Judge: Michael E. Whitaker, Case: 19STCV25874, Date: 2023-03-14 Tentative Ruling
Case Number: 19STCV25874 Hearing Date: March 14, 2023 Dept: 32
PLEASE NOTE: Parties are
encouraged to meet and confer concerning this tentative ruling to determine if
a resolution may be reached. If the
parties are unable to reach a resolution and a party intends to submit on this
tentative ruling, the party must send an email to the Court at sscdept32@lacourt.org indicating that party’s intention to submit. The email shall include the case number, date
and time of the hearing, counsel’s contact information (if applicable), and the
identity of the party submitting on this tentative ruling. If the Court does not receive an email
indicating the parties are submitting on this tentative ruling and there are no
appearances at the hearing, the Court may place the motion off calendar or
adopt the tentative ruling as the order of the Court. If all parties do not submit on this
tentative ruling, they should arrange to appear in-person or remotely (which is
highly encouraged). Further, after the Court has posted/issued a tentative
ruling, the Court has the inherent authority to prohibit the withdrawal of the
subject motion and adopt the tentative ruling as the order of the Court.
TENTATIVE RULING
DEPARTMENT |
32 |
HEARING DATE |
March 14, 2023 |
CASE NUMBER |
19STCV25874 |
MOTION |
Motion to Set Aside Dismissal |
MOVING PARTIES |
Plaintiffs Stephanie Orantes, individually, and as
guardian ad litem for minors Maddox Valdez, Hendrix Valdez, and Silas Valdez |
OPPOSING PARTY |
None |
MOTION
Plaintiffs
Stephanie Orantes, individually, and as guardian ad litem for minors Maddox
Valdez, Hendrix Valdez, and Silas Valdez (collectively, Plaintiffs), through
Counsel Yoon S. Kim, move to set aside the Court’s order of August 3, 2022, in
which the Court dismissed the Complaint against Defendants Oscar Maticorena,
One Call Constructions, and Isael Valdez Navarette (collectively, Defendants), without
prejudice. The motion is unopposed.
ANALYSIS
Per Code of Civil Procedure
section 473, subdivision (b), a 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.” In addition, a court must vacate a default or dismissal
when a motion for relief under Section 473, subdivision (b) is filed timely and
accompanied by an attorney’s sworn affidavit attesting to the attorney’s
mistake, inadvertence, surprise or neglect “unless the court finds that the
default or dismissal was not in fact caused by the attorney’s mistake,
inadvertence, surprise or neglect.”
(Code Civ. Proc., § 473, subd. (b).)
The party or the legal
representative must seek such relief “within a reasonable time, in no case
exceeding six months, after the judgment, dismissal, order, or proceeding was
taken.” (Code Civ. Proc., § 473, subd. (b); see Rappleyea v. Campbell (1994) 8 Cal.4th 975, 980 [“because more than
six months had elapsed from the entry of default, and hence relief under
section 473 was unavailable”]; People v.
The North River Ins. Co. (2011) 200 Ca.App.4th 712, 721 [motion
for relief under section 473 must be brought “within a reasonable time, in no
case exceeding six months”]). “The
six-month limit is mandatory; a court has no authority to grant relief under
section 473, subdivision (b), unless an application is made within the
six-month period.” (Arambula v. Union Carbide Corp. (2005) 128 Cal.App.4th 333, 340,
citations omitted.)
First, Plaintiffs’ motion is
timely. The entry of dismissal was made
on August 3, 2022. Plaintiffs then filed
their motion for relief on December 28, 2022, within six months of the entry of
the dismissal.
Second, Plaintiffs seek to set aside
the dismissal entered on August 3, 2022, due to the fault of Plaintiffs’
counsel. Plaintiffs’ motion for relief
is accompanied by the declaration of Plaintiffs’ counsel, Yoon S. Kim (Counsel),
who avers to the following: “The former handling attorney at my office left the
firm on or about July 25, 2022. This instant case, among numerous other cases,
was transferred for me to handle shortly thereafter. However, the OSC scheduled
for August 3, 2022 was not put into the case calendar and/or did not transfer
into the my calendar. Thus, I failed to appear at the OSC. As a result, the
Court dismissed the case at the OSC when no appearances were made.” (Declaration of Yoon S. Kim, ¶ 6.) Counsel concludes that the failure to calendar
the August 3, 2022, Order to Show Cause and the subsequent failure to appear
was due to Counsel’s mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or neglect.
Based on the timely request to
vacate the dismissal supported by an attorney affidavit admitting to attorney
fault, the Court finds Plaintiffs’ motion to set aside dismissal conforms with
the requirements under Code of Civil Procedure section 473, subdivision (b).
CONCLUSION
AND ORDER
Therefore, the Court grants Plaintiffs’
motion to set aside dismissal and orders the dismissal entered on August 3,
2022 vacated.
Further, the Court sets an Order to
Show Cause re Dismissal (Settlement) on April 18, 2023 at 8:30 A.M. in
Department 32. No appearance is
required at the Order to Show Cause if a Request for Dismissal is filed and dismissal
of the action is entered before the scheduled Order to Show Cause.
Plaintiffs shall provide
notice of the Court’s orders and file a proof of service of such.