Toyota Motor Corp. v. Superior Court

*1110 Opinion

Defendants and petitioners Toyota Motor Corporation, Toyota Motor North America, Inc., and Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. (collectively, Toyota), seek a writ of mandate directing the trial court to vacate its order granting a motion to compel Toyota to produce five of its employees, who are Japanese residents, for deposition in California and to enter a new and different order denying that motion.

. Code of Civil Procedure section 1989 1 provides that a nonresident of California is not obliged to attend as a witness in this state. After a careful review of the relevant statutes and related legislative history, we conclude that this residency limitation applies not only to trials, but also to discovery. As a result, the trial court has no authority to compel Japanese residents to come to Los Angeles to attend depositions. Neither the legislative history nor the meager case authority on this issue persuasively provide otherwise. We will therefore grant Toyota’s petition for a writ of mandate and remand with directions.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In February 2009, plaintiffs and real parties in interest Michael Stewart and Shawna Stewart, individually and…

I concur in the lead opinion and its holding that irrespective of Code of Civil Procedure section 2025.260, 1 which authorizes a court to permit the deposition of a party or officer, director, managing agent or employee of a party at a location more distant than that permitted under section 2025.250, the superior court is precluded by section 1989 from ordering a nonresident to appear at a California deposition. But I have concurred in the court’s opinion because I agree the present discovery statutory scheme compels the conclusion reached in that opinion. I write separately, however, to express my concern the current statutory scheme is inadequate and inappropriate in today’s era of globalization. It is my view the Legislature should promptly address this issue.

Section 1989 was originally enacted in 1872. It has now become an archaic limitation on discovery. Further, because section 1989 provides a nonresident of California is not obliged to attend as a witness in this state, it applies not only to residents of foreign countries, but also to residents of other states in these United States. The Legislature should address this subject at the earliest opportunity in order to…