Union Bank V. Superior Court

Defendant, Union Bank, seeks a writ of mandate pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 437c,*fn1 subdivision (1), compelling the respondent court to enter a summary judgment on the first amended complaint against plaintiffs who are 11 individuals, a trust, and an individual retirement account. We conclude that: defendant could rely on plaintiffs' Judicial Council form interrogatory answers as an evidentiary basis for its separate statement; despite a request for such information, the interrogatory answers contained no evidence to support a theory of liability on defendant's part; the interrogatory responses, when relied upon by defendant in its separate statement of undisputed facts, were sufficient to shift the burden of proof to plaintiffs pursuant to section 437, subdivision (o)(2) to demonstrate there was a triable issue concerning the correctness of their claims; and plaintiffs failed to present sufficient evidence to create a triable issue of material fact. In reaching this determination, we conclude that, together, the 1992 and 1993 amendments to section 437c have overruled the prior decision of this division of Barnes v. Blue Haven Pools (1969) 1 Cal. App. 3d 123, 126-128, 81 Cal. Rptr. 444 to the limited extent that the opinion bars a defendant from securing a summary judgment premised upon a plaintiff's factually devoid interrogatory answers. Accordingly, because the summary judgment motion should have been granted, we issue our writ of mandate.