Carlton v. Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, Inc.
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Plaintiff-appellant Scott Carlton sued defendants and respondents Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, Inc., Mott’s LP, Larry Young, Caesar Vargas, and Graham Bailey alleging: (1) wrongful termination against Dr. Pepper and Mott’s; (2) sex discrimination against all defendants; and (3) breach of contract against Dr. Pepper and Mott’s. The trial court sustained, without leave to amend, the demurrer of Dr. Pepper, Vargas, Bailey, and Mott’s. The trial court also sanctioned Carlton and his trial counsel jointly and severally in the amount of $1,360 due to Carlton’s “wholly unjustified” interrogatory responses. The only respondent on appeal was Dr. Pepper (the other defendants are not respondents in this appeal). Carlton contended the trial court erred by granting the demurrer because the demurrer was untimely. Further, Carlton argued the demurrer improperly included the breach of contract cause of action, and therefore the trial court erred by sustaining the demurrer on that cause of action. Finally, Carlton contended the trial court erred by imposing sanctions. Upon review, the Court of Appeal reversed the trial court's award of discovery sanctions in this case, "discovery sanctions are not designed to punish; rather, they are designed to fix the problem created by the evasive responses. [. . .] Dr. Pepper’s late motions to compel could not have fixed Carlton’s evasive responses, because the motions to compel were untimely and therefore Dr. Pepper waived its right to seek further responses. Dr. Pepper missed its opportunity to fix the problem. [. . .] Therefore, discovery sanctions were not warranted, because the problem could no longer be fixed." The Court affirmed the trial court's decision in all other respects.
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