Judge: Jon R. Takasugi, Case: BC522931, Date: 2024-12-10 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: BC522931    Hearing Date: December 10, 2024    Dept: 17

Superior Court of California

County of Los Angeles

DEPARTMENT 17

TENTATIVE RULING

Defendant’s motion to vacate the renewal of judgment is DENIED.

            On 9/27/2013, Plaintiff National Collegiate Student Loan Trust (Plaintiff) filed suit against Maria Torabzadeh and Ian Sutton (collectively, Defendants), alleging: (1) breach of contract; and (2) common counts.

            On 8/20/2014, Plaintiff obtained a judgment against Defendant.

            On 7/3/2024, Plaintiff’s application for a renewal of judgment was granted.

            Now, in propria persona Defendant Maria Torabzadeh (Defendant) moves to set aside the renewal of judgment.

Discussion

            Defendant argues that the 7/3/2024 order renewing judgment must be set aside because the Bankruptcy Court discharged Defendant’s debts on 1/21/2020. (Motion, Exh. A.

CCP section 683.170 states:

(a) The renewal of a judgment pursuant to this article may be vacated on any ground that would be a defense to an action on the judgment, including the ground that the amount of the renewed judgment as entered pursuant to this article is incorrect, and shall be vacated if the application for renewal was filed within five years from the time the judgment was previously renewed under this article.

(b) Not later than 60 days after service of the notice of renewal pursuant to Section 683.160, the judgment debtor may apply by noticed motion under this section for an order of the court vacating the renewal of the judgment. The notice of motion shall be served on the judgment creditor. Service shall be made personally or by mail.

(c) Upon the hearing of the motion, the renewal may be ordered vacated upon any ground provided in subdivision (a), and another and different renewal may be -entered, including, but not limited to, the renewal of the judgment in a different amount if the decision of the court is that the judgment creditor is entitled to renewal in a different amount.

However, in opposition, Plaintiff clarified that Defendant only received a standard discharge of her debts. Pursuant to Federal law, a bankruptcy discharge under 11 U.S.C. §727 does not discharge an individual debtor from all debts, including educational benefits loans, or any other educational loan that is a qualified education loan, unless the individual shows that excepting such debt would impose an undue hardship on the debtor or the debtor’s dependents.

Indeed, Plaintiff submitted evidence to show that while Defendant submitted the first page of the Chapter 7 Discharge, showing that her debts were discharged, she omitted the second page of the discharge which further explained which debts were not included in the discharge. Listed as an example of debts that are not discharged are “debts for most student loans.” (Aguirre Decl., Exh. C.)

Given that Defendant fails to make a showing that she obtained a hardship discharge on the underlying student loan, the Court finds an insufficient basis to conclude that the underlying student loan at issue was discharged as part of the 1/21/2020 Order.

Defendant has not provided any other legal basis for vacating the renewal of judgment.

            Based on the foregoing, Defendant’s motion to vacate the renewal of judgment is denied.

It is so ordered.

Dated:  December    , 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.