Lerma

There are times when respect for the human condition dictates a compassionate response to a request for a continuance. This is one of those times.

In the case before us, plaintiffs’ counsel was served with a motion for summary judgment on the day he was admitted to the hospital to have his cancerous bladder removed. The attorney was unaware that he had been served with the motion until the day after he was released from the hospital. He then had two business days in which to obtain affidavits, and prepare and file an opposition to the motion, or lose his clients’ case. Even though the attorney was in no condition to work, he managed to timely file a perfunctory opposition, together with a gut-wrenching request for a continuance. He was largely nonspecific as to the particular affidavits he might file, and the explicit facts he might adduce in opposition to the motion, if only he had the time to do so. He was, however, painfully specific about the reasons why he was in a position to be no more complete at that moment in time.

The trial court applied Code of Civil Procedure section 437c, subdivision (h), to deny the continuance request, and thereafter put an end to…