Ruiz v. Cervantes
| Decision Date | 01 August 2017 |
| Docket Number | 33592-5-III |
| Court | Washington Court of Appeals |
| Parties | SALUD RUIZ, Respondent, v. JOSE G. CERVANTES and CYNTHIA CERVANTES, husband and wife, Appellants, RODOLFO HURTARDO and CARMEN HURTARDO, husband and wife; FELIPE HURTARDO, JR., and CHRISTINA HURTARDO, husband and wife, Defendants. |
UNPUBLISHED OPINION
Appellants Jose and Cynthia Cervantes seek to vacate a default judgment entered against them when they failed to appear at a settlement conference and pretrial management conference. We hold the trial court did not abuse its discretion when denying the Cervantes' motion to vacate.
This dispute concerns seventy acres of farmland located outside Prosser. Salud Ruiz contends that, in 2000, her deceased husband, Elias, and she purchased the land from appellants Jose and Cynthia Cervantes, husband and wife, on an oral contract. Thereafter, the Ruizes planted cherry and apple trees and installed irrigation equipment and wind machines on the land. The Ruizes farmed the property. By the end of 2006 the Ruizes had paid the full purchase price of $280, 000 in cash installments.
This lawsuit ended in a default judgment. Thus, the case procedure, rather than the underlying facts, bears more importance to this appeal.
On July 29, 2010, Salud Ruiz filed a complaint for breach of contract, fraud, violation of a constructive trust, specific performance, and quiet title to real property. The complaint named Jose and Cynthia Cervantes, husband and wife, as two of the six named defendants. Other defendants leased the subject Benton County rural property. The other defendants eventually disclaimed any interest in the land, leaving the Cervantes as the only active defendants.
The lawsuit moved slowly. On March 31, 2014, Scott Johnson attorney for Jose and Cynthia Cervantes, withdrew from representation of the defendants in the case. Johnson's motion and declaration supporting his request to withdraw did not contain an address for the Cervantes. A later declaration opposing the Cervantes' motion to vacate the default judgment avers that the order allowing Scott Johnson to withdraw listed 1091 Harrison Road, Sunnyside, WA 98944, as the mailing address for the Cervantes. Our copy of the order of withdrawal contains no mailing address for the Cervantes. The Cervantes remained unrepresented by legal counsel for a year.
On October 10, 2014, the trial court entered a sixth amended civil case scheduling order, which listed dates for the case including:
Clerk's Papers (CP) at 25 (boldface omitted). The court administrator's office mailed the case scheduling order to Jose Cervantes at 5881 Bethany Rd., Sunnyside, WA 98944. We do not know the provenance of the Bethany Road address. The postal service returned the letter to the court administrator's office with the notation "ATTEMPTED- NOT KNOWN, UNABLE TO FORWARD." CP at 27.
On December 10, 2014, the superior court administrator's office sent three hearing notices, with scheduled dates respectively for the settlement conference, pretrial management conference, and trial. The court administrator mailed the notices to Jose and Cynthia Cervantes at 5881 Bethany Rd., Sunnyside, WA 98944. The postal service returned the notices as "NOT DELIVERABLE AS ADDRESSED." CP at 32.
An alert counsel for Salud Ruiz arranged for personal delivery of the three hearing notifications on the Cervantes. An affidavit of service declares that, on December 18, 2014, Dennis Copeland with Legal Couriers, Inc., served a copy of the notice of settlement conference, notice of pretrial management conference, and notice of trial date on the Cervantes by personal service on Jose Cervantes at 7481 Van Bell Road, Sunnyside, WA 98944.
Jose and Cynthia Cervantes failed to appear for the settlement conference scheduled for January 8, 2015. The Benton County Superior Court commissioner waited for one-half hour, with only Rickey Kimbrough, attorney for Salud Ruiz, in appearance. Nevertheless, on January 8, Jose Cervantes called Kimbrough's office, and Kimbrough's secretary provided the time and location for the hearing.
On January 15, 2015, Rickey Kimbrough, attorney for Salud Ruiz, attended the scheduled pretrial management conference. The Cervantes did not appear. Kimbrough moved the trial court to grant default judgment due to the Cervantes' failure to appear. The trial court entered no formal order of default. The trial court impliedly granted the motion for default. Clerk's notes for that day read:
Findings of Fact & Order of Default to be prepared by Mr. Kimbrough [Salud Ruiz's counsel]. Case to be set on a special set for presentation and entry of orders. Mr. Kimbrough will arrange for [hearing] with court [administration].
