Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

I was the plaintiff and represented myself in a unlimited superior court case in which I sued a trust for nonpayment of wages, etc. The major reason that I lost the case is because I forgot to ask a key witness an essential question. I filed a notice of motion and a motion for a new or further trial, along with the necessary accompanying documents, such as a declaration and a memorandum of points and authorities. As usual when filing a motion for a hearing, my notice originally included the date, time and place that hearing would take place. However, when I submitted the documents to the court clerk, that person informed me that with post-trial motions such as mine, it was up to the judge to determine if my motion merited the grounds for a new or further trial, and, therefore, that I should not include a date, time and place for the hearing. Therefore I filed the motions papers, sans date, time and place. I waited and waited, because I assumed that the judge had at least an entire year to make his determination. After a year had passed and nothing had happened, I began to look into the matter. I contacted the court and was told that there was absolutely no scheduled hearing of any kind on my motion. I am at a complete loss and I have absolutely no clue what is going on. Did the clerk mislead me or has the judge screwed up? Maybe I committed an error in the title of my filing (NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION FOR ORDER TO VACATE JUDGMENT AND FOR A NEW TRAIL OR FOR FURTHER TRIAL; MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES; DECLARATION OF ______ _______ IN SUPPORT OF MOTION FOR A NEW TRIAL)? Please enlighten me; this was my case to lose, and, from the looks of it, that is just what I've done!


Asked on 1/04/12, 12:30 am

3 Answers from Attorneys

There are any number of reasons your motion could have been disregarded. Without knowing all the details and reviewing the case file, there is no way to tell what happened. I can tell you, however, that unless you are Steve Martin, "I forgot" is not grounds for a new trial. So you would have lost your motion anyway. Having waited this long, no matter what happened or why, you are out of luck. Too bad you didn't just file an unpaid wages case with the Dept. of Industrial Relations in the first place.

Read more
Answered on 1/04/12, 11:02 am
Joel Selik www.SelikLaw.com

If you do not get a hearing date by requesting one from the clerk, you may have to request an ex parte hearing to get a motion date.

Read more
Answered on 1/04/12, 11:15 am
Anthony Roach Law Office of Anthony A. Roach

You screwed up. I'm surprised the previous attorneys responding did not catch your error. A motion for a new trial is not the same as any other kind of motion. You should have filed a notice of intent to move for a new trial. The trial court then assigns a date, and then you file the memorandum of points and authorities and the motion. It is too late to correct it now.

Read more
Answered on 1/04/12, 1:38 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More General Civil Litigation questions and answers in California