Greyhound Corp. V. Superior Court Of Merced County

In this proceeding an alternative writ of prohibition was granted for the purpose of reviewing an order of discovery made by respondent court in a pending action in which petitioner is the defendant and Earline Z. Clay and Leslie Randolph Clay (the real parties in interest) are the plaintiffs. The order was made pursuant to plaintiffs' motion for an order requiring defendant to produce and permit the inspection and copying or photographing of certain described documents. The motion was predicated upon section 2031 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which is a portion of the discovery act enacted in 1957 (Stats. 1957, chap. 1904). There are also pending five other cases involving various facets of the discovery act (Carlson v. Superior Court, L. A. No. 26111, post, p. 431 [15 Cal. Rptr. 132, 364 P.2d 308]; West Pico Furniture Co. of Los Angeles v. Superior Court, L. A. No. 26171, post, p. 407 [15 Cal. Rptr. 119, 364 P.2d 295]; Steele v. Superior Court, L. A. No. 26172, post, p. 402 [15 Cal. Rptr. 116, 364 P.2d 292]; Filipoff v. Superior Court, L. A. No. 26265, post, p. 443 [15 Cal. Rptr. 139, 364 P.2d 315]; Cembrook v. Superior Court, S. F. No. 20707, post, p. 423 [15 Cal. Rptr. 127, 364 P.2d 303]). Although each of the six cases presents its own particular issues, there are certain general contentions that are common to all. For convenience, we will discuss those general considerations in this opinion, thus preventing unnecessary repetition.