Extreme Transportation v. Salazar CA4/1

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 17, 2024
DocketD083027
StatusUnpublished

This text of Extreme Transportation v. Salazar CA4/1 (Extreme Transportation v. Salazar CA4/1) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Extreme Transportation v. Salazar CA4/1, (Cal. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

Filed 9/17/24 Extreme Transportation v. Salazar CA4/1

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

EXTREME TRANSPORTATION, INC., D083027

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v. (Super. Ct. No. 37-2019- 00059072-CU-BC-CTL)

JONATHAN SALAZAR

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Ronald F. Frazier, Judge. The appeal is construed as a petition for writ of mandate and denied; motion to dismiss is denied as moot. Webb Law Group and Lenden F. Webb for Defendant and Appellant. Landay Roberts, John K. Landay, and Waddy Stephenson for Plaintiff and Respondent.

In 2021, Jonathan Salazar successfully moved to set aside a default judgment entered against him and in favor of Extreme Transportation, Inc. (ETI) on the grounds that he was not properly served with the summons and the complaint. ETI appealed that order, and this court reversed, concluding Salazar had been served effectively by substitute service at his usual mailing address. We directed the trial court to enter an order denying Salazar’s motion and to re-enter the default judgment in favor of ETI. Thereafter, Salazar renewed his motion to set aside the default

judgment under Code of Civil Procedure section 1008, subdivision (b)1, asserting new evidence established he was not properly served. The trial court denied the motion, and Salazar now appeals. In response, ETI moved to dismiss the appeal as taken from a nonappealable order. We agree with ETI that an order denying a renewed motion under section 1008, subdivision (b) is not appealable, but we exercise our discretion to treat Salazar’s appeal as a petition for writ of mandate and deny the petition. Because Salazar did not show diligence and a reasonable explanation for failing to present the purported new evidence at the time of his initial motion to vacate the default judgment, the trial court properly denied Salazar’s renewed motion. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND The underlying facts of the dispute are set forth in our prior opinion in this case, Perham v. Salazar (Jan. 18, 2023, D079713) [nonpub. opn.]

(Perham).2 Therein, we explained that ETI filed its complaint against Salazar on November 6, 2019, alleging breach of the Independent Contractor Service Agreement the parties entered the prior year. (Ibid.) “Under the Agreement, Salazar provided ETI with freight transportation services. In the

1 Subsequent undesignated statutory references are to the Code of Civil Procedure.

2 James Perham is the chief executive officer of ETI and the assignee of the default judgment obtained by ETI. (Perham, supra, D079713.) 2 Agreement, Salazar listed his address as 14031 Woodland Drive, Fontana, California. ETI’s complaint alleged that Salazar breached the Agreement by failing to reimburse ETI for fuel costs and by damaging property he was responsible for transporting. According to the complaint, Salazar stopped providing services to and responding to email messages from ETI on July 8, 2019.” (Ibid.) On three consecutive days, a process server attempted to personally serve the summons and complaint on Salazar at the Woodland Drive address. “The following day, November 11, 2019, to effect substitute service under Code of Civil Procedure section 415.20, subdivision (b), the process server left a copy of the summons and complaint with Salazar’s sister, Yese[n]ia Salazar, at the Woodland Drive address and mailed copies of the documents to the same address. In a declaration submitted in connection with ETI’s opposition to Salazar’s subsequent motion to set aside the default judgment, the process server stated that Yese[n]ia confirmed to him that Salazar resided at the address and that he also received mail there.” (Perham, supra, D079713.) “On January 8, 2020, ETI submitted a request for entry of default, which the court clerk entered that day. Default judgment was eventually entered by the court clerk on August 20, 2020 for $61,332.46. Over a year later, on September 13, 2021, a bank levy was executed on Salazar’s personal bank account by the Los Angeles Sheriff.” (Perham, supra, D079713.) In response to the bank levy, “Salazar filed a claim of exemption with the Los Angeles Sheriff. After receiving the claim of exemption, Perham responded by filing a motion in the trial court for an order to determine the claim. Salazar then filed an ex parte application to shorten time to file a motion to

3 stay execution of the judgment and to set aside the default judgment as void under section 473, subdivision (d).” (Ibid.) “In his motion, Salazar asserted that service of the complaint was ineffective because he did not live at the Woodlands Drive address at the time of the substituted service. [¶] Perham opposed the application, arguing that a stay of enforcement was not appropriate because Salazar could not show a likelihood of prevailing since he was properly served with the summons and complaint. Perham pointed to Salazar’s address on the Agreement and other evidence suggesting Salazar received mail at Woodland Drive.” (Perham, supra, D079713.) In addition, at Perham’s request, the trial court took “judicial notice of documents filed by Salazar with the California Secretary of State showing that Salazar formed and operated a business, Jonathan’s Transportation Inc., from the Woodland Drive address around the time of the substituted service.” (Ibid.) “The trial court granted the ex parte application to shorten time and set a hearing and briefing schedule on Salazar’s motion to set aside the default judgment.” (Perham, supra, D079713.) On October 28, 2021, the trial court granted Salazar’s motion and Perham appealed from the order setting aside the default judgment. (Ibid.) This court considered the appeal and overturned the trial court’s order granting Salazar’s motion. We rejected Salazar’s claim that he had not been properly served by substitute service at the Woodland Drive address because Salazar presented no evidence to refute the evidence establishing the home was his usual mailing address. (Ibid.) After the trial court regained jurisdiction in the case, Salazar filed a “Renewed Motion to Set Aside Judgment Pursuant to Cal. Code of Civ. Proc. § 473(d).” Therein, Salazar asserted that ETI had “obtained a bad faith default judgment” and that this court reversed the order granting relief from

4 that default because “the trial court record did not adequately address ‘whether Woodland Drive was [Mr. Salazar’s] usual mailing address.’ ” Further, Salazar asserted his motion sought “the same order” as the earlier motion to set aside the default judgment pursuant to section 473, subdivision (d), “but on new or different facts and circumstances, pursuant to” section 1008, subdivision (b). Specifically, Salazar argued that additional testimony he obtained from Yesenia and his parents after the appeal corroborated his assertion that “the Woodland Drive address was not his usual place of mailing.” Further, he asserted that he “updated his mailing address with [ETI] months before” the lawsuit was filed. In support of this assertion, Salazar’s counsel, Christopher E. Nichols, submitted an email from Salazar to ETI’s counsel, dated August 2, 2019, stating that Salazar “found this email in my junk mail and recently received the letters from a[n] address I do not reside at any more,” and

providing ETI with his new address in Eastvale, California.3 The email shows it was forwarded from Salazar to Nichols on September 15, 2021.

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Extreme Transportation v. Salazar CA4/1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/extreme-transportation-v-salazar-ca41-calctapp-2024.