Legal Question in Business Law in California

Contrary to popular belief, you do not have to "meet and confer" when no response to discovery has been provided. You simply file a motion to compel. A "meet and confer" is only required when you did receive a response, which you deem to have meritless objections or vague responses.

With that said, you can send a "meet and confer" as a courtesy. I send meet and confer letters via fax, mail, and sometimes a copy via e-mail to ensure that the attorney representing the other side actually gets the letter. I keep the fax transmission sheet with a copy of the letter as proof that it was sent.

Also, if you served the discovery by mail, then technically no response is due until the 35th day, because they get an extra five days to respond if the discovery was served by mail to an address in California. You may also want to wait a few days to determine whether their responses are in the mail.

I also hope that you are not serving documents yourself, if you are a party to the action.

There are detailed 'procedures' that must be followed, with appropriate correspondence and pleadings. You should go to the law library and read the TRG or CEB practice guides for lawyers for civil litigation procedure. You shouldn't think you can take a few uninformed 'hints and tips' from this site and be effective in handling discovery disputes, pleadings, evidence, motions, and other matters leading up to mediation hearing or trial. This is only the start of your troubles dealing with opposing counsel. He has to be 'civil', but not helpful. If lack of money is why you are having trouble finding counsel, and if the case is not the kind for a contingency, then there aren't many options or solutions for you. Check with the local Lawyers Referral Service for a list of attorneys willing to do limited income work. Generally new attorneys.

Have your outgoing discovery checked by a lawyer or paralegal to make sure you didn't make any gross mistakes that would enable the plaintiff to ignore your discovery. Then go to the courthouse in Santa Ana and look up some cases until you find a few motions to compel written by some big law firms; and use those as a template.

Attorneys do mess up. If you have indeed found an attorney who is tardy with discovery responses, send out some Requests for Admission plus Form Interrogatory 12.1. If they don't respond to those, file a motion to have the Requests for Admission deemed admitted.

As Mr. Roach pointed out they have an extra five days for mailing, so as of today (3-21-11) the responses aren't due until tomorrow, and if they are mailed tomorrow you might get them Thursday or Friday.

I would be pleased to discuss your litigation matter by email or telephone.