On rebuttal, Poon countered that the city is conceding that courts have the authority “to go nuclear” or issue much harsher nonmonetary penalties like terminating or issuing evidentiary sanctions, while simultaneously arguing that monetary sanctions are limited, or “off-the-table.”
It makes no sense for the city to argue that courts are stripped of power to use monetary sanctions when “that’s where you start, when a litigant refuses to comply” with discovery requests, he continued. The city dismissed its own suit against PwC to cover its tracks instead of coming clean, so the only sanction that can be imposed is monetary, Poon said.
The matter stood submitted.
PwC is represented by Julian W. Poon of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP.
The city of Los Angeles is represented by Kathryn L. McCann of Annaguey McCann LLP, Eric M. George of Ellis George Cipollone and Hydee Feldstein Soto, Kathleen Kenealy and Julie C. Riley of the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office.
The case is City of Los Angeles v. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC, case number S277211, in the Supreme Court of California.
