Staten

Plaintiffs Jack F. Staten and Jane Staten won a judgment in Nevada against Jack R. Armstrong. (For convenience, we refer to the Statens collectively as “plaintiff,” as did the trial court.) Thereafter plaintiff filed separate suits naming Armstrong, Leah Heale (Armstrong’s mother), and Elizabeth Part (Armstrong’s aunt), as defendants, alleging that Armstrong had fraudulently transferred real property in California to Heale and Part to avoid the enforcement of the Nevada judgment. The suits were consolidated for court trial.

After a six-day trial, the trial court issued a tentative decision in favor of defendants. Plaintiff requested a statement of decision, but the trial court rejected the request as untimely. The court then denied plaintiff’s motion to withdraw the order rejecting his request for a statement of decision.

Plaintiff contends: (1) the trial court erred in ruling his request for a statement of decision untimely and in denying his motion to withdraw its order rejecting the request; (2) because his request for a statement of decision was timely, the court’s failure to issue a statement of decision is reversible error; (3) the court erred in admitting an…