Gamo v. Merrell (Cal. Ct. App. - Aug. 14, 2025)

This seems right to me. Just because a statute (here, the Consumer Legal Remedies Act) allows for one-way fee shifting if the plaintiff prevails (but not if the defendant prevails), that doesn't categorically bar a defendant from obtaining cost of proof sanctions for an improperly denied request for admission. One's a discovery provision and the other's about the merits. Two different things. For example, you an get cost of proof sanctions even if you lose.

The case here involved the purchase of a Masserati and the disputed value of the plaintiff's trade-in; the dealership gave him $2,000 for it, but the plaintiff said it promised him $6,500. Plaintiff denied RFAs that asked him to admit, for example, that he initialed each page of the written contract. (It seems to me like there's no reason not to admit that one if it's indeed true, but whatever.) Defendant subsequently prevailed at trial. The trial court thought it had no authority to award cost of proof sanctions given the one-way fee provisions of the CLRA, but the Court of Appeal reverses and remands.

I'm on board for pretty much everything that Justice Moore says in the opinion, with one caveat. There are some RFA's that are pretty much case-dispositive; e.g., "Admit that Defendant did not violate the CLRA." None of those were propounded here, but if they were, that might be an entirely different story: I could see an argument that, as to those, a fee award on behalf of a prevailing defendant might be precluded by the underlying statute.

So I would drop a footnote to leave that particular issue open were it me. Again: Doesn't apply here, but I could see it potentially applying in other cases. So no categorical rule.