Mr. Stolz failed to make the property available for inspection on November 29, 2018 and Travelers' filed an ex parte application for an order to compel the site inspection and for sanctions.

Mr. Stolz's counsel sent Travelers' counsel an email late in the evening on November 28, the day before the inspection, indicating that the property was secured and alarmed and would not be available.

Mr. Stolz's attorney, Jeremy Ross, represented to the court that Mr. Stolz intended to make clear in a subsequent declaration that he "was unable to make the property available . . . because of a flood at his radio facility in Las Vegas, Nevada," which required his personal attention.

On December 7, 2018, the court issued an order resetting the environmental site inspection, confirming the formal site inspection for January 8, 2019, and ordering Mr. Stolz to pay Travelers $1,000 in sanctions. The court also ordered Mr. Stolz to "make appropriate arrangements to ensure that Travelers ha[d] the necessary access to conduct the inspections," whether or not he was able to personally attend.

On January 8, 2019, at 1:52 a.m., Mr. Ross texted Travelers' counsel:

Our client has conveyed to and represented to us that Sacramento attorney John Sargetis would be attending the inspection in his [Mr. Stolz's] place . . . unfortunately Mr. Sargetis is recovering from an illness (some sort of surgery, I believe, but am not positive) and is apparently not well enough to make it to the inspection.

Later that day, Travelers filed an ex parte application for an order to compel and for sanctions, based on Mr. Stolz's failure to make his property available on January 8, 2019, as ordered.

During a January 10, 2019 hearing, Mr. Sargetis was present for a related issue. At the hearing, Mr. Sargetis stated that he had not been asked to attend the January 8, 2019 site inspection and that he was not recovering from surgery during that time.

On January 11, 2019, the court ordered a further site inspection and gave Mr. Stolz the option to either formally oppose Travelers' ex parte application or pay Travelers $7,268.21 in consultant costs and attorneys' fees as sanctions. Mr. Stolz chose to formally oppose Travelers' ex parte application.

Thereafter, Mr. Ross counsel filed a motion for leave to withdraw as counsel, which the court granted.

On May 17, 2019, the court conducted an evidentiary hearing with respect to Mr. Stolz's opposition to Travelers' ex parte application. Mr. Stolz appeared without counsel.

During the hearing, Mr. Stolz testified under oath. Toward the beginning of the hearing, the court asked, "Did you in fact have to go to Las Vegas to deal with [flooding in your radio facility]?" He responded, "I did not." After contradictory testimony from Mr. Ross, Mr. Stolz later testified that he actually did go to Las Vegas from November 30, 2019 until December 2, 2018 to deal with the flooding.

Mr. Stolz also testified that he did not recall receiving a copy of the court's order that he pay Travelers $1,000 in sanctions based on his failure to allow the November 29 inspection. However, later in the hearing, Mr. Ross presented a copy of a letter written by Mr. Stolz, dated December 14, 2018, in which Mr. Stolz admitted to having reviewed the court's order that he pay $1,000 in sanctions; the order also confirmed the site inspection scheduled for January 8, 2019, which was to "go forward . . . whether or not plaintiff [wa]s able to personally attend." Nevertheless, Mr. Stolz testified that he had not received notice of the January 8 site inspection until January 7, 2019.

Moreover, Mr. Stolz denied that he had told Mr. Ross that he planned on having Mr. Sargetis attend the January 8 site inspection on his behalf, although an email from Mr. Stolz to Mr. Ross on January 8, 2019, at 12:26 a.m., stated, "I have engaged attorney John Sargetis of Sacramento Legal Center to address any subsequent inspection."

The Court's Decision

The court granted Travelers' motion for sanctions.

In its decision, the court found "a number of occasions" on which Mr. Stolz failed to obey the court's orders, including the November 20, 2018 and December 7, 2018 discovery orders, when he failed to make his property available for inspection on January 8, 2019 – and that he was "unable to justify his failure to obey these orders."

The court then ruled that Mr. Stolz "lack[ed] any credibility regarding his excuses."

The court also found that Mr. Stolz had been given "ample and appropriate notice of the January 8, 2019 court-ordered inspection, which [Mr. Stolz] directed his counsel to cancel on less than 12 hours['] notice, without substantial justification."

Therefore, it ruled, at a minimum, Mr. Stolz was "personally responsible for the costs and attorneys' fees incurred by Travelers in bringing the January 8, 2019 ex parte application to compel the site inspection."

The court also found Mr. Stolz responsible for the additional costs and attorneys' fees Travelers incurred in pursuing its ex parte application beyond the initial January 10, 2019 hearing.

The court said that it was reluctant to recommend dismissal based on Mr. Stolz's conduct and said that his actions did "not warrant a finding of criminal contempt and monetary sanctions." The court "admonished" Mr. Stolz that "any future misconduct in this case, including a failure to comply with a court order, may result in a recommendation of dismissal or sanctions to the court."

It then granted Travelers' ex parte application for sanctions and sanctioned Mr. Stolz personally in the amount of $20,284.16 for the attorneys' fees and costs incurred by Travelers in bringing and pursuing its ex parte application.

The case is Stolz v. Travelers Commercial Ins. Co., No. 2:18-cv-1923-KJM-KJN (E.D. Cal. Aug. 14, 2019). Attorneys involved include: For Travelers Commercial Insurance Company, Defendant: Edward Patrick Murphy, LEAD ATTORNEY, Foran Glennon Palandech Ponzi & Rudloff PC, Emeryville, CA. For WB Music Corp., But Father I Just Want to Sing Music, Hunterboro Music, Universal Polygram International Publishing, Inc., Sony/ATV Tunes LLC, Obverse Creation Music, Nice Hair Publishing, Party Rock Music, Yeah Baby Music, ESKAYWHY Publishing, Uh Oh Entertainment, Divine Mill Music, Fingaz Goal Music, EMI April Music Inc., Hi Mom I Did It, Chebra Music, Universal Music Corp., Creditors: Sharon Mayo, LEAD ATTORNEY, Arnold & Porter LLP, San Francisco, CA. For Debby Naiman, Movant: John Steve Sargetis, LEAD ATTORNEY, United Law Center, PC, Roseville, CA.