Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

Re: Set asid default judgement

Having a meritorious defense that you could have made instead of defaulting is certainly a useful part of obtaining relief from a default judgment, since you must file your proposed responsive pleading (answer, demurrer, etc.) along with your motion, but the process depends heavily upon showing YOUR (or your attorney's mistake, surprise, inadvertence or excusable neglect.

If your attorney made the mistake and admits it in an affidavit, relief to the client is almost automatic, because clients are not supposed to suffer as a consequence of their lawyers' mistakes, but if you are self-represented you'll need a good excuse for not responding to the summons and complaint. See Code of Civil Procedure section 473(b).

I also agree with Mr. Novick that an agreement (stipulation) with opposing counsel saves everyone time and money (including the court) over making an hearing a motion, and opposing counsel will usually agree to stipulate to set aside a default judgment when it is an attorney mistake that caused it, since the motion will be granted in 99.99% of cases anyway, so why fight it? If it is a client or self-represented party's blunder, however, the path to relief is less certain and you may not get a stipulation and would be obliged to try your luck on getting sympathy in response to your motion.

And as I say, having had solid defenses is somewhat helpful in getting relief from default, but it's not the main deal.

Re: Set asid default judgement

You may want to try to seek a stipulation from opposing counsel.

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