Lum

Plaintiffs Clifford Lum and La Vana Newton sued defendants Mission Inn Foundation, Inc., Redevelopment Agency of the City of Riverside, and Douglas Shackelton for damages arising from a fire in plaintiffs’ apartment at the Mission Inn in Riverside. The matter was submitted to mandatory arbitration pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure, section 1141.10 et seq. On May 24, 1984, the arbitrator filed his award finding plaintiffs should recover nothing against defendants.

On June 1, 1984, plaintiffs filed with the superior court clerk a request for trial de novo. The request was filed well within the 20-day period then prescribed by section 1141.20, subdivision (a), and California Rules of Court, rule 1616 (a). However, apparently through a secretarial error, plaintiffs’ counsel failed to serve defendants with the request or attach any proof of service to the request filed with the superior court as required by rule 1616 (a) (see fn. 2, ante). As it turned out, however, defendants’ counsel received actual notice on June 8, 1984, when, after receiving from the court clerk a notice of trial setting conference, he telephoned the clerk and learned the request for trial de novo had…