Hobbs

In Mediterranean Construction Co. v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. (1998) 66 Cal.App.4th 257, 266-267 , footnote 11 [ 77 Cal.Rptr.2d 781 ], we expressed our frustration with law-and-motion judges who “refuse to hold oral hearings on critical pretrial matters of considerable significance to the parties. . . . Fair warning: Both written and oral argument are complementary parts of good judging and elemental due process.”

We are here faced with such a critical pretrial matter in the statutory remedy of attachment, which allows creditors to levy on the debtor’s property before trial. Bearing in mind our obligation to strictly construe this *78 purely statutory remedy, we hold the term “hearing” requires an oral hearing at which the court may take evidence, entertain and rule on evidentiary objections, and determine the merits based on written and oral presentations.

I

Douglas M. Hobbs sued two tenants, David Weiss and Jacob Kasirer, for breach of a commercial lease agreement concerning a convalescent hospital in Costa Mesa. The lease was created in 1968 and, as amended, had a term of 25 years. A dispute arose in the mid-1980’s that the landlord claims was settled by…