Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Dispute

You cannot request entry of default. If the other party refuses to produce information or documents after being ordered to do so by the court, your remedy is to file another motion and request an order for issue preclusion or evidence preclusion.

Re: Dispute

In your motion, you can also request money sanctions for the other side's abuse of the discover system. The court probably will not allow you attorney fees because there is case law says someone representing themselves is not entitled to attorney fees. Be sure that you have written the other attorney telling him that the discovery is long past due and that they are in violation of the Court's Order.

The judge has the power, if the abuse is great enough, to strike all or part of the pleadings, so could eliminate the answer which is about the same as a default. Be sure to be able to explain to the Judge how not answering specific questions harmed you [that it was not something you could find out on your own].

Re: Dispute

It is NOT true that the judge cannot issue a default judgment in a quiet title action. Despite statutory language that SEEMS to prohibit such default judgments, several appellate decisions have interpreted that law only to require the plaintiff to appear at an in-court default prove-up hearing an present sufficient evidence, through live testimony of competent witnesses, to establish the validity of plaintiff's title. This isn't always easy, but it's sure not impossible, and it has been done.

On the other hand, defaults and default judgments generally are consequences of the failure of a party to appear and defend. As the previous answes point out, a terminating sanction such as a judgment against a party for failure to comply with discovery orders is pretty severe and probably not a step your judge will be willing to take.

You are at a juncture where being in pro. per. may not be to your overall advantage, and maybe you need to retain an experienced litigator to take over at this point.