Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
I recently had a trial with my divorce attorney regarding the payment as we had a dispute on the hourly rate. The trial was against me and I have to pay the attorney $6680. The trial was done on Jan 9th and yesterday I received in mail a form JUD-100 sent by plaintiff saying "a statement of decision was not requested". I was waiting on the judgement from court to take any further steps. Is this form considered as a legal court judgement? can I request a statement of decision now? what are my options?
appreciate if you can help me out
--ritu
2 Answers from Attorneys
A statement of decision [asking judge to state why decided as did] must be requested before the case is submitted to the judge for decision. A judgment is when the judge signs a paper stating that a judgment is being made; there is not one exact form for a judgment. Normally it is prepared by the winning side and must be submitted to the losing side to agree to the form of the document.
The JUD-100 form sent to you is probably the "proposed" judgment, drafted by the attorney. You can tell by looking at the signature portion where the judge signs. If it is signed by the judge, then it is the judgment.
Statesments of decision are not automatic, and must be timely requested. If the trial concludes within one day (defined as 8 hours) then the requeste for a statement of decision must be made prior to the submission of the matter for decision. (Code Civ. Proc., sect. 632.) In trials longer than 8 hours, the request must be made within 10 days after the court announces a tentative decision in open court.
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