Mitchell v. Sotelo CA3

I. BACKGROUND

On September 6, 2018, the court clerk entered the defaults of Kathleen Emerson and Daniel R. Enos, defendants in case No. CV-18-889, as requested by plaintiffs Dr. Frederick Mitchell, Krista Mitchell, and Davis Animal Rescue. On September 10, 2018, the trial court conducted a case management conference at which Frederick Mitchell, Emerson, and Enos appeared in propria persona. The parties disputed the validity of the defaults in light of the court’s ruling on defendants’ demurrer and motion to quash. The case management judge reviewed a minute order issued on the ruling and stated: “The Court has no record re[garding an] oral argument request on the demur[rer]. So the demur[rer] to the [c]omplaint [was] dropped from the calendar. The motion to quash proof of service and demur[rer] dropped from calendar. It does not mean it’s denied. It’s dropped from calendar because evidently the person filing the demur[rer] or persons did not make a request for oral argument when the tentative ruling came out. So there—whether or not the entry of default is appropriate, I cannot make a decision. So what I’m going to do is I’m going to continue this matter until January 7th and…