Rosales

I.

Superficially, this appeal follows the pattern of several welfare reimbursement cases that have recently come before this court: In the early 1990’s, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office on behalf of the County of Orange filed a complaint for reimbursement of welfare monies expended on the defendant’s children, the defendant filed no answer, and the county quickly obtained a preliminary (expedited) child support order. The county then did nothing about the case for about a decade. During that time the defendant did not pay on the preliminary order. Interest mounted up. Then the county obtained a default judgment for a comparatively large sum (as we shall see, an astronomically large sum in comparison to the defendant’s probable earning potential). In response to the default judgment, the defendant made a motion to dismiss the case based on the fact it hadn’t been brought to trial within five years of the filing of the complaint. (See Code Civ. Proc., §§ 583.310, 583.360.) The trial court granted the motion, and the county appealed from the ensuing order of dismissal.

But this case has a big difference—this time we will affirm the trial court’s dismissal…