Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

You must take a default before you obtain a default judgment. If your complaint sought a specific amount of money, then you probably could obtain a clerk's judgment. If it did not, you might face some other hurdles. The court holds a case management conference to determine where the case is in terms of discovery, default, etc., and might set mediation/arbitration and trial dates. A case management statement must be filed with the court and served on the defendant at least 15 days before the case management conference.

If a defalt judgment is entered the case is over. Case Management would have no relevance at that point.

If you have had the clerk enter the other parties default, you have to submit a default judgment package to the court. You would need more than just one form to do it right. If the other side has not had their entry of default, you must first have the court enter their default (assuming that you properly served, filed proof of such service, and their time has run to answer or otherwise respond, etc.). You must use the multipurpose Request for Entry of Default Form. If none of the above applies, you use the Case Management Form to advise the judge of the status of the case, by filing and serving prior to a scheduled Case Management Conference.