Judge: William A. Crowfoot, Case: 22AHCV00922, Date: 2023-04-18 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 22AHCV00922    Hearing Date: April 18, 2023    Dept: 3

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES - NORTHEAST DISTRICT

This partition action was filed on October 26, 2022, by plaintiff William Henry Meurer (“Plaintiff”).  Plaintiff seeks partition by sale of the real property at 1109 Avon Place in South Pasadena, California.  Defendant Qinpei Li (“Defendant”) is Plaintiff’s co-tenant and has allegedly refused to sell the property or buy out Plaintiff’s interest in the property. 

On February 27, 2023, Plaintiff filed this motion for summary judgment pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 437c.  Plaintiff failed to give sufficient notice of this motion because Plaintiff served the motion by mail, meaning that the earliest date this motion could be heard is on May 18, 2023.  (Code Civ. Proc., §§ 437c, subd. (a) [75-day statutory period for notice increased by 5 days if notice served by mail.) 

Even if Plaintiff is correct in asserting that, in the absence of a valid waiver, Plaintiff is statutorily entitled to liquidate his interest in the jointly owned real property, as stated in Code Civil Procedure §872.710 (b) ("Except as provided in Section 872.730, partition as to concurrent interests in the property shall be as of right unless barred by a valid waiver."), that statutory entitlement does not give Plaintiff the right to ignore the notice requirements for motions for summary judgment.

Accordingly, the motion is TAKEN OFF CALENDAR.

Moving party to give notice.

Parties who intend to submit on this tentative must send an email to the Court at ALHDEPT3@lacourt.org indicating intention to submit on the tentative as directed by the instructions provided on the court website at www.lacourt.org.  Please be advised that if you submit on the tentative and elect not to appear at the hearing, the opposing party may nevertheless appear at the hearing and argue the matter.  Unless you receive a submission from all other parties in the matter, you should assume that others might appear at the hearing to argue.  If the Court does not receive emails from the parties indicating submission on this tentative ruling and there are no appearances at the hearing, the Court may, at its discretion, adopt the tentative as the final order or place the motion off calendar.

Dated this 18th day of April, 2023