Tandy Corp. v. Superior Court

Petitioner, a defendant in a wrongful death action, seeks a writ of mandate and/or prohibition to compel the grant of its motions to quash service and dismiss it from the action on the ground that service and return of summons had not occurred within three years of the commencement of the action as required by Code of Civil Procedure section 581a, subdivision (a).

On June 29, 1981, respondent trial court denied petitioner’s motions and ruled that in accord with Hocharian v. Superior Court (1981) 28 Cal.3d 714 [ 170 Cal.Rptr. 790 , 621 P.2d 829 ], real parties in interest had complied with Code of Civil Procedure section 581a, subdivision (a), in that they “used reasonable diligence in prosecuting their case.” Our Supreme Court granted petitioner’s petition for hearing on August 13, 1981, and transferred the matter to this court for further proceedings (see below).

Petitioner contends that (1) it was an abuse of discretion for the trial court to find that real parties in interest used reasonable diligence; (2) there was no factual basis for the trial court’s further finding that no prejudice to petitioner was caused by the delay of the real parties in interest; and (3)…