Buttermilk Creative Inc. v. Mark Seed

(Stanley Mosk Courthouse: Dept. 510) August 31, 2026 DEPARTMENT 510 LAW AND MOTION RULINGS Please notify Department 510 via email at [email protected] and indicate that the parties are submitting on the tentative ruling. Please provide the attorney's name and represented party. Please notify the opposing side via email if submitting on the Court's tentative ruling.

3 - Buttermilk Creative Inc. v. Mark Seed Defendant Mark Seed's Motion to Set Aside Default Judgment Defendant Mark Seed moves to set aside the default judgment entered against him on March 26, 2026 under Code of Civil Procedure section 473(d).

Evidentiary Objections Defendant makes 4 evidentiary objections to the evidence submitted by Plaintiff in support of its opposition. Objections nos. 1-2 and 4 are sustained based on lack of foundatin. Objection no. 3 is overruled.

Motion to Set Aside Under Code of Civil Procedure section 473(d), "The court may . . . on motion of either party after notice to the other party, set aside any void judgment or order." " '[C]ompliance with the statutory procedures for service of process is essential to establish personal jurisdiction. [Citation.] Thus, a default judgment entered against a defendant who was not served with a summons in the manner prescribed by statute is void.' " (Ellard v. Conway (2001) 94 Cal.App.4th 540, 544.) "Under section 473, subdivision (d), the court may set aside a default judgment which is valid on its face, but void, as a matter of law, due to improper service." (Ibid.)

Defendant shows that Plaintiff did not properly establish personal jurisdiction over him. On November 4, 2025, Plaintiff filed an application for publication of the summons with the Court, which the Court granted. To obtain an order for publication, the plaintiff must show reasonable diligence in serving the defendant by some other manner. (Code Civ. Proc.,¿Sec.¿415.50, subd.¿(a).) Likewise, the plaintiff must¿establish¿that a cause of action exists against the defendant via the testimony of an individual with personal knowledge of the underlying facts.¿¿(Harris v.¿Cavasso ¿(1977) 68 Cal.App.3d 723, 726.) "When jurisdiction is obtained by a prescribed form of constructive notice, the statutory conditions upon which service depends must be strictly construed; there must be strict compliance with the mode prescribed in the statute." (Calvert v.

Al Binali (2018) 29 Cal.App.5th 954, 962 [quoting Eagle Elec. Mfg. Co. v. Keener (1966) 247 Cal.App.2d 246, 250-251].)

In his motion, Defendant points out that Plaintiff failed to provide the required affidavit that "[a] cause of action exists against the party upon whom service is to be made or he or she is a necessary or proper party to the action" to support its application for publication. (CCP Sec. 415.50(a)(1).) Instead, Plaintiff only provided a declaration of due diligence regarding prior service attempts. In addition, the "Declaration of Merits" section of the application for publication form was not completed. Therefore, because the application was unsupported by an affidavit showing a cause of action exists, the Court never obtained personal jurisdiction, and the default judgment resulting from the publication of summons is void. (See Harris v. Cavasso (1977) 68 Cal.App.3d 723, 726-727.)

Plaintiff argues in opposition that its "application for service by publication included declarations establishing both the existence of Plaintiff's causes of action against Defendant and the factual basis supporting those claims." (Opp., at p. 3.) However, upon the Court's review of the file, no such declarations exist. The default judgment must be set aside. Because the Court finds that the default judgment must be set aside due to Plaintiff's failure to comply with CCP Sec. 415.50's requirements for a valid application for publication, the Court need not and does not address Defendant's other argued bases for relief under CCP Sec. 473(d).

Disposition

Defendant Mark Seed's motion to set aside default judgment is granted. The Court hereby vacates the default judgment entered against Defendant Seed by this Court on March 26, 2026. The Court hereby vacates the default entered against Defendant Seed on February 3, 2026. The Court sets a Case Management Conference for January 6, 2027 at 8:30 am in Department 510. Plaintiff is to give notice of the Case Management Conference concurrent with service of the summons and complaint.

Case Number: 25STCV30631 Hearing Date: August 31, 2026 Dept: 510 No. 4 - Catherine Metzger, et al. v. Cal-Cleve, Limited, et al. Defendant Briaunnie Leneise Davis Preston's Motion to Stay Action on the Ground of Inconvenient Forum Defendant Briaunnie Leneise Davis Preston ("Preston") moves to stay Plaintiffs' complaint under the doctrine of forum non conveniens. Defendants Cal-Cleve Limited, Dot-Line Transportation, Inc., and Travis Benjamin Gatlin filed a joinder to the motion.

Code of Civil Procedure section 410.30(a) provides, "When a court upon motion of a party or its own motion finds that in the interest of substantial justice an action should be heard in a forum outside this state, the court shall stay or dismiss the action in whole or in part on any conditions that may be just." "Forum non conveniens is an equitable doctrine invoking the discretionary power of a court to decline to exercise the jurisdiction it has over a transitory cause of action when it believes that the action may be more appropriately and justly tried elsewhere." (Stangvik v. Shiley Inc. (1991) 54 Cal.3d 744, 751 (Stangvik).)

Courts use a two-step process in applying forum non conveniens. "[A] court must first determine whether the alternate forum is a 'suitable' place for trial. If it is, the next step is to consider the