Judge Christopher K. Lui, Case Number: 24STCP00453, Date: 2024-09-11 Tentative Ruling

Judge: Christopher K. Lui, Case: 24STCP00453, Date: 2024-09-11 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 24STCP00453 Hearing Date: September 11, 2024 Dept: 76

The trustee under the deed of trust filed this petition following a trustee’s sale to resolve claims to undistributed surplus proceeds of the trustee’s sale.

Proposed Dermot Givens, in pro per (attorney), seeks to intervene in this action.

TENTATIVE RULING

Proposed Dermot Givens' motion to intervene is DENIED.

Motion To Intervene

Request For Judicial Notice

Claimant/Judgment creditor Wasserman, Comden & Casselman, LLP requests that the Court take judicial notice of the following:

1. Judgment entered April 30, 2008 (hereafter “the Wasserman Judgment”); 2. Abstract of the Wasserman Judgment recorded with the Office of the Los Angeles County Recorder on January 16, 2009; 3. Application For And Renewal Of [the Wasserman] Judgment entered May 11, 2017; 4. Application For And Renewal Of [the Wasserman] Judgment recorded with the Office of the Los Angeles County Recorder on December 12, 2017; 5. Claim of Wasserman, as to the excess proceeds which are the subject of this instant action, previously filed with California TD Specialists, in the sum of $3,276,333.55; 6. Declaration of Jerome J. Blum In Response To Petition, etc., filed March 13,2024; 7. Notice of Removal of State Court Action, filed September 20, 2007; 8. Notice of Bankruptcy Court Order Remanding Within Action To State Court, filed November 13, 2007; 9. Notice of Removal of State Court Action, filed December 20, 2007; 10. Notice of Bankruptcy Court Order Remanding Within Action To State Court (Second Remand), filed April 7, 2008; 11. Notice of Motion And Motion To Set Aside A Void Judgment, February 26, 2015; 12. Plaintiff’s Opposition To Motion To Set Aside A [purported] Void Judgment, filed April 21, 2015; 13. Response to Opposition To Motion To Set Aside a Void Judgment, filed May 6, 2015; 14. Minute Order, entered May 18, 2015; 15. Notice of Motion And Motion to Reconsider [the denial of] Motion To Set Aside the Judgment], filed May 26, 2015; 16. Plaintiff’s Opposition to Defendant’s Motion to Reconsider, etc., filed August 31, 2015; 17. Minute Order, entered September 15, 2015; 18. Notice of Appeal, filed November 6, 2015; 19. Order of the Court of Appeal [affirming the Order Denying Given’s Motion To Set Aside the Judgment As Void], entered March 29, 2017; 20. Motion to Vacate [the Judgment], filed July 30, 2021; 21. Declaration of Dermont Givens in Support of Motion, filed August 2, 2021; 22. Plaintiff’s Opposition To Motion To Vacate, filed October 18, 2021; 23. Reply (To Opposition), filed October 20, 2021; 24. Minute Order, entered November 1, 2021; 25. Tentative Ruling And Memorandum Of Opinion On Motion To Reopen, entered December 1, 2021; and 26. Order Denying Motion To Reopen Chapter 7 Case, entered December 1, 2021.

Requests Nos 1 – 26 are GRANTED per Evid. Code, § 452(d)(court records) and recorded documents. (Evans v. California Trailer Court, Inc. (1994) 28 Cal.App.4th 540, 549, overruled on other grounds in Black Sky Capital, LLC v. Cobb (2019) 7 Cal.5th 156, 165; Alfaro v. Community Housing Improvement System & Planning Assn., Inc. (2009) 171 Cal.App.4th 263, 274).

Discussion

Proposed Dermot Givens, in pro per (attorney), seeks to intervene in this action, following a trustee’s sale to resolve claims to undistributed surplus proceeds of the trustee’s sale. The Petition sets forth the pertinent facts at ¶ 12 as follows:

The trustee provides the following additional information relevant to the identity, location, priority of potential claimants, and the conflict of claims: One claim has been received from Dermot Givens as the former owner of the property. A second claim has been received from Wasserman Law Group based on an abstract of judgment recorded 1-16-09 and renewed 5-11-17 for a judgment of $2,015,268.63 against Dermot Givens. A third claim has been received from Landau and Landau based on an abstract of judgment recorded 5-23-18 for a judgment in the sum of $104,884.22 against Dem10t Givens. A fourth claim has been received from Formosa Gardens HOA for an HOA lien recorded 7-27-23 in the sum of $17,017.20 against the subject property. Claimant Givens disputes the Wasserman Claim and requests that funds be deposited with the court.

Proposed intervenor did not submit a proposed complaint or answer in intervention as required by Civ. Proc. Code, § 387(c). Without such a proposed pleading, the Court need not address the arguments made in the opposition.

As such, the motion to intervene is DENIED.