In Gwartz v. Superior Court (1999) 71 Cal.App.4th 480, the trial court denied a motion for summary judgment without allowing oral argument. The appellate court reversed, concluding that section 437c requires a trial court to hear oral argument. (Gwartz, supra, 71 Cal.App.4th at p. 482.) In reaching this conclusion, Gwartz cited Mediterranean Construction Co. v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. (1998) 66 Cal.App.4th 257, 265, which stated: "Trial judges may not elevate judicial expediency over Code of Civil Procedure section 437c's mandate for hearings on summary judgment motions. Although they retain extensive discretion regarding how the hearing is to be conducted, including imposing time limits and adopting tentative ruling procedures , they may not entirely bar parties from having a say. That is because '"limiting the time of an argument and refusing to permit any argument at all, are entirely different matters. The one is the exercise of a discretion; the other is a denial of a right.'" "