California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Siry Inv., L.P. v. Farkhondehpour, B277750, C/w B279009, C/w B285904 (Cal. App. 2020):
Second, a rule prohibiting trial courts from issuing terminating sanctions unless the discovery in question encompasses every issue in a case would incentivize litigants to engage in behavior that is inimical to the Civil Discovery Act's purposes of "'enhanc[ing] the truth-seeking function'" of litigation and "'eliminat[ing] trial strategies that focus on gamesmanship and surprise.' [Citation.]" (Jaurez v. Boy Scouts of America, Inc. (2000) 81 Cal.App.4th 377, 389.) On the one hand, litigants served with discovery requests encompassing fewer than every issue would be immune from terminating sanctions, and thus freer to ignore those requestsor orders compelling compliance with thembecause the maximum sanction would be an issue or evidentiary sanction. But selective lawlessness is still
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