Wurnitsch

Plaintiff has appealed from a judgment of dismissal which was entered following the granting of the defendant’s motion to dismiss the action on the grounds that it was not brought to trial within five years after it was filed. (Code Civ. Proc., § 583.) He contends that the judgment and the order upon which it is predicated are erroneous because it was established that the defendant driver was absent from the state so as to toll the running of the statutory period. In the establishment of that predicate, he urges that the court erred in considering whether or not he could have served the resident owners of the vehicle, and in ruling that since personal service outside of the state was authorized by the provisions of section 17460 of the Vehicle Code, the tolling provisions of the procedural statute were inapplicable. It is concluded that the plaintiff’s contentions must be sustained and the judgment of dismissal must be reversed.

The facts, as revealed by the declarations filed in connection with the motion to dismiss, by the declaration of the attorney for plaintiff, which was filed in connection with a prior motion to dismiss, and by admissions contained in the records…