Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Noceti v. Whorton (Cal. Ct. App. - March 18, 2014)

Not that you need any additional incentive to calendar a trial date correctly.  But here's some more.

The Court of Appeal holds that a plaintiff isn't entitled to mandatory relief under the "attorney fault" provisions of CCP 473(b) when her lawyer admits that he calendared the wrong trial date and, as a result, didn't show up for -- and hence lost -- the trial.  Maybe (to reiterate:  maybe) she can seek discretionary relief.  Good luck with that.  But while Section 473(b) permits you to vacate a default, that rule doesn't apply to not showing up at trial.

That's not a default.  We instead call that something else:  Losing.

So calendar those dates correctly.  They're pretty important, after all.

Or, at a minimum, keep those malpractice insurance premiums paid up.