Judge: Lee S. Arian, Case: 22STCV15894, Date: 2025-04-16 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 22STCV15894    Hearing Date: April 16, 2025    Dept: 27

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES - CENTRAL DISTRICT

On May 12, 2022, Plaintiff filed this case. On November 9, 2023, the Court dismissed the case for the first time due to Plaintiff’s counsel failing to appear at a hearing as a result of a calendaring error. On April 23, 2024, the Court granted Plaintiff’s motion to set aside the dismissal. On October 18, 2024, the Court again dismissed the case. The Court’s minute order for the dismissal notes that there is no Proof of Service or Declaration filed as ordered on August 2, 2024. The Court finds Plaintiff has never served Defendant Lexi Bennett with the complaint. Code of Civil Procedure section 583.420 authorizes the Court to dismiss an action if service is not made within two years after the case is filed.

Plaintiff now moves again to set aside the dismissal, stating that Plaintiff failed to appear at the October 18, 2024 hearing due to a calendaring error by counsel, who mistakenly believed the hearing was set for November 18, 2024. Plaintiff’s counsel also inadvertently failed to file a declaration explaining the calendaring error and failed to provide additional information to the process server.

Although Plaintiff invokes mandatory relief under Code of Civil Procedure section 473(b), the Court need not grant relief when it finds that the dismissal was not, in fact, caused by the attorney’s mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or neglect. (Code Civ. Proc., § 473, subd. (b).) The reason cited by Plaintiff’s counsel, calendaring error and failure to appear, is not the reason the Court dismissed the case. The dismissal was based on Plaintiff’s failure to serve the complaint within two years of filing.

Under Code of Civil Procedure section 473(b), an application for 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." Plaintiff did not attach a proof of service showing the complaint has been served. Accordingly, the motion is denied.

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’s 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.