Former residential patient's civil suit against operator of The Pointe Malibu Recovery Center reaches contested discovery phase ahead of May 28 arbitration hearing

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESS Newswire / April 18, 2026 / The Los Angeles Superior Court is scheduled to hear an emergency discovery motion on Monday, April 20, 2026 at 8:30 a.m. in Hickman v. James & Bentz, Inc., Case No. 25SMCV04669, a pending civil action against the California corporation doing business as The Pointe Malibu Recovery Center.

The plaintiff filed an ex parte application for an order shortening time on April 17, 2026, in connection with a motion to compel further discovery responses. The motion concerns 140 written discovery requests served by the plaintiff, consisting of 64 Requests for Admission, 47 Demands for Production of Documents, and 29 Form Interrogatories. The defendant served responses on April 7, 2026. The adequacy of those responses is the subject of the pending motion.

The underlying action was filed on September 11, 2025. The operative pleading is the First Amended Complaint, filed March 10, 2026. Case information and filings are publicly available through the Los Angeles Superior Court's online case access system under Case No. 25SMCV04669.

This release is provided as a procedural update on the status of a pending civil matter. No statements herein are intended as allegations, conclusions, or characterizations of the merits of the action.

Court Case Link: Los Angeles Superior Court Civil Case Access: https://www.lacourt.ca.gov/pages/lp/access-a-case/tp/find-case-information/cp/os-civil-case-access

MEDIA CONTACT: Logan Anthony, Verdict Public Relations, LLC., pr@verdictpublicrelations.com, (310) 765-7445

SOURCE: Verdict PR