Judge: Lee W. Tsao, Case: 23NWCV01463, Date: 2024-04-04 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 23NWCV01463    Hearing Date: April 4, 2024    Dept: C

DEJAVU HOLDINGS, INC. v. OCHOA

CASE NO.:  23NWCV01463

HEARING: 04/04/24

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     I.        Defendant VANESSA JIMENEZ’s Motion to Set Aside Default is GRANTED.  

    II.        Defendant JOSE L. OCHOA’s Motion to Set Aside Default is GRANTED. 

Moving Party to give Notice.

Defendant’s Proposed Answers attached as Exhibit A to the Moving Papers are not deemed filed. Defendants VANESSA JIMENEZ and JOSE L. OCHOA are ORDERED to file the Proposed Answers within five court days of the Court’s issuance of this Order.

Default was entered against Vanessa Jimenez on July 7, 2023 and against Jose L. Ochoa on July 14, 2023.

Defendants now separately move to set aside the defaults under CCP §473(b).

CCP § 473(b), states that “[t]he court may…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.”

The policy of hearing cases on their merits is well-established. (See, e.g., Berman v. Klassman (1971) 17 Cal.App.3d 900.) Given the liberality associated with Motions to Set Aside Defaults, the Court finds the Declarations of the Defendants sufficient to warrant to relief. The law favors trials on the merits. (Rappleyea v. Campbell (1994) 8 Cal.4th 975, 980.)

The Motions are GRANTED.