Judge: Kerry Bensinger, Case: BC605458, Date: 2023-08-24 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: BC605458    Hearing Date: August 24, 2023    Dept: 27

Tentative Ruling

Judge Kerry Bensinger, Department 27

HEARING DATE:      August 24, 2023                                            TRIAL DATE:  Vacated

CASE:                         State Farm General Insurance Company v. Abunda Life of America, Inc., et al.

CASE NO.:                 BC605458

MOTION TO AMEND JUDGMENT

MOVING PARTY:               Plaintiff State Farm General Insurance Company

RESPONDING PARTY:     Non-parties Estate of Robert H. Sorge and Abunda Life Church of the Body, Mind and Spirit, Inc.

I.          BACKGROUND

On December 24, 2015, Plaintiff, State Farm General Insurance Company, initiated this action against Defendants, Abunda Life of America, Inc. and Abunda Life Nutritional Testing Clinic, Inc., for subrogation, negligence, indemnity, and breach of warranty.  Plaintiff alleged that Defendants designed, manufactured, supplied, and sold a sauna to Plaintiff’s insured.  On November 25, 2014, the sauna caught fire and damaged insured’s house/property.

On October 2, 2018, Plaintiff obtained a default judgment against Defendants.  Plaintiff filed and served a Notice of Entry of Judgment or Order on March 5, 2019.  To date, no portion of the judgment has been paid.

On May 25, 2023, Plaintiff filed this motion to amend the judgment to add alter egos as additional judgment debtors.  Specifically, Plaintiff seeks to add the Estate of Robert H. Sorge and Abunda Life Church of the Body, Mind, & Spirit as the alter egos of the original judgment debtors.

On August 10, 2023, non-parties, Estate of Robert H. Sorge and Abunda Life Church of the Body, Mind, & Spirit, filed an Opposition.  Plaintiff has not filed a Reply.

II.        LEGAL STANDARD

Code of Civil Procedure, section 187 states: “[w]hen jurisdiction is, by the Constitution or this Code, or by any other statute, conferred on a Court or judicial officer, all the means necessary to carry it into effect are also given; and in the exercise of this jurisdiction, if the course of proceeding be not specifically pointed out by this Code or the statute, any suitable process or mode of proceeding may be adopted which may appear most conformable to the spirit of this code.” “Section 187 contemplates amending a judgment by noticed motion. [Citations.] The court is not required to hold an evidentiary hearing on a motion to amend a judgment, but may rule on the motion based solely on declarations and other written evidence. [Citation.]” (Highland Springs Conference & Training Center v. City of Banning (2016) 244 Cal.App.4th 267, 280.) “In the interests of justice, the ‘‘‘greatest liberality is to be encouraged’’’ in the allowance of amendments brought pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 187. [Citation.]” (Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. Weinberg (2014) 227 Cal.App.4th 1, 7.)  However, where judgment is entered by default against a corporate defendant, section 187 cannot be used to add to the judgment the names of alleged parties in interest who used the defaulted corporation as their alter ego but who were not made defendants in the original action and did not have an opportunity to be heard.  (Motores de Mexicali, S.A. v. Superior Court (1958) 51 Cal.2d 172, 175-176 (Motores de Mexicali); accord NEC Electronics v. Hurt (1989) 208 Cal.App.3d 772.)

III.       DISCUSSION

Plaintiff is not entitled to an order amending the October 2, 2018 default judgment to include non-parties the Estate of Robert H. Sorge and Abunda Life Church of the Body, Mind, & Spirit.  Under Motores de Mexicali, the section 187 procedure to amend a judgment is not available in the default judgment context.  This is so because the proposed non-parties to be added to the judgment as alter egos were not named in the original complaint.  To allow Plaintiff to amend the default judgment to add the non-parties would preclude them from defending the action in the first instance.  Plaintiff has not filed a Reply, and thus fails to apprise the Court of any authority directing a different result.

IV.       CONCLUSION

            The motion is denied. 

Moving party to give notice.

Dated:   August 24, 2023                                ___________________________________

                                                                                    Kerry Bensinger

                                                                                    Judge of the Superior Court

            Parties who intend to submit on this tentative must send an email to the Court at SSCDEPT27@lacourt.org indicating intention to submit on the tentative as directed by the instructions provided on the court website at www.lacourt.org.  Please be advised that if you submit on the tentative and elect not to appear at the hearing, the opposing party may nevertheless appear at the hearing and argue the matter.  Unless you receive a submission from all other parties in the matter, you should assume that others might appear at the hearing to argue.  If the Court does not receive emails from the parties indicating submission on this tentative ruling and there are no appearances at the hearing, the Court may, at its discretion, adopt the tentative as the final order or place the motion off calendar.