Taintor v. Superior Court

213 P.2d 42, 95 Cal. App. 2d 346, 1949 Cal. App. LEXIS 1119
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 28, 1949
DocketCiv. No. 14312
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 213 P.2d 42 (Taintor v. Superior Court) 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
Taintor v. Superior Court, 213 P.2d 42, 95 Cal. App. 2d 346, 1949 Cal. App. LEXIS 1119 (Cal. Ct. App. 1949).

Opinion

PETERS, P. J.

By this proceeding in prohibition the petitioner seeks to prevent the trial court from hearing a motion for an order directing the court clerk to issue an execution to enforce the provisions of a certain judgment against petitioner on the ground that the judgment is void.

The pertinent dates are as follows :

December 16, 1933: Complaint filed and summons issued in an action for services rendered, brought by Teresa M. Smith in Santa Clara County against petitioner for $1,877 upon an open book account, and upon an account stated.

December 30, 1933: Petitioner was served in Los Angeles County with a copy of the complaint and summons.

March 16,1934: The default of petitioner was entered.

May 16, 1940: Judgment in favor of Smith and against petitioner for $1,877, plus interest and costs, entered by the Superior Court of Santa Clara County. The register of actions of that court indicates that a hearing was had on that day and the order for judgment was then filed. Attached to this exhibit is a certificate of the county clerk stating that: “On search being made for Minute entry of Superior Court Clerk of Department 2, on May 16, 1934 [sic 1940] of the Court Order for Judgment in the entitled action ... it appears that the entry was inadvertently overlooked as no such entry could be found."' At any rate, petitioner alleges, [348]*348and the allegation is admitted by the demurrer, that no notice of the May 16, 1940, hearing was given to him.

July 25,1949: Smith gave notice to petitioner that on August 19, 1949, she would move the court to issue an execution on the May 16, 1940, judgment.

August 12, 1949: Petitioner notified Smith that on August 19, 1949, he would move the court for an order dismissing the action on the ground that Smith had failed to have judgment entered within three years of service of summons as required by section 581a of the Code of Civil Procedure.

August 19, 1949: Hearing of petitioner’s motion.

August 29, 1949: Petitioner’s motion denied and Smith’s motion set for hearing September 12, 1949.

September 8, 1949: This petition for prohibition filed and an alternative writ issued.

The main contentions of petitioner are that the judgment of May 16, 1940, was void and beyond the jurisdiction of the court in that it was entered in direct violation of the provisions of section 581a, and that such judgment was also void in that petitioner received no notice of the hearing which culminated in the entry of the judgment. Neither contention is sound.

The pertinent paragraph of section 581a reads as follows:

"All actions, heretofore or hereafter commenced, must be dismissed by the court in which the same may be pending, on its own motion, or on the motion of any party interested therein, if summons has been served, and no answer has been filed, if plaintiff fails, or has failed, to have judgment entered within three years after service of summons. ...”

In the instant case the default was entered within three years of the service of summons, but the judgment was not entered until nearly seven years . after that date. The law is now well settled that, while the entry of the judgment in default eases more than three years after service of summons may be error, such error must be corrected either by an appeal from the judgment or on a motion under section 473 of the Code of Civil Procedure made within six months of the entry of the default. At most, the judgment is erroneous, but it is good on its face, and within the jurisdiction of the court. In Phillips v. Trusheim, 25 Cal.2d 913 [156 P.2d 25], the complaint was filed and summons served in 1938, the default was entered in 1939, and judgment was entered in 1942. Within 60 days of the date of entry of judgment Trusheim moved to vacate, but he did not appeal [349]*349from the judgment. The trial court granted the motion to vacate, but this order was reversed on appeal. The Supreme Court stated the proper rules as follows (p. 916): “It is well settled that a trial court has jurisdiction to render a default judgment more than ‘three years after service of summons’ (Code Civ. Proc., § 581a) although such a judgment is erroneous and subject to direct attack upon an appeal from it. (Lynch v. Bencini, 17 Cal.2d 521 [110 P.2d 662]; Pavlovich v. Watts, 46 Cal.App.2d 103 [115 P.2d 511]; Merner Lumber Co. v. Silvey, 29 Cal.App.2d 426 [84 P.2d 1062].) But if the judgment was entered against Trusheim through the inadvertence or improvidence of the trial court, it had the power independent of statute, to correct the mistake by amending or setting aside the judgment (Estate of Burnett, 11 Cal.2d 259 [79 P.2d 89]; Treat v. Superior Court, 7 Cal.2d 636 [62 P.2d 147]; Holtum v. Grief, 144 Cal. 521 [78 P. 11]), as this presents no question of judicial review upon the merits. However, judicial error which occurs in the rendition of orders or judgments which are the fault of an exercise of judicial discretion may not be corrected except by statutory procedure.” The court then held that, while a motion under section 473 of the Code of Civil Procedure may be a proper way to correct the error of entering a. judgment based on a default in violation of section 581a, such motion must be made within six months of the entry of the default.

Lynch v. Bencini, 17 Cal.2d 521 [110 P.2d 662], illustrates the proper way to attack a default judgment entered in violation of section 581a. There, the action was filed in 1934, the default was entered in 1936, and judgment entered in 1939. The defendant appealed from the judgment and from the order denying his motion to vacate. The court held that the judgment was not void on its face and was immune from collateral attack, but could be set aside on an appeal from the judgment. In this connection the court cited, with approval, Cook v. Justice’s Court, 16 Cal.App.2d 745 [61 P.2d 357], and Merner Lumber Co. v. Silvey, 29 Cal.App.2d 426 [84 P.2d 1062], in both of which cases it was held that the trial court has jurisdiction to enter a default judgment in violation of section 581a, and that such judgment may not be collaterally attacked.

It is quite clear that petitioner was not entitled to notice of the hearing of May 16, .1940, as a result of which judgment was entered against him. Section 585 of the Code [350]*350of Civil Procedure provides that after entry of default, the clerk must “immediately thereafter enter judgment for the amount demanded in the complaint. . . .” No notice of this proceeding is required by the section.

In Christerson v.

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Bluebook (online)
213 P.2d 42, 95 Cal. App. 2d 346, 1949 Cal. App. LEXIS 1119, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/taintor-v-superior-court-calctapp-1949.