Vandermoon
Vandermoon v. Sanwong
Opinion
Opinion
Blease, J.
Relying on Code of Civil Procedure section 473, defendants Suwich Sanwong and Clara Joyce Sanwong (hereafter collectively defendants) moved to set aside a judgment entered against them following a trial conducted in their absence on the ground that their attorney failed to inform them of the trial date.
The trial court concluded that defendants were not entitled to either discretionary or mandatory relief under section 473, subdivision (b) (hereafter section 473(b)) because the motion was not made within a reasonable time, and the judgment was neither a “default” nor a “default judgment” within the meaning of the statute.
On review, we reject the holding in In re Marriage of Hock & Gordon-Hock (2000) 80 Cal.App.4th 1438 [ 96 Cal.Rptr.2d 546 ] (Hock), and conclude that the mandatory provision of section 473(b) does not apply to a judgment entered after an uncontested trial in a defendant’s absence because such a judgment is neither a “default,” a “default judgment” nor a “dismissal” within the meaning of section 473(b). We shall therefore affirm the trial court’s denial of defendants’ motion to set aside the judgment.