Judge: Jon R. Takasugi, Case: 23STCV11632, Date: 2024-11-13 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 23STCV11632    Hearing Date: November 13, 2024    Dept: 17

Superior Court of California

County of Los Angeles

DEPARTMENT 17

TENTATIVE RULING

Plaintiff’s motion to set aside is DENIED, WITHOUT PREJUDICE.

On 5/23/2023, Plaintiff Hyun Soon Lee (Plaintiff) filed suit against Fouad Ashour and Ashour Victory Property, LLC, alleging: (1) breach of contract; (2) breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing; (3) negligence; (4) unjust enrichment; and (5) fraud and misrepresentation.

On 7/8/2024, the Court granted Defendant’s motion for an OSC re: Contempt and ordered Plaintiff’s Complaint dismissed without prejudice.

On 9/25/2024, Plaintiff moved to set aside the dismissal.

Discussion

            Plaintiff moves to set aside the dismissal entered on 7/8/2024, on the grounds that she was not aware of the status of her case because Plaintiff was assisted by an unauthorized and unlawful legal document assistant named Bill Kim from Good People Associated, Inc.

            More specifically, Plaintiff submitted a declaration stating that she paid $13,000 to Mr. Kim and Good People Associated, Inc. to represent her in this case. (Plaintiff Decl. ¶ 5.) Plaintiff contends that Mr. Kim misrepresented to her that he could represent her in this case, despite that Good People Associated, Inc. is not a law firm. (Id. ¶ 5.) Plaintiff contends that she wasn’t informed about the status of the case since it begun. (Id. ¶ 6.) It wasn’t until Plaintiff hired Kevin H. Jang as counsel on 9/6/2024 that Plaintiff discovered her case had been dismissed. ((Id. ¶ 7.)

            However, in opposition, Defendant notes that Plaintiff personally attended the 3/20/2024 hearing where sanctions were ordered, and a Notice of Ruling was served on Plaintiff Lee on 3/26/2024.

Moreover, Section 473(b) provides:

The court may, upon any terms as may be just, relieve a party or his or her legal representative from a judgment, dismissal, order, or other proceeding taken against him or her through his or her mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect. Application for this relief shall be accompanied by a copy of the answer or other pleading proposed to be filed therein, otherwise the application shall not be granted, and shall be made within a reasonable time, in no case exceeding six months, after the judgment, dismissal, order, or proceeding was taken. . .

            As such, section 473(b) requires that the motion to set aside be accompanied by a proposed pleading, i.e., whatever missing documentation resulted in the dismissal. Here, the Court granted a motion to compel discovery responses on 3/20/2024, and dismissal was the result of Plaintiff’s failure to provide responses or issue sanctions payment. As such, Plaintiff was required to accompany this motion with proposed responses to outstanding discovery as well as sanctions payment. The failure to include this is fatal to her request here.

            Based on the foregoing, Plaintiff’s motion to set aside is denied, without prejudice.

It is so ordered.

Dated:  November    , 2024

   Hon. Jon R. Takasugi
   Judge of the Superior Court

Parties who intend to submit on this tentative must send an email to the court at smcdept17@lacourt.org by 4 p.m. the day prior as directed by the instructions provided on the court website at www.lacourt.org.  If a party submits on the tentative, the party’s email must include the case number and must identify the party submitting on the tentative.  If all parties to a motion submit, the court will adopt this tentative as the final order.  If the department does not receive an email indicating the parties are submitting on the tentative and there are no appearances at the hearing, the motion may be placed off calendar.  For more information, please contact the court clerk at (213) 633-0517.