| Case | County / Judge | Motion | Ruling | Indexed | Hearing |
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MOTION FOR SET ASIDE/VACATE JUDGMENT
Matter on the Law & Motion / Discovery calendar for Thursday, October 23, 2025, Line 7. DEFENDANT STEPHEN RUSSELL's (ERRONEOUSLY NAMED AS STEVE RUSSELL) MOTION FOR SET ASIDE/VACATE JUDGMENT.
Defendant's motion to vacate judgment is denied. It is untimely and lacks merit. Defendant contends that he was not properly served and lacked actual notice in time to defend. The record belies defendant's contentions.
Plaintiff was personally served with the summons and complaint on February 17, 2022, and filed an answer and appeared through counsel on April 1, 2022. Defendant apparently abandoned the case and judgment was entered against him on June 12, 2023, because he failed to appear at the trial.
On October 18, 2023, defendant filed a notice of intent to file motion to set aside judgment. Thereafter, defendant took no action to vacate the judgment until filing the instant motion on August 25, 2025. This motion lacks substantive merit and given defendant's delay, the policy in favor of the finality of judgments prevails. (In re Marriage of Stevenot (1984) 154 Cal.App.3d 1051, 1071 ["Once relief is no longer available under section 473, the public policy in favor of finality of judgments predominates, and the power to set aside valid final judgments ... should be exercised only when exceptional circumstances [exist]"].)
For the 9:00 a.m. calendar, all attorneys and parties may appear in Department 301 remotely or in person. Remote hearings will be conducted by videoconference using Zoom. (Dept. 301 Zoom ID 161 502 4290; Passcode 700956.) To appear remotely at the hearing, go to the court's website at sfsuperiorcourt.org under "Online Services," navigate to "Tentative Rulings," and click on the appropriate link, or dial the corresponding phone number.
Any party who contests a tentative ruling must send an email to contestdept301tr@sftc.org with a copy to all other parties by 4pm stating, without argument, the portion(s) of the tentative ruling that the party contests. The subject line of the email shall include the line number, case name and case number. The text of the email shall include the name and contact information, including email address, of the attorney or party who will appear at the hearing.
Counsel for the prevailing party is required to prepare a proposed order which repeats verbatim the substantive portion of the tentative ruling and must email it to contestdept301tr@sftc.org prior to the hearing even if the tentative ruling is not contested.
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