STEPHEN v. THE SUPERIOR COURT OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY
Filed 6/26/06
CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT
DIVISION ONE
| STEPHEN L. COOLEY, as District Attorney, etc., Petitioner, v. THE SUPERIOR COURT OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY, Respondent; MELISSA GREENSTEIN, Real Party in Interest. | B189338 (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. SC080636) |
ORIGINAL PROCEEDINGS in mandate. Valerie Lynn Baker, Judge. Petition granted.
Franscell, Strickland, Roberts & Lawrence, Cindy S. Lee and Jin S. Choi for Petitioner.
No appearance for Respondent.
Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, Steven D. Archer and David Martinez for Real Party in Interest.
The County of Los Angeles District Attorney's Office (DA) petitions for extraordinary relief from an order of respondent Los Angeles County Superior Court. The order granted the motion of real party in interest Melissa Greenstein to enforce a deposition subpoena duces tecum (SDT) served on nonparty DA, seeking the production of business records that were generated by entities other than the DA. Because the DA and its personnel are not in a position to make the attestations that must accompany subpoenaed business records under Evidence Code section 1561, subdivision (a), Greenstein's motion should have been denied.[1] Accordingly, we grant the DA's petition.
BACKGROUND
In July 2003, George Weller drove his car on a street closed to traffic for the Santa Monica Farmer's Market, resulting in 10 deaths and many injuries. Based on this conduct, the DA is prosecuting Weller for vehicular manslaughter. Weller, along with the City of Santa Monica and others, are also defendants in numerous related civil actions, including one brought by Greenstein.[2]
The Farmer's Market incident was investigated by the Santa Monica Police Department and the California Highway Patrol. Results of these investigations were included in a Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team Report (MAIT Report) issued in December 2003. In May 2004, Greenstein sought discovery of the MAIT Report. After various motions and a writ petition to this court, the MAIT Report was eventually produced, as redacted, subject to certain conditions.
In October 2005, after Weller had been bound over for trial following a preliminary hearing, Greenstein served a deposition SDT on the custodian of records of the DA, seeking records and documents in addition to the MAIT Report. The SDT requested â€
