Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Unlawful detainer

You are jumping the gun a little here. First, how was the defendant / were the defendants served - you only indicate that you filed the complaint on May 8, 2009 - did you actually serve the Complaint, Summons and any other required local forms and the Prejudgment Claim of Right to Possession on the defendant(s)? If you haven't yet served them, use an attorney service or the Marshalls as most people who try this on their own don't do it properly. If you have served them, unless you did so by personal service on each defendant, then you have to add time to the five days within which the defendant(s) must file an answer to the lawsuit. Review the code sections dealing with various methods of service of summons & complaints, and determine when that time expires given the way the defendant(s) were served. Only upon the passing of the applicable time period may you make application to the court for entry of a default, and entry of a judgment against the defendant(s). Once the judgment has been entered you may also request issuance of a writ of possesion concurrently. That is then delivered to the Marshall along with instructions and a check. Expect them to serve notice of the execution of the writ, then five to seven days later they will actually execute the writ and evict the tenants.

Describing for you the entire process of obtaining a default, a judgment, having a writ issued and executed goes far beyond the scope of what this forum is intended to provide which is general information. Specific instruction such as that are also how we make our living, so I