April 26, 2016
The issue involved whether the party that had obtained a default judgment could move to have it set aside as void. As Burnham Brown argued, since the party holding the judgment had invited the error that resulted in the judgment being entered as it was, it was not the “party aggrieved” and thus, it did not have standing to appeal the trial court’s finding that the judgment was, at most “voidable,” but not “void.” While a void judgment can be set aside at any time, a judgment which is merely voidable must be set aside within six months of it being entered, and there must be a showing of mistake, inadvertence or excusable neglect on the part of the party and/or counsel.
The Appellant’s attempt to have the judgment set aside followed a prior win by Burnham Brown in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on a portion of the default judgment entered in favor of Jazz Builders’ insurer. In that action, the insurer sought to enforce the portion of the judgment entered in its favor, but as Burnham Brown argued, the judgment in favor of the insurer was void because the insurer was never a party to the underlying action. Thus, it was improper for the trial court to have entered the default judgment in the insurer’s name.
The cases are Jazz Builders, Inc. v. Earth Energy Systems, Inc. (Navigators Specialty Insurance Company as Intervenor and Respondent), California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, Division Four, Case No. A139221; and North American Capacity Insurance Company v. Navigators Specialty Insurance Company, U.S.D.C, Northern District of California, Case No. C 12-01488 RS..