California Casualty Indemnity Insurance v. Mendoza

[680]

Opinion

STONE (S. J.), P. J.

The trial court did not abuse its discretion by ordering dismissal of this case after the appellant, the California Casualty Indemnity Insurance Company (the Company), failed to appear both at the case management conference and at the hearing on an order to show cause (OSC) regarding dismissal. We affirm.

Facts

On January 4, 1994, the Company filed a complaint seeking recovery in subrogation for uninsured motorist benefits it paid to its insured, Denise Fern Carlson Hapeman, for injuries she sustained in an automobile accident with respondents, Saldino Centino Mendoza et al.

1

On March 10, 1994, the clerk of the trial court entered the default of all respondents. The trial court set a case management conference (CMC) regarding status for June 3, 1994. In response to the notice of the CMC, the Company filed a memorandum of points and authorities requesting the court not to dismiss this action. The Company stated that it preferred to allow six months to elapse “to avoid a waste of time and expense in seeking a [default] judgment which could ultimately be set aside” pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 473.

The Company did not appear at the CMC hearing set for June 3,1994, and the court determined that the delay sought “is without good cause and is denied.” The court set a further status conference on June 17, 1994, and in conjunction therewith, set an OSC regarding dismissal for failure to prove default. The court sent proper notice to the Company of the OSC. The Company failed to appear on June 17, 1994, and the trial court ordered the matter dismissed. (Code Civ. Proc., §§ 581, subd. (m), 581d.) The Company did not seek relief from the order of dismissal pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 473, and it appealed from the order of dismissal.

Discussion

The Company asserts that the trial court had no authority to dismiss this case before the expiration of 12 months from the date it filed the complaint. The Company argues that this is so because the Legislature established 12 months as the minimum reasonable time to complete the vast majority of cases. The Company opines that the trial court requires “needless