Levine

Lawrence O. Smith, in pro per, Respondent.

YEGAN, Acting P.J.

Carol Ann Levine appeals from a Santa Barbara Superior Court order setting aside her $2.5 million Alameda Superior Court default judgment. The default judgment was set aside as void because it is greater than the amount demanded in her first amended complaint. (Code Civ. Proc., § 580; Greenup v. Rodman (1986) 42 Cal.3d 822, 826 , 231 Cal.Rptr. 220 , 726 P.2d 1295 .) [1] We affirm.

Respondent Lawrence G. Smith (respondent) is an attorney who represented appellant from 1995 to 1997 in a sexual harassment and gender bias action against the University of California (University). Respondent was appellant's third attorney and filed first and second amended complaints which were demurred to by University. Respondent urged Appellant to hire new counsel and was granted permission to withdraw as appellant's attorney.

In 2001, appellant sued respondent and her other attorneys in Alameda County Superior Court based on theories of professional negligence, breach of contract, and fraud. ( Appellant v. Moriarty, et al., Alameda County Sup.Ct., Case No. 790398-8.) The sixteenth cause of action for emotional distress was also based…