Shaw

This case comes to us by certification from the Appellate Department of the Los Angeles Superior Court, following its decision affirming an order of the Municipal Court of the Santa Monica Judicial District which denied appellant Ronald Shaw’s motion to cancel and discharge a judgment. Appellant’s motion was made pursuant to the provisions of section 675b of the Code of Civil Procedure.

As we view the instant certification, the narrow question presented for our determination is whether, as a matter of law, a failure to appear and defend an action filed after a discharge in bankruptcy, and based upon an indebtedness listed in the bankruptcy proceedings, necessarily operates as a forfeiture of the bankrupt’s right to the relief provided by section 675b. We hold that it does not.

Both parties to this appeal treat the problem as if it were one invariably to be solved by the practically automatic application of an inflexible rule which necessarily governs in every case falling within the literal description of the statute. That is to say, appellant’s arguments are predicated upon the proposition that since the debt upon which the judgment was subsequently recovered was listed in…