A Santa Monica woman who opposes the use of two parking lots on Broadway as Waymo recharging stations can be deposed by attorneys for the autonomous vehicle company and must produce relevant documents, a judge has ruled.
In a sworn declaration, Paula Achter, who works from home, says she has had to adjust her sleeping habits and do her job from a different location in her apartment due to the noise from the Waymo vehicles passing her building. She further says that humans are not the only ones being bothered.
“I used to hear birds singing in the morning from my apartment,” the 69-year-old Achter says. “I’ve noticed I don’t hear them anymore. I believe that they have nested elsewhere due to the Waymo frequency.”
On Friday, Judge Bradley Phillips, who is presiding over the dueling litigation between Waymo and the city, ruled that the firm’s lawyers are entitled to Achter’s deposition and requested documents within 15 days.
“The court finds that the documents and testimony sought by Waymo are potentially relevant and certainly calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence,” the judge wrote.
Achter “has not demonstrated that compliance with the subpoenas would impose an undue burden and she has not substantiated her assertions that the requests are invasive and unduly burdensome,” the judge further wrote.
Waymo lawyers contend in their court papers that Achter “actively participated in a coordinated campaign to physically block Waymo’s autonomous vehicles from entering or exiting the Broadway Lots — a practice known as “stacking” — and thereby exacerbating the very conditions the city attributes to Waymo.
“Achter embraced this role, describing herself as “stacker P” and volunteering for overnight stacker missions,” according to the Waymo lawyers’ court papers.
Achter had claimed in a more recent declaration that she has already produced all relevant documents and that she is willing to be deposed in late June if she has enough time to hire a new lawyer to replace the one she had.
“I wish Waymo would just leave us alone, shut down from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., stop wasting millions of dollars of Santa Monica city attorney and other government resources, obey the law and the city’s orders, cease their legal torment of the victims and consider moving their Waymo lots,” Achter says.
In its lawsuit filed against the city on Dec. 17, Waymo denies a public nuisance exists as the city contends. The Waymo suit says that in response to residential complaints, the company hired more staff, implemented software updates to reduce noise levels and frequencies, installed light and noise barriers and modified “vehicle behaviors” in the area.
But according to the city’s lawsuit brought Dec. 19, residents are disturbed by Waymo lot workers talking in the middle of the night as well as the sounds of the Waymo vehicles, which the city contends “echo off buildings along the alleys like a canyon.”
The city’s proposed injunction would stop recharging operations at the two lots from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. or by ordering other “appropriate measures to abate the nighttime nuisances.”
The alleged nuisances have cost residents the peace and quiet enjoyment of their homes and repeated requests to Waymo to abate the problem have been rejected, the city alleges.