Wilhelm

Plaintiff Life Savings Bank (Life) appeals from an order of the trial court denying its request for relief from mistake, inadvertence and/or excusable neglect under Code of Civil Procedure section 473. Life missed the filing deadline provided in section 726, subdivision (b), for its application for a hearing to determine the fair value of real property after a foreclosure sale in order to obtain a money judgment for the deficiency. Concurrently with filing its late application, Life filed a motion under section 473 for relief from its tardy filing. The trial court held that section 726, subdivision (b)’s three-month period for filing an application for a fair value hearing is essentially a statute of limitations and therefore relief under section 473 was not available. The trial court refused to hear Life’s section 473 motion for relief on its merits and, finding it moot, declined to hear the application for a fair value hearing. Life appeals, claiming that the trial court erred in refusing to hear its motion for relief under section 473 on its merits, because section 726, subdivision (b) is merely a procedural time line and does not act as á statute of…