A default judgment gets entered against a defendant, and since it's a default judgment, no one showed up to represent the defendant. The trial court entered the default, but trimmed the recovery somewhat based on its view of what the statute required.
The plaintiff then appealed. Again, since it's a default, no one showed up to represent the defendant on appeal. The Court of Appeal, partially reversed, based upon its interpretation of the relevant statute.
The California Supreme Court then granted review.
Now, in that tribunal, we're not willing to simply let one side argue the case without someone representing the contrary position. The defendant in this case remains massively uninterested in the dispute; it's an old run-down nightclub in Lake Forest that's been out of business for almost a decade, so no one cares about (or is going to pay) any judgment in any event.
So the California Supreme Court appoints someone to argue the defendant's position. For free. Here, it appoints Christopher Hu, an attorney at Horvitz & Leavy. Who loses 7-0, but on the upside, gets not only recognized in the text of the opinion, but also thanked for his service. Not bad.
I'll mention that it's fairly rare for an associate at a law firm -- which Mr. Hu is -- to be pulled up to argue a case in the California Supreme Court. Now, it probably helps in this regard that Mr. Hu was formerly the President of the Stanford Law Review, so I'm sure the justices were rightly confident that he'd do a great job.
It probably also helps, just a little, that he's a former law clerk to Justice Liu. Who wrote the opinion.
Anyway, hat's off to Chris Hu. Well done. Truly.
(Notwithstanding the crushing defeat.)
