People v. Superior Court

I. Introduction

The People petition for extraordinary relief from the orders of respondent court denying the People’s motions to quash the notices of deposition issued by real parties in interest Michael Thomas Cheek (Cheek) and Gregory Grant (Grant). The trial court’s orders allow the depositions of several Atascadero State Hospital physicians and psychologists to be taken pursuant to subpoena in proceedings to commit Cheek and Grant under the Sexually Violent Predators Act (SVPA), Welfare and Institutions Code section 6600 et seq. We granted writ review to answer a question of first impression: whether the right to civil discovery in SVPA proceedings includes the right to notice depositions. We determine that the Civil Discovery Act of 1986 (Code Civ. Proc., § 2016 et seq. (Civil Discovery Act)) applies in SVPA proceedings and therefore the deposition method of discovery is available.

We further conclude that the right to discovery in SVPA proceedings is subject to certain provisions of the Civil Discovery Act that expressly authorize the trial court to manage discovery and to prevent misuse of discovery procedures. Finally, we conclude that the scope of discovery in…