Fairmont Insurance Co. v. Superior Court
California Supreme Court
991 P.2d 156 (2000)
Ken Stendell (plaintiff) sued Fairmont Insurance Co. (defendant); after a bifurcated first trial went against Stendell, the Court of Appeal reversed and remanded for a full trial on the merits. On remand, Stendell served new discovery requests, but Fairmont objected that the statutory deadline — tied to "the date initially set" for trial — had already expired based on the original trial date. The trial court sided with Stendell, holding the deadline resets after a new trial is granted, but the Court of Appeal reversed, reading "initially" by its dictionary meaning to mean only the very first trial date.
Whether the statutory discovery deadline, measured from "the date initially set" for trial, resets to run from the date set for a new trial after the original judgment is reversed on appeal.