Court Opinion

ID: 9546553
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 17:32:00.913488+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:16:36.312273
License: Public Domain

TRAYNOR, J.
I dissent.
The present action is an independent suit in equity commenced after the expiration of the time for relief under section 473 of the Code of Civil Procedure. (Title Ins. & Trust Co. v. King etc. Co., 162 Cal. 44 [120 P. 1066] ; Hunt, Mirk & Co., Inc. v. Hesperides Mining Co., 200 Cal. 382 [253 P. 317]; Knox v. Superior Court, 100 Cal.App. 452, 454 [280 P. 375].) The remedy afforded by section 473 is akin to the common law power of courts to vacate their own judgments during the term they were rendered. (Olivera v. Grace, 19 Cal.2d 570, 574 [122 P.2d 564, 140 A.L.R. 1328].) For the most part the cases cited by plaintiff granting relief for the loss or delay of a pleading in the mails arose under statutes different from those existing in this state and involved requests for such relief made in the same action shortly after the entry of the default. (Chicago etc. Co. v. Eastham, 26 Okla. 605 [110 P. 887; 30 L.R.A.N.S. 740]; Boyd v. Williams, *55970 N.J.L. 185 [56 A. 135]; Norman v. Iowa Central Ry. Co., 149 Iowa 246 [128 N.W. 349]; Corning v. Tripp, (N.Y.) 1 How.Pr. 14; Loeb v. Schmith, 1 Mont. 87; Williams v. Richmond etc. Co., 110 N.C. 466 [15 S.E. 97].) It is not enough now for plaintiff to show that the judgment was taken against her through a “mistake, inadvertence, surprise or excusable neglect” that would have entitled her to relief under the provisions of section 473 had she made timely application therefor. (Olivera v. Grace, supra.) She must prove that because of extrinsic fraud or mistake she had no reasonable opportunity to present her defense (Olivera v. Grace, supra; Westphal v. Westphal, 20 Cal.2d 393, 397 [126 P.2d 105]; Neblett v. Pacific Mutual L. Ins. Co., ante, pp. 393, 397-398 [139 P.2d 934]; Larrabee v. Tracy, 21 Cal.2d 645, 649 [134 P.2d 265] ; Bacon v. Bacon, 150 Cal. 477 [89 P. 317]; see Restatement, Judgments, secs. 118-126), and that she has not been negligent in failing to discover the fraud or mistake. (Wattson v. Dillon, 6 Cal.2d 33 [56 P.2d 220]; Wilson v. Wilson, 55 Cal.App.2d 421, 427 [130 P.2d 782], and cases there cited.)
The plaintiff has not shown that defendants are guilty of fraud. The trial court’s finding that defendants, with intent to lull plaintiff into a false sense of security, wilfully refrained from undertaking any proceedings in the action until more than six months after the entry of default, is not a finding of fraud, for defendants owed plaintiff no duty to notify her of the entry or to inform her of her legal rights. (Code of Civ. Proc., sees. 585, 1010, 1014; Bley v. Dessin, 31 Cal.App.2d 338, 343 [87 P.2d 889] ; Trustees of Amherst College v. Allen, 165 Mass. 178 [42 N.E. 570].) Defendants did nothing to deceive plaintiff, nor were they in any way responsible for the loss of plaintiff’s answer or for her belief that it had been filed. (See Wattson v. Dillon, 6 Cal.2d 33, 42-43 [56 P.2d 220].) They had a clear legal right to delay the entry and enforcement of the judgment and their motive in doing so is immaterial. Plaintiff herself rejects fraud as the basis of her action by characterizing the action in her brief on appeal as one “to set aside a default judgment obtained . . . as a result of mistake and accident.”
