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Judge Nicole Winter orders Redlands to respond to legal questions without objections, imposes $2,450 sanction and warns both sides to resolve discovery disputes.
San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Nicole Winter admonished counsel in the Coyote Aviation case after calling Redlands’ responses to legal inquiries improper.
Gil Brown, owner of Coyote Aviation, has been evicted from the strip of space at Redlands Municipal Airport he used to rent from the city. Now, he argues that the lease agreement requires him to destroy the hangars he had built, instead of forfeiting them to the city to lease.
Winter’s April 17 ruling said Brown’s counsel had submitted 21 requests for admission (RFA), each of which Redlands counsel claimed was vague and ambiguous.
Requests for admission are a type of discovery tool in civil litigation, in which one party asks the other to confirm or deny specific facts to help narrow the scope of the dispute.
The first RFA asked Redlands to admit that “you did not pay the construction costs of Coyote hangars.” Redlands counsel objected, saying “did not pay” and “the construction costs” are both vague and ambiguous, Winter’s ruling says.
The second RFA asked Redlands to admit that the “ground lease does not allow the City to keep Coyote hangars.” Redlands counsel objected, claiming “allow” and “keep” are vague and ambiguous.
The third RFA asked Redlands to admit that “You ordered an appraisal of Coyote Hangars from Fiandaca Appraisal Services.” Redlands objected on grounds that the word “you” is compound, and refers to more than one individual. The city objected to the use of “you” in other responses, Winter wrote.
“The court finds these objections are nuisances designed to evade City’s responsibility to provide a code compliant answer,” Winter wrote.
“The nature of what Plaintiffs are asking is apparent from the context of this litigation, and this is another example of the City purposefully misconstruing a request to avoid providing a response,” she wrote.
Winter overruled Redlands’ objections to all 21 RFAs, ordered city counsel to provide responses without objections in 30 days, and placed $2,450 in monetary sanctions against the city.
She also admonished both counsel to work out discovery issues, and threatened to enforce someone as a referee if they do not.
Aidan McGloin
Aidan McGloin
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