Bank of America v. Superior Court

In these consolidated petitions for writ of mandate, a plaintiff and a defendant challenge the same ruling on a demurrer.

Plaintiff Jennifer Lyn Sorensen (hereafter Jennifer), a minor, argues the trial court overreached. She contends the trial court erroneously concluded certain of her claims were barred by the guardianship res judicata provision contained in Probate Code section 2103. (Statutory references are to the Probate Code unless otherwise indicated.) She wants the demurrer overruled.

Defendant Bank of America NT & SA (hereafter Bank) contends the trial court underreached. Bank argues the trial court should have sustained its demurrer so as to require that Jennifer’s nonbarred claims be heard by the superior court sitting in probate rather than in its general law jurisdiction.

We conclude the trial court properly interpreted section 2103 to require a showing of extrinsic fraud in order to overcome the res judicata effect of an order approving a guardianship accounting. We also conclude the trial court correctly determined Jennifer’s complaint failed to plead facts necessary to make this showing and could not be amended to do so. Since the trial court properly…