California Court of Appeal

In this case, judgment was entered in favor of defendant after the trial court dismissed plaintiff's complaint as a sanction for her failure to respond to discovery requests and to comply with an order compelling her to do so. Denial of plaintiff's motion for relief from judgment, which was brought under the mandatory provisions of Code of Civil Procedure section 473(b) is reversed, where: 1) a judgment of dismissal that implements a terminating sanction for discovery abuse is a "dismissal entered' for purposes of section 473(b) and therefore plaintiff may apply for mandatory relief from the judgment of dismissal; 2) the reporter's transcript and the written order prepared by defense counsel do not contain the required explicit finding necessary for the court to deny mandatory relief; 3) plaintiff's conduct was not a contributing cause of the terminating sanction, rather it was her attorney's fault; and 4) plaintiff's proposed discovery responses substantially complied with section 473(b).

Appellate Information

• Decided 02/20/2015
• Published 02/20/2015

Judges

• Franson

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel