Judge: Olivia Rosales, Case: VC067167, Date: 2022-08-31 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: VC067167    Hearing Date: August 31, 2022    Dept: SEC

MICHEL v. SANTOYO

CASE NO.:  VC067167

HEARING:  8/31/22 @ 1:30 PM

JUDGE:  OLIVIA ROSALES

 

#Add-On 3

TENTATIVE RULING

 

Defendants A. and S. Serrato’s motion for an order enforcing the parties’ settlement agreement is DENIED.

 

Opposing Parties to give NOTICE.

 

 

Defendants Araceli and Saul Serrato move to enter judgment pursuant to CCP § 664.6.

 

If parties to pending litigation stipulate, in a writing signed by the parties outside the presence of the court or orally before the court, for settlement of the case, or part thereof, the court, upon motion, may enter judgment pursuant to the terms of the settlement.  If requested by the parties, the court may retain jurisdiction over the parties to enforce the settlement until performance in full of the terms of the settlement.  (CCP § 664.6.)  The agreement must be sufficiently definite to enable courts to give it an exact meaning.  If an essential element is reserved for future agreement, it is not sufficiently definite.  (See Weddington Productions, Inc. v. Flick (1998) 60 Cal.App.4th 793, 810-812.)  The Court is authorized to enter judgment pursuant to the terms of a settlement agreement that is orally stipulated to before the Court.  (Estate of Dipinto (1986) 188 Cal.App.3d 625.)

 

The Serratos and Blanca Michel (“Blanca”) entered into a settlement agreement on April 22, 2022, agreeing to the following relevant settlement terms:

 

·        In the event Blanca is unable to fund the $575,000.00 buy back of the Property within 120 days, of the Effective Date of this Agreement as set forth in paragraph 2(a) of this Agreement, Blanca shall immediately vacate the Property and surrender possession of the Property to the Serratos no later than the close of business on August 22, 2022.  (Yanco Decl., Ex. A, ¶ 4(a).)

·        The “Effective Date” is April 22, 2022.  (Id., page 1.)

·        The Serratos will "hire" Aaron Ali by August 26, 2022, and will “list” the property by September 1, 2022.  (Id., ¶ 4(b) and (c).)

 

120 days from April 22, 2022 is August 20, 2022, which is a Saturday. 

 

Blanca contends that she could not perform by August 20, 2022 because Escrow was closed on Saturday and Sunday and the bank does not wire over the weekend.  (Opposition, Ex. 4, Lopez Decl., ¶ 2.)  The wired funds were received on Monday, August 22, 2022, but could not be delivered because the Serratos refused to provide the information.  (Id.)

 

CC § 11 provides, “Whenever any act of a secular nature… is appointed by law or contract to be performed upon a particular day, which day falls upon a holiday, it may be performed upon the next business day, with the same effect as if it had been performed upon the day appointed.”  (CC § 11.)

 

“Holidays within the meaning of this code are every Sunday and such other days as are specified or provided for as holidays in the Government Code of the State of California.”  (CC § 7.)

 

The court must determine whether Saturday qualifies as a “holiday.”

 

The Code does not provide any extensions for “escrow.”  Therefore, only the banking code sections are applicable to this case.

 

CC § 7.1 provides, “Optional bank holidays within the meaning of Section 9 are… (b) every Saturday.”  (CC § 7.1.)

 

CC § 9 provides, “All other days than those mentioned in Section 7 are business days for all purposes; provided, that as to any act appointed by… contract… to be performed by, at, or through any bank… any optional bank holiday as defined in Section 7.1 is not a business day; and provided, that any act appointed by… contract… to be performed on any day which is an optional bank holiday as defined in Section 7.1, by, at, or through any bank… may be performed on that optional bank holiday if the bank or branch or office by, at, or through which the act is to be performed is open for the transaction of business on that optional bank holiday, or, at the option of the person obligated to perform the act, it may be performed on the next succeeding business day.

 

The court interprets CC §§ 7.1 and 9 to provide that Blanca may perform the contract on Saturday, if the bank is open for business, or may elect to perform the contract “on the next succeeding business day.”  Therefore, Blanca’s performance on August 22, 2022 is timely.

 

The Serratos’ motion to enforce the settlement is DENIED. 

 

Blanca did not move to enforce the Serratos’ performance, so that issue remains outstanding.