Plaza Tulare v. Tradewell Stores, Inc.

Opinion

FRANSON, P. J.

This action arises out of a dispute over the interpretation of a written lease for commercial properties. At the settlement conference, the parties agreed to bifurcate the trial under Code of Civil Procedure section 598

1

and to try the issue of the lease interpretation first. The trial court interpreted the lease in favor of respondents. The issue of damages has not yet been litigated.

Appellants have appealed from the order on interpretation of lease and partial judgment, Respondents have moved to dismiss this appeal on the ground that it is taken from a nonappealable order.

When enacted in 1963, section 598 provided that a judge could order the trial of the issue of liability before the trial of any other issue in

[524]

the case. The objective of this section was the avoidance of the waste of time and money caused by the unnecessary trial of damage questions in cases where the liability issue was resolved against the plaintiff.

(Trickey

v.

Superior Court

(1967) 252 Cal.App.2d 650, 653 [60 Cal.Rptr. 761].) Thus, if the issue of liability was decided in favor of the defendant, judgment would be entered at that time. However, if the liability issue was resolved against the defendant, section 598 provided that “the trial of the other issues shall thereafter be had at such time, . . . and judgment shall be entered in the same manner and with the same effect as if all the issues in the case had been tried at one time.”

Where the trial is bifurcated under this section as originally enacted, a “verdict in favor of the party seeking to impose liability upon the others cannot provide the basis for a final judgment. Issues remain to be litigated, thus no final determination of the rights of the parties has occurred.”

(Lauderdale