Judge: Wesley L. Hsu, Case: 22PSCV00900, Date: 2023-05-10 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 22PSCV00900    Hearing Date: May 10, 2023    Dept: L

Plaintiffs Zurich American Insurance Company’s and Zurich American Insurance Company of Illinois’ Application for Default Judgment is DENIED without prejudice.

Background   

Plaintiffs Zurich American Insurance Company (“ZAIC”) and Zurich American Insurance Company of Illinois (“ZAICI”) (together, “Plaintiffs”) allege as follows:

Plaintiffs are insurance carriers under the Zurich American Insurance Company umbrella. Defendant Juan Gomes aka Juan Rolando Gomez dba Gomcar Security (“Defendant”) applied for an insurance policy from ZAIC. ZAIC subsequently issued Policy No. WC 0169894-00 for the October 5, 2019-October 5, 2020 period (“Policy #1”) to Defendant. On or about January 30, 2021, Defendant became indebted to ZAICI in the amount of $23,197.00 for unpaid premiums under Policy #1. Defendant has failed to pay same. ZAIC also issued Policy No. WC 0169894-01 for the October 5, 2020-October 5, 2021 period (“Policy #2”) to Defendant. On or about February 7, 2022, Defendant became indebted to ZAICI in the amount of $28,005.00 for unpaid premiums under Policy #2. Defendant has failed to pay same.

On August 22, 2022, Plaintiffs filed a complaint, asserting causes of action against Defendant and Does 1-100 for:

1.                  Failure to Pay Insurance Premiums

2.                  Failure to Pay Insurance Premiums

On November 16, 2022, Defendant’s default was entered.

An Order to Show Cause Re: Default is set for May 10, 2023.

Discussion

Plaintiffs’ Application for Default Judgment is denied without prejudice. The following defects are noted:

1.                  Paragraph 2 of Request for Entry of Default (Judicial Council Form CIV-100) filed April 6, 2023 as to ZAIC only identifies $23,197.00 as the “[d]emand of complaint,” with $1,793.52 in interest and $534.00 in costs, for a total of $25,524.52. The aforesaid Judicial Council form suggests that Plaintiffs are seeking to recover on Policy #1 only [see above]. These amounts do not match the amounts listed in the proposed judgment and in the Declarations of Rodolfo Gaba, Jr. (See ¶¶ 2 and 3) and Sheryl Totzke (See 2:27-4:10). The proposed default judgment and the aforesaid declarations indicate that ZAIC seeks $25,524.52 in connection with Policy #1, and that ZAICI seeks $30,701.94 in connection with Policy #2. These amounts must be reconciled.