Court Opinion

ID: 9795027
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 03:16:21.480355+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:22:52.326132
License: Public Domain

CARTER, J.
I dissent. In this ease it is undisputed that counsel for the executors filed a petition in the estate proceedings for the allowance of attorney’s fees; that notice of the hearing on that petition was given in all respects as required by law; that thereafter the matter was heard legally and properly; no opposition was offered to the petition for the' order fixing the fees. After the order allowing the fees was made the court vacated the order purporting to act pursuant to section 473 of the Code of Civil Procedure. There was no basis whatsoever for its action. The sole excuse offered by one of the heirs for failing to oppose the petition for fees and for relief under section 473 was that he failed to take cognizance of the petition and notice. There was no fraud, trickery, deceit or mistake. There was nothing but pure and simple neglect to oppose the petition. There is no excuse for that neglect. A court is authorized to vacate an order or judgment only when it is taken against a party because of “his mistake, inadvertence, surprise or excusable neglect.” (Code Civ. Proc., § 473.) Hence, the case falls squarely within the rule that a court has no power to make an order affecting an order or judgment theretofore made unless there is a ground therefor fixed by statute or some rule of law. There must have existed one of the conditions mentioned in section 473 before the court had authority to act. It necessarily follows that the court acted in *791excess of its jurisdiction and that being true the order of vacation should be annulled on certiorari.
Although the majority opinion seeks to distinguish the numerous authorities which hold that an order vacating a former order will be annulled on certiorari where there existed no grounds for its action, the case is closely analogous to Treat v. Superior Court, 7 Cal.2d 636 [62 P.2d 147], where the trial court purported to set aside its findings upon a motion for a new trial where there were no ascertainable grounds for doing so. This court annulled the order on certiorari on the ground that the court exceeded its jurisdiction. The court stated at page 638:
“Petitioner argues that the trial court in granting said motion to vacate and set aside the findings and judgment in said actions acted without and in excess of its jurisdiction and, therefore, the minute order just quoted is void and may be vacated and annulled on certiorari. There is no question that if the trial court had not the power to vacate and set aside its original findings and judgment, the order purporting to do so may be annulled on certiorari. (Stanton v. Superior Court, 202 Cal. 478 [261 P. 1001] ; see, also, Lankton v. Superior Court, 5 Cal.2d 694 [55 P.2d 1170].) In Stanton v. Superior Court, supra, the court said: ‘To require review• to be by appeal of every unauthorized order or judgment attacking the proceedings by which the regular judgment was given and made would necessarily embarrass, if not destroy, the efficiency of our whole legal system.’
“The sole question, therefore, presented is whether or not the minute order complained of, as made and entered, was beyond the power of the trial court to make.....And nowhere in the statutes is the failure of a party to serve the opposite party with a copy of the proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law specified as a ground for setting aside or vacating a judgment.
“There are two possible sources of authority for making the order upon which the trial court could have relied. One such source is the express statutory authority conferred upon the court by the provisions of section 662 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which is to be exercised in conjunction with, and as a part of, the court’s duty to rule upon a motion for a new trial. . . . The other source of authority, which might have been relied upon by the trial court as a basis for the order of *792annulment, is the inherent power of the court, independent of statutory provisions, to correct mistakes in its proceedings and to annul within a reasonable time orders and judgments prematurely, inadvertently, or improvidently made by the court. . . .