On February 25, 2015, Salud Ruiz filed a proposed order of default and motion for default judgment, supported by declarations from Rickey Kimbrough and Ruiz. Salud Ruiz's declaration outlined the facts behind the sale of the property from the Cervantes to the Ruizes and the Ruizes' improvements and work on the property. The declaration attached extensive exhibits confirming use of the land. On February 26, Dennis Copeland served the Cervantes with the pleadings supporting the motion for default, the proposed order of default, and a notice of hearing scheduled for March 6, 2015, for entry of the default by personally serving Jose Cervantes at 7481 Van Bell Road, Sunnyside, WA 98944.
On March 6, 2015, Salud Ruiz, through counsel, presented to the Benton County Superior Court the proposed order of default and entry of default judgment. Jose Cervantes appeared pro se. The court allowed Cervantes to explain why he failed to appear for the settlement conference and the pretrial management conference. Cervantes first admitted that someone served him with papers for the conferences. He stated that he arrived at the courthouse on time for a conference, although he does not identify which conference. He lacked his information, so he called Salud Ruiz's attorney's office and spoke to Rickey Kimbrough's secretary over the phone. The secretary directed Cervantes to the Benton County Superior Court office, presumably the court administration office where counsel and parties wait for conferences.
During the March 6 hearing, Cervantes later denied being served papers, but he did not explain how he knew of the conference or conferences if he received no papers. Finally, he admitted being served with the papers for the March 6 default hearing. In response, Rickey Kimbrough commented that the court administrator's office lacked the correct address for the Cervantes so Salud Ruiz hired a process server to serve all notices and pleadings on the Cervantes.
At the conclusion of the March 6, 2015, default hearing, the trial court observed that the lawsuit began in 2010. The court noted that the Cervantes held an obligation to forward their mailing address to the court, and Ruiz had even served Jose Cervantes with notices and pleadings. The trial court entered an order of default and a decree quieting title in the Benton County farmland in favor of Salud Ruiz.
Jose and Cynthia Cervantes procured new legal counsel. On May 14, 2015, Jose Cervantes, through counsel, filed a motion to vacate the default judgment and decree quieting title. On the day of the vacation hearing, May 29, 2015, Jose Cervantes called the Benton County clerk's office and requested the court to strike his motion to vacate. The trial court, however, proceeded with the hearing as scheduled. Cervantes failed to appear. Salud Ruiz, through counsel, appeared for the motion hearing and requested the court deny Cervantes' motion for relief from judgment. The trial court granted Ruiz's request and denied Cervantes' motion.
On July 26, 2015, Jose and Cynthia Cervantes filed a notice of appeal from the May 29 order denying the Cervantes' motion for relief from judgment. The Cervantes then obtained a stay of the appeal because they intended to renew their trial court motion for relief from judgment. On November 12, 2015, Salud Ruiz sent this court a letter requesting dismissal of the Cervantes' appeal because the Cervantes had not pursued the appeal and had not renewed their motion for relief from judgment. Our court commissioner ruled that this court would dismiss the Cervantes' appeal without further notice on February 1, 2016, if the Cervantes did not (1) file their statement of arrangements and designation of clerk's papers by February 1, or (2) file a renewed motion for relief from judgment with the trial court by the same date.
On January 29, 2016, Jose and Cynthia Cervantes filed a new motion for relief from the March 6, 2015 judgment. The Cervantes never applied for an order to show cause. The motion sought to vacate the default order and default judgment under Benton County LCR 16, CR 55, and CR 60, although the motion did not identify the subsections of CR 55 or CR 60 on which the Cervantes based the motion. Through their counsel, the Cervantes argued their motion for relief before the superior court on May 12, 2016. The court denied the Cervantes' motion. The Cervantes then resumed this appeal.
On appeal, Jose and Cynthia Cervantes contend the trial court abused its discretion when denying their motion for relief from judgment for four reasons. First, errors in the service of hearing notifications deprived them of due process. Second, Salud Ruiz never produced...
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