RCA Corp. v. Superior Court

On these proceedings in prohibition we are concerned with Code of Civil Procedure section 581a which, as relevant to the issue before us, provides:

The narrow issue before us may be stated in this manner: Where summons is served, but not returned, within three years, is a written but unfiled stipulation of the parties, extending a defendant’s time “within which to appear in the . . . action” to a date within the three-year period, tantamount to a “general appearance” for the purpose of section 581a?

It is said that a “general appearance is not necessarily a formal, technical step or act” (Brown v. Douglas Aircraft Co. (1958) 166 Cal.App.2d 232, 236 [ 333 P.2d 59 ]); this concept is expressly made applicable to a general appearance under section 581a (O’Keefe v. Miller (1965) 231 Cal.App.2d 920, 925-926 [ 42 Cal.Rptr. 343 ]). At least as applied to section 581a, the provisions of Code of Civil Procedure section 1014 as to what constitutes a general appearance are “doubtless too broad.” (Davenport v. Superior Court (1920) 183 Cal. 506, 511 [ 191 P. 911 ].) The purpose of the latter statute is to insure that defendants who have complied with it, will receive “notice of all…