Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

I would suggest you file a summary of the case status with the court and mail a copy to the defendant's attorney. The court may not waive your appearance, but you should ask in the declaration under oath that it do so. You might call the clerk (and look online) to see if that has occurred. If not, there are agencies that have attorneys on staff to appear for attorneys who can't make it to court. You might look into those, or see what's on calendar at the same time and perhaps ask in advance one of the attorneys for another plaintiff to appear on your behalf (probably for a little $$). I'm not sure that the court would be happy about that, but at least you would make an effort to have an attorney appear for you.

You should appear via CourtCall. Failure to be in court will possibly subject you to sanctions. Also, the defense attorney may say things which you will need to rebut.