The mistake in the present case was the erroneous belief of plaintiff and her attorney in the earlier action that her answer was on file, prompted by the failure of the attorney to file an answer with the clerk of the court. (Code of Civ. Proc. see. 465.) One who is remiss in presenting his case to the court, *560however, is not entitled to the extraordinary remedy of setting aside a final judgment. (Wattson v. Dillon, supra; Wilson v. Wilson, supra; Borland v. Thornton, 12 Cal. 440; Quinn v. Wetherbee, 41 Cal. 247; Restatement, Judgments, secs. 1, 126.) Admittedly the answer was never delivered to the clerk, but plaintiff contends that it was mailed and that she was not responsible for its accidental loss. Mailing, however, is not equivalent to filing.- (McDonald v. Lee, 132 Cal. 252 [64 P. 250]; Estes v. Chimes, 40 Cal.App.2d 41 [104 P.2d 74] ; see United States v. Lombardo, 241 U.S. 73 [36 S.Ct. 508, 60 L.Ed. 897]; Poynor v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 81 F.2d 521, 522.) “Filing a paper consists in presenting it at the proper office, and leaving it there, deposited with the papers in such office. ... A paper in a case is said to be filed when it is delivered to the clerk and received by him, to be kept with the papers in the cause.” (Tregambo v. Comanche M. & M. Co., 57 Cal. 501, 506; see Cox v. Tyrone Power Enterprises, 49 Cal.App.2d 383, 395 [121 P.2d 829].) It is the duty of a litigant to see that his pleading is in fact deposited in the clerk’s office within the time contemplated by law. (Tregambo v. Comanche M. & M. Co., supra; Boyd v. Desmond, 79 Cal. 250, 253 [21 P. 755] ; Hoyt v. Stark, 134 Cal. 178, 180-181 [66 P. 223, 86 Am.St. Rep. 246] ; Fletcher v. Maginnis, 136 Cal. 362, 363 [68 P. 1015]; W. J. White Co. v. Winton, 41 Cal.App. 693, 695 [183 P. 277].) When he engages an attorney, the latter becomes his agent in prosecuting the suit and must on his behalf perform the duties that the law imposes upon a litigant, and the attorney’s failure to do so is chargeable to his client. (Wilson v. Wilson, supra; United States v. Duesdieker, 118 Cal.App. 723 [5 P. 2d 916] ; Jeffords v. Young, 98 Cal. App. 400 [277 P. 163] ; see 14 Cal.Jur. 1042-1043; 34 C.J. 307-309; 1 Freeman on Judgments (5th Ed.), p. 495.) Thus if an attorney fails to file an answer (Borland v. Thornton, supra), or fails to find and correct an error in the record on appeal (Quinn v. Wetherbee, supra), equity will deny the client’s application to set aside the judgment. Cases such as Brackett v. Banegas, 116 Cal. 278 [48 P. 90, 58 Am.St.Rep. 164], and Winn v. Torr, 27 Cal.App. 2d, 623 [81 P.2d 457], were not suits in equity to set aside a final judgment but actions to foreclose a mortgage, and rest upon the principle that since a mortgagee is entitled to an effectual foreclosure he is not precluded from bringing a new action to foreclose his lien by an earlier suit that failed of that purpose.
*561Cases in which the court or its attachés (Sullivan v. Lumsden, 118 Cal. 664, 668-669 [50 P. 777]; Herd v. Tuohy, 133 Cal. 55, 62-63 [65 P. 139]), or the other party (Olivera v. Grace, supra; Boyle v. Boyle, 97 Cal.App. 703 [276 P. 118]; Bacon v. Bacon, 150 Cal. 477 [89 P. 317]; Soule v. Bacon, 150 Cal. 495 [89 P. 324]; Bidleman v. Kewen, 2 Cal. 248; Bibend v. Kreutz, 20 Cal. 109; Antonsen v. Pacific Container Co., 48 Cal.App.2d 535, 538-539 [120 P.2d 148]) is responsible for the mistake are of no avail to plaintiff, for the mistake was solely that of plaintiff and her counsel. Equity will in certain cases relieve a complainant from an adverse judgment resulting from his own mistake (see Jeffords v. Young, supra), but it will not relieve him if he fails to present his case with the diligence required of a litigant.
(Wilson v. Wilson, supra; Borland v. Thornton, supra; Wattson v. Dillon, supra; Quinn v. Wetherbee, supra.) Defendant assumed the risk that her answer might not reach the clerk of the court when it was sent to him by mail. As time passed there was no acknowledgment of the copy sent to opposing counsel, or any other sign to indicate that either the answer or the copy had been received, but nothing was done to ascertain whether the answer had in fact been delivered to the clerk. After six months had elapsed following the entry of default, plaintiff’s attorney had still made no inquiry as to the progress of the case or as to whether the answer had been filed, nor did he examine the records of the case on file in the office of the clerk. The attorney’s office was only a few blocks from the courthouse and he could readily have checked the records in the clerk’s office. Even a telephone inquiry would have disclosed the true status of the case. Plaintiff must be charged with his failure to ascertain whether the answer had been filed. (Wattson v. Dillon, supra; Rudy v. Slotwinsky, 73 Cal.App. 459 [238 P. 783].)
In my opinion the trial court erred in setting aside the judgment of the municipal court, and also erred in granting plaintiff judgment for the sums collected by the defendants. The judgment should therefore be reversed.
Edmonds, J., concurred.
Appellants’ petition for a rehearing was denied August 19, 1943. Gibson, C. J., Edmonds, J., and Traynor, J., voted for a rehearing.