Judge: Mark E. Windham, Case: LAM17K06206, Date: 2023-09-06 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: LAM17K06206    Hearing Date: September 6, 2023    Dept: 26

Broadcast Music, Inc. v. Texis Restaurant, Inc., et al.

MOTION TO AMEND JUDGMENT

(CCP § 473(d))

TENTATIVE RULING:

Judgment Creditor Broadcast Music, Inc.’s Motion to Amend Judgment Nunc Pro Tunc is GRANTED. JUDGMENT CREDITOR IS TO FILE A PROPOSED AMENDED JUDGMENT WITHIN 20 DAYS OF THIS ORDER.

ANALYSIS:

Judgment Creditor Broadcast Music, Inc. (“Judgment Creditor”) filed the instant petition to confirm the arbitration award issued in its favor and against Judgment Debtor Texis Restaurant, Inc. aka Texis Restaurants, Inc. dba Texis Restaurant (“Judgment Debtor”) on May 16, 2017. The Court granted the Petition and entered judgment on December 4, 2017. Judgment was entered against Judgment Debtor as “Texis Restaurant, Inc. a/k/a Texis Restaurants, Inc.” (Judgment, 12/04/17.)

Judgment Creditor filed the instant Motion to Amend Judgment Nunc Pro Tunc on May 25, 2023. No opposition has been filed to date.

Discussion 

Courts have inherent powers to correct judgments by a nunc pro tunc order where there has been clerical error by clerk or by the judge himself, or where some provision of, or omission from, order or judgment was due to inadvertence, or mistake of court. (Lane v. Superior Court of Siskiyou County (1950) 98 Cal App 2d 165, 219; Code Civ. Proc., § 473, subd. (d).) This includes clerical errors when made by an attorney who drafts the judgment. (See In re Marriage of Kaufman (1980) 101 Cal.App.3d 147, 151.) However, while a trial court may correct clerical errors and misprisions in a judgment, it cannot amend a judgment once entered, if the error to be corrected is a judicial one, for instance if it embodies an intentional action of the court even though legally erroneous. (Kamper v. Mark Hopkins, Inc. (1947) 78 Cal App 2d 885.)

Judgment Creditor has shown that the judgment should have been entered against “Texis Restaurant, Inc. aka Texis Restaurants, Inc. dba Texis Restaurant,” which is the Judgment Debtor’s correct name. The judgment that omits Respondent’s dba name was entered in error by the clerk. (Motion, Aires Decl., ¶3.) Accordingly, the request to amend the judgment is granted.

Conclusion

Judgment Creditor Broadcast Music, Inc.’s Motion to Amend Judgment Nunc Pro Tunc is GRANTED. JUDGMENT CREDITOR IS TO FILE A PROPOSED AMENDED JUDGMENT WITHIN 20 DAYS OF THIS ORDER.

Moving party to give notice.