Wolf Metals Inc. v. Rand Pacific Sales Inc.

In the underlying action, the trial court entered a default judgment in favor of respondent Wolf Metals Inc., on its complaint against Rand Pacific Sales Inc. (RPS). Following efforts to enforce the judgment, Wolf Metals requested that the judgment be amended to name appellants Donald Koh and South Gate Steel, Inc. (SGS), as additional judgment debtors. The trial court granted the request, concluding that Koh was RPS’s alter ego and that SGS was RPS’s successor corporation. On appeal, Koh and SGS challenge the amendment to the default judgment. We conclude that pursuant to our Supreme Court’s decision in Motores de Mexicali v. Superior Court (1958) 51 Cal.2d 172 [ 331 P.2d 1 ] (Motores), the default judgment could not be amended to add Koh as an alter ego to the judgment. We further conclude that the judgment was properly amended to add SGS as a corporate successor. Accordingly, we reverse the amended judgment in part and affirm it in part.

RELEVANT FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Wolf Metals’s complaint, filed December 23, 2009, asserted claims for open book account, account stated, and breach of contract against RPS. The complaint alleged that from March 2008 to…