Murray & Murray v. Raissi Real Estate Development, LLC

— Appellant Raissi Real Estate Development, LLC (Raissi), appeals from the order denying its motion to set aside default and default judgment, as well as the default judgment itself. Respondent Murray & Murray, a professional corporation, filed a civil complaint against Raissi seeking recovery of unpaid legal fees incurred in a bankruptcy proceeding. After multiple unsuccessful attempts at personal service, Murray & Murray obtained permission from the trial court to serve Raissi by publication. After the time for Raissi to respond expired, Murray & Murray obtained a default judgment in the amount of $372,403.81. Raissi claims it first learned of Murray & Murray’s lawsuit, and the default judgment, after it received a lien notice from the County of Santa Clara with the abstract of judgment attached.

On appeal, Raissi argues the trial court erred in denying the motion to set aside default and default judgment on the grounds that Murray & Murray failed to comply with Code of Civil Procedure section 587, which requires the application for entry of default and default judgment be mailed to the defendant’s last known address. Murray & Murray instead declared that Raissi’s…