Denton

*781 Plaintiff Richard Denton filed a lawsuit against defendants City and County of San Francisco, his employer, and John Doyle, his supervisor (when referred to collectively, defendants). Defendants filed a motion for summary judgment, and in the weeks leading up to the hearing on the motion the parties engaged in settlement discussions. That led to a *782 settlement-for $250,000-and Denton's then-counsel filed a notice of conditional settlement. A week later, after Denton had discharged his attorney, defendants' counsel successfully applied ex parte to have the settlement set aside-this, despite Denton twice assuring defendants' counsel that he was not backing out of the settlement. Four days later, defendants' summary judgment motion came on for hearing. Denton, appearing in propria persona, and insisting the parties had agreed to a settlement, requested a continuance so he could oppose the motion. The trial court denied the request and granted defendants' motion on the ground it was unopposed. Denton then filed a motion for new trial, which the trial court denied.

We reverse, concluding the trial court abused its discretion in denying Denton's request to continue the hearing…