderland | McCutchan, LLP Defendant DALE DAVIS
22 1083 Vine Street, Suite 907
Healdsburg, CA 95448
23 Fax: (707) 284-5527
Email: emccutchan@sunmclaw.com
24
25
Executed on March 8, 2022 at Pleasant Hill, California.
26
27
28 Heidi Ehmke
GALLOWAY, LUCCHESE, 956-10761/ADP/1225014
EVERSON & PICCHI __________________________________ 5
2300 Contra Costa Blvd.,
SCV263456: DECL OF ALEXANDER D. PROMM, ESQ. OPPOSITION TO PLNF'S MTN TO 956-10761/ADP/1225014
Suite 350
COMPEL FURTHER RSPS, AND FOR MONETARY SANCTIONS AGAINST SUNDERLAND
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
(925) 930-9090
MCCUTCHAN, INC.