“It follows that if the trial court had in fact proceeded under the power conferred by said section 662 of the Code of Civil Procedure in the making of the order complained of, the making of such order would have been within the power of the court, and such order could not be successfully attacked. ... Or if the order granting the motion to set aside and vacate the original findings of fact and conclusions of law and judgment had been based upon the fact that said findings of fact and conclusion of law and judgment had been signed prematurely or improvidently, or under the mistaken belief of the trial judge that they had been served on the opposite party, said order would have been within the power of the trial court to make and would be sustained as a proper and valid order. ’ ’
In Whitley v. Superior Court, 18 Cal.2d 75 [113 P.2d 449], this court held that the trial court acted in excess of its jurisdiction in granting a new trial on insufficiency of the evidence where it failed to specify that as the ground. It was said at page 82:
“Finally, as. an objection to a determination of the validity of these nunc pro tunc orders, respondent urges the point that a writ of review is not a proper proceeding in this case, as petitioner has her remedy by appeal. Respondent here calls attention to the general rule that ceritorari may not be used as a substitute for appeal (4 Cal.Jur. 1052). But it is likewise well recognized that an order which is not provided for in our procedure is not an appealable order within the meaning of section 1068, Code of Civil Procedure, and an application for a writ of review is the proper remedy. (Treat v. Superior Court, 7 Cal.2d 636 [62 P.2d 147]; Stanton v. Superior Court, 202 Cal. 478 [261 P. 1001]; Diamond v. Superior Court, 189 Cal. 732 [210 P. 36]; Quevedo v. Superior Court, 131 Cal.App. 698 [21 P.2d 998] ; Holquin v. Allison, 97 Cal.App. 126 [274 P. 1037].) When a statute prescribes a definite procedure and the court acts contrary to the authority thus conferred, it has exceeded its jurisdiction and certiorari will lie to correct such excess. (Rodman v. Superior Court, 13 Cal.2d 262 [89 P.2d 109].)’,’ (See to the same effect Estate of Paulsen, 35 Cal. *793App. 654 [170 P. 855] ; Stanton v. Superior Court, 202 Cal. 478 [261 P. 1001]; Diamond v. Superior Court, 189 Cal. 732 [210 P. 36]; Bottoms v. Superior Court, 82 Cal.App. 764 [256 P. 422] ; Younger v. Superior Court, 136 Cal. 682 [69 P. 485] ; Security-First Nat. Bank v. Superior Court, 1 Cal.2d 749 [37 P.2d 69]; Fortenbury v. Superior Court, 16 Cal.2d 405 [106 P.2d 411] ; Hill v. Superior Court, 16 Cal.2d 527 [106 P.2d 876]; Abelleira v. District Court of Appeal, 17 Cal.2d 280 [109 P.2d 942, 132 A.L.R. 715] ; Golden State Glass Corp. v. Superior Court, 13 Cal.2d 384 [90 P.2d 75]; Evans v. Superior Court, 14 Cal.2d 563 [96 P.2d 107].)
The majority opinion also concludes that certiorari is not an available remedy because there is an appeal. It arrives at that conclusion by reasoning that although there is no appeal from the order vacating the order allowing fees, the matter is now set at large and an appeal will lie from the ultimate order denying fees if one is made. That reasoning is wholly contrary to the cases above cited on the subject of jurisdiction. Not only is no effort made to distinguish them with reference to the non-existence of a right to appeal as a prerequisite to certiorari, but they are not even mentioned. For illustration in both the Whitley and Treat cases there can be no doubt that even if there was no ground to grant a new trial there would be an. appeal from the judgment entered after the new trial was had. Yet that problem is discussed and disposed of in the above quotation from the Whitley case, decided by this court on May 28, 1941. The .cases furnish many illustrations of situations in which certiorari is permitted although there would be an appeal from any subsequent judgment entered following the proceedings ensuing as the result of the order attacked. For example the following instances have been held appropriate situations for the use of certiorari: Where a court enters another and different judgment after final judgment (Barry v. Superior Court, 91 Cal. 486 [27 P. 763]); an order vacating a judgment, which is void on its face, because the order is made more than 6 months after entry (Tinn v. United States District Attorney, 148 Cal. 773 [84 P. 152, 113 Am.St. Rep. 354]; Moore v. Superior Court, 86 Cal. 495 [25 P. 22]; Dean v. Superior Court, 63 Cal. 473); an order vacating an order settling a final account (Security-First Nat. Bank v. Superior Court, 1. Cal.2d 749 [37 P.2d 69]).
The majority opinion relies upon Shrimpton v. Superior *794Court, 22 Cal.2d 562 [139 P.2d 889], but that case approves the cases heretofore cited and points out that the very order which was under attack by certiorari was itself an appealable order. That is obviously not true in the instant case as is conceded by the majority opinion. It will be noted that in the concurring opinion in the Shrimpton case, signed by the author of the majority opinion in this case, the express basis for not allowing certiorari was that the order under attack was appealable.
In my opinion the contention of respondents that counsel for petitioners stipulated that the order might be vacated is without merit, as it seems clear to me that the colloquy between the court and counsel at the hearing of the motion is not susceptible to such interpretation.
In my opinion the writ should issue annulling the order complained of.