Judge: Salvatore Sirna, Case: 23PSCV01294, Date: 2024-05-14 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 23PSCV01294    Hearing Date: May 14, 2024    Dept: G

Plaintiff Emad Qubrosi’s Motion to Set Aside Dismissal

Respondent: NO OPPOSITION

TENTATIVE RULING

Plaintiff Emad Qubrosi’s Motion to Set Aside Dismissal is GRANTED.

BACKGROUND

This is a personal injury action arising from an automobile collision. In April 2021, Plaintiff Emad Qubrosi alleges Defendants Rogelio Amador and Hany S. Abdelshahid rearended Qubrosi in Los Angeles. At the time of the collision, Qubrosi alleges Amador was employed by Defendant JX Express while Abdelshahid was employed by Defendant Accurate Delivery Systems, Inc. (ADS).

On April 28, 2023, Qubrosi filed a complaint against Amador, JX Express, Abdelshahid, ADS, and Does 1-10, alleging a cause of action for general negligence.

On October 5, 2023, Qubrosi’s counsel failed to appear for a case management conference and OSC Re: Failure to File Proof of Service. As a result, the Court set an OSC Re: Sanctions and Dismissal for October 18, 2023. After Qubrosi’s counsel failed to appear on October 18, 2023, the Court dismissed Qubrosi’s Complaint without prejudice pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 575.2.

On April 12, 2024, Qubrosi filed the present motion. A hearing on the motion is set for May 14, 2024.

ANALYSIS

Qubrosi seeks to vacate the Court’s dismissal of Qubrosi’s action on the grounds of counsel’s neglect, mistake, or inadvertence. For the following reasons, the Court GRANTS Qubrosi’s motion.

Legal Standard

Whenever an application for relief from dismissal is made no more than six months after entry of the judgment of dismissal, is in proper form, and is accompanied by the moving party’s sworn affidavit attesting to his or her mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect, the court may vacate any dismissal entered against the moving party unless the court finds that the dismissal was not in fact caused by the moving party’s mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect. (Code Civ. Proc., §473, subd. (b).) The court shall grant relief if the moving party’s counsel provides a “sworn affidavit attesting to his or her mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or neglect.” (Code Civ. Proc., § 473, subd. (b).) “The court shall, whenever relief is granted based on an attorney's affidavit of fault, direct the attorney to pay reasonable compensatory legal fees and costs to opposing counsel or parties.” (Code Civ. Proc., § 473, subd. (b).) “The six-month time limit for granting statutory relief is jurisdictional and the court may not consider a motion for relief made after that period has elapsed.” (Manson, Iver & York v. Black (2009) 176 Cal.App.4th 36, 42.)

Discussion

In this case, Qubrosi’s counsel, Nicholas Dagher, states counsel failed to appear for the case management conference on October 5, 2023, and October 18, 2023, due to a calendaring error. Dagher states the error arose after counsel settled another matter involving Qubrosi and staff mistakenly deleted the calendared dates for the present action rather than the settled action. (Dagher Decl., ¶ 3-5.) Dagher did not realize this error until April 2, 2024, when Qubrosi contacted Dagher about the status of the present case. (Dagher Decl., ¶ 6-7.) Based on the declaration of Dagher, the Court finds the dismissal of the present action was the result of counsel’s neglect.

Accordingly, Qubrosi’s motion is GRANTED.

CONCLUSION

Based on the foregoing, the Court GRANTS Qubrosi’s motion to vacate the dismissal of Qubrosi’s action.