Tri-County Elevator Co. v. Superior Court

Citations: 135 Cal. App. 3d 271; 185 Cal. Rptr. 208; 1982 Cal. App. LEXIS 1902Docket: Civ. 65393

Court: California Court of Appeal; August 23, 1982; California; State Appellate Court

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Tri-County Elevator Company, Inc. petitioned the Court of Appeals of California for a writ of mandate to vacate the Santa Barbara Superior Court's order denying its motion for a new trial. The court had ruled that the motion was filed too late, claiming it was submitted more than 15 days after the service of a conformed copy of the judgment, which the court considered sufficient notice of entry. Petitioner argued that the conformed copy did not meet the requirements of Code of Civil Procedure section 664.5, which mandates that notice of entry of judgment be a separate document. The petitioner contended that the only valid notice was the one mailed by the court clerk on March 29, 1982, making their April 9 notice of intention to move for a new trial timely. The court disagreed, interpreting section 659 to mean that the notice requirement applied to the clerk's service, thus affirming that the judgment served by the real parties constituted proper notice under the amended section 664.5, which now allows parties to provide notice of entry. This interpretation aligns with the statutory construction principle that modifying phrases apply to the nearest antecedent.

Section 659 remains unamended regarding the applicability of section 664.5, applying only to clerk-served notices of entry of judgment, not party-served notices. Since 1959, section 659 has permitted parties to serve written notice of entry of judgment, initiating the timeframe for filing a motion for a new trial. Only the Legislature can modify section 659 to incorporate section 664.5 procedures for party-served notices, which it has not done. Therefore, any attempt to reinterpret section 659 to align with presumed legislative intent is inappropriate. Written notice of entry of judgment is required, but no specific form is mandated, as long as it effectively informs the losing party of the judgment's entry. In Santa Barbara County, the judgment's filing date serves as its entry date when the clerk uses a specific microfilming process, demonstrated by the conformed copy of the judgment served to the petitioner, which indicated it was filed on March 19, 1982. However, in counties where judgments are entered in a judgment book, the date of filing does not equal the entry date; thus, proper notice would require a conformed copy showing the entry date or a separate document stating it. A proof of service for the judgment copy was filed on May 24, 1982, but the relevance of this to section 664.5 is moot, as that section’s procedures do not apply to section 659’s notice sufficiency.

Service of process, rather than proof of service, is what grants the court jurisdiction. The preservation of proof is not necessary for jurisdiction. In this case, written notice of entry of judgment was mailed to the petitioner on March 22, 1982. The petitioner filed a notice of intention to move for a new trial eighteen days later, on April 9, 1982. Compliance with the 15-day requirement under section 659 is jurisdictional, meaning the respondent court lacked the authority to consider the motion and correctly denied it. The court discharged the alternative writ and denied the peremptory writ. The Supreme Court declined to hear the petitioner's application for review on November 10, 1982. Mandamus is noted as a viable method for reviewing nonappealable trial court orders when the legal issue is significant for public interest. An alternative writ implies that no other adequate remedy exists, justifying the use of original jurisdiction. Section 664.5 mandates that the court clerk must mail notice of judgment entry to all appearing parties and file a certificate of mailing, but there is no record that the court ordered the clerk to send the notice dated March 29, 1982.