In Re Marriage of Liu

I concur in the decision and in all parts of the opinion except that dealing with the new trial.

As the lead opinion points out, the trial court had no jurisdiction to address the motion for new trial after the 60 days had run. The role of an appellate court is to review for error. It is absurd to have this court scrutinize the merits of a motion which the trial court did not have the power to grant. How could a trial court be faulted for abusing its discretion when it had no discretion but could legally go only one way? Appellate courts have enough to do. Jurisdiction means jurisdiction. The Shepard rule should be repudiated. Perhaps our Supreme Court can be persuaded to do it.

STONE (P.G.), J. [*]

Appellant Pei-Li Chou Liu (Pei-Li) appeals from a judgment annulling her marriage to respondent Danny Chung Liu (Danny) on the ground that Danny's consent to the marriage was obtained by Pei-Li's fraud. (Civ. Code, § 4425, subd. (d).) Pei-Li contends on appeal that the trial court erred when it denied her motion for new trial, and that the judgment annulling her marriage to Danny is not supported by substantial evidence. We affirm.

Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to respondent ( Crawford v. Southern Pacific Co. (1935) 3 Cal.2d 427, 429 [ 45 P.2d 183 ]), the record discloses that Danny, who is a naturalized American citizen from Taiwan, took a vacation in July of 1983 to Taiwan where he met Pei-Li, a Taiwanese national. The meeting had been arranged by Pei-Li's sister, whom Danny knew through his church. Danny and Pei-Li met approximately five or six times during Danny's two-week vacation in Taiwan.

After returning to the United States, Danny kept in contact with Pei-Li by telephone and letter. Eventually, Danny decided that he wanted to marry Pei-Li, and returned to Taiwan in March of 1984 "to see what [was] going to happen between…

Appellant Pei-Li Chou Liu (Pei-Li) appeals from a judgment annulling her marriage to respondent Danny Chung Liu (Danny) on the ground that Danny’s consent to the marriage was obtained by Pei-Li’s fraud. (Civ. Code, § 4425, subd. (d).) Pei-Li contends on appeal that the trial court erred when it denied her motion for new trial, and that the judgment annulling her marriage to Danny is not supported by substantial evidence. We affirm.

I. Facts

Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to respondent (Crawford v. Southern Pacific Co. (1935) 3 Cal.2d 427, 429 [ 45 P.2d 183 ]), the record discloses that Danny, who is a naturalized American citizen from Taiwan, took a vacation in July of 1983 to Taiwan where he met Pei-Li, a Taiwanese national. The meeting had been arranged by Pei-Li’s sister, whom Danny knew through his church. Danny and Pei-Li met approximately five or six times during Danny’s two-week vacation in Taiwan.

After returning to the United States, Danny kept in contact with Pei-Li by telephone and letter. Eventually, Danny decided that he wanted to marry Pei-Li, and returned to Taiwan in March of 1984 “to see what [was] going to happen between us.” During…