McConnell v. Maynard CA3

Filed 3/28/25 McConnell v. Maynard CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Sutter) ----

ANDREW POLLOCK MCCONNELL III, as C097033 Personal Representative, etc., (Super. Ct. No. CVCS21- Plaintiff and Respondent, 0001376)

v.

SARA MAYNARD,

Defendant and Appellant.

In April 2021, a Washington state court entered a judgment of nearly $40,000 against appellant Sara Maynard. In August 2021, respondent Andrew Pollock McConnell III, in his capacity as personal representative of the Estate of Helen B. Maynard Jr., filed an application to enter the judgment in Sutter County Superior Court under the Sister State and Foreign Money-Judgments Act (Code Civ. Proc., § 1710.10 et seq.).1 After the clerk of the superior court registered the judgment, Maynard filed a motion to set it aside, arguing, among other things, that service of notice of entry of

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Code of Civil Procedure.

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judgment was defective. The trial court denied Maynard’s motion. On appeal, Maynard contends that the trial court erred in finding service proper. We will affirm the trial court’s order. BACKGROUND This matter arises out of an inheritance dispute. Maynard filed a lawsuit against McConnell and other defendants in King County Superior Court in Washington State. The Washington court dismissed the action and awarded McConnell attorneys’ fees and costs totaling $39,886.15. In August 2021, McConnell filed an application in Sutter County Superior Court for entry of judgment on a sister state judgment. The application requested the amount of the Washington judgment in addition to applicable filing fees and interest. A certified copy of the Washington judgment was attached. The clerk of the Sutter County Superior Court issued a notice of entry of judgment on the sister state judgment, setting out the amount of the judgment and warning that the judgment would become final if no motion to vacate was filed within 30 days of service of the notice. McConnell retained a registered process server to serve Maynard. The process server attempted to serve Maynard at her residence in Sutter County on multiple occasions in March 2022, but in each instance, the occupant said they did not know Maynard or no one answered the door. Finally, on March 26, 2022, a man answered the door, confirmed that Maynard lived at the residence, and stated he was her roommate. He said she was not available and told the process server to leave or be shot. He refused to take the documents. The process server informed the man of the general nature of the documents and left a copy. Three days later, the process server sent a copy of the documents to the same address by first-class mail. On May 18, 2022, Maynard filed a motion to set aside or stay the judgment. The motion argued that she had not been properly served and urged the trial court to stay or set aside the judgment on the ground that the Washington case had been appealed. The