Morgan Lewis, SoCalGas sanctioned $6,500 in gas leak case

The Southern California Gas Company and its attorneys have been fined $6,500 in sanctions for not turning over discovery to plaintiffs in the Porter Ranch gas leak case, according to a judge's ruling issued Thursday.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl, after taking the matter under submission Wednesday following a hearing on a motion for a protective order, ordered SoCalGas to turn over hundreds of pages of documents within 10 days to plaintiffs. The documents contained exchanges between defense counsel and a third party engineering firm, AECOM, regarding work done at the utility's Aliso Canyon facility leading up to and after the Porter Ranch gas leak in 2015. Southern California Gas Leak cases, JCCP 4861 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Feb. 2, 2016).

The sanctions, requested by plaintiffs' counsel from Panish Shea & Boyle LLP and the Parris Law firm, have been jointly levied against the utility and defense counsel from Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. The sanctions must be paid to plaintiffs' counsel within 20 days, Kuhl ordered.

SoCalGas argued the documents requested by the plaintiffs were privileged as attorney work products and contained legal advice and strategy. Kuhl disagreed, noting no specifics were provided as to who authored or reviewed the documents defense claimed were privileged.

On Wednesday, Morgan Lewis submitted a second supplemental declaration that the documents in question were, in fact, reviewed by the appropriate counsel involved in the matter. Kuhl wrote that the eleventh hour move was "inappropriate and prejudicial to plaintiffs to consider it in deciding this motion."

"This is the second motion addressing these privileged documents, and there is no excuse as to why the Aug. 14 declaration could not have been considered earlier," Kuhl wrote. Even if she had considered the declaration, she would have reached the same conclusion to deny the motion, she said.

-- Gina Kim