Judge Lynne M. Hobbs, Case Number: 21STCV15096, Date: 2023-10-13 Tentative Ruling

Judge: Lynne M. Hobbs, Case: 21STCV15096, Date: 2023-10-13 Tentative Ruling

PLEASE NOTE:

The parties are encouraged to meet and confer concerning this tentative ruling to determine if there is an agreement to submit.

Regardless of whether there is any such agreement, each party who wishes to submit must send an email to the Court at SSCdept30@LACourt.org indicating the party's intention to submit.

Include the word "SUBMITS" in all caps and the case number in the subject line of the email and in the body provide the date and time of the hearing, your name, your contact information, the party you represent, whether that party is a plaintiff, defendant, cross-complainant, cross-defendant, claimant, or non-party.

If a party submits but still intends to appear at the hearing, include the words "SUBMITS BUT WILL APPEAR" in the subject line of the email.

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.

Unless all the parties have submitted, the Court will hear argument from any party that appears at the hearing and wishes to argue. The Court may change its tentative as a result of the argument and adopt the changed tentative as the final order at the end of that hearing, even if all the parties are not present.

Be advised that after the Court has posted/issued a tentative ruling, the Court has the inherent authority to prohibit the withdrawal of said motion and may adopt the tentative ruling as the order of the Court.

Case Number: 21STCV15096 Hearing Date: October 13, 2023 Dept: 30

ROSE ANN BUSTAMANTE vs ESTHER BRAVO, et al.

21STCV15096

Motion to Set Aside / Vacate Dismissal

TENTATIVE

Plaintiff’s motion to set aside the dismissal entered on April 27, 2023 is granted. Moving party is ordered to give notice.

DISCUSSION

Plaintiff presents the declaration of her counsel, Andrew Echavarria (“Echavarria”) in support of the motion. Echavarria declares that: (1) himself, along with the staff at the Law Office of F. Javier Trujillo Inc., had been experiencing problems with their computers including its internet connection, outlook e-mails, and its calendar throughout the months of March and April (Echavarria Decl., ¶ 1); (2) the IT tech person for the office has been in several times to fix said problems (Id.); (3) as the handling attorney in this case, he relied solely on his electronic calendar for court hearings, appointments, and deadlines (Id.); and (4) due to technological problems, the OSC hearing re: dismissal for failure to enter default was not on the calendar for April 27, 2023.

Initially, the Court finds that Plaintiff’s motion is timely as it was filed within six months after dismissal. Plaintiff has made a showing that the failure to appear at the April 27, 2023 OSC was due to the inadvertence of counsel to calendar the matter due to technological issues. The Court therefore finds that Plaintiff has made a showing warranting mandatory relief from dismissal pursuant to SJP Limited Partnership v. City of Los Angeles, supra, 136 Cal.App.4th 511, 516. Also, given that the motion is unopposed, there is an inference that the motion has merit under Sexton v. Superior Court (1997) 58 Cal.App.4th 1403, 1410.

As to the issue of payment of reasonable compensatory fees and costs to opposing parties, Defendants have not filed an answer in this action. The Court exercises its discretion and declines to impose any penalties against Plaintiff or Plaintiff’s attorney pursuant to Code Civ. Proc. § 473(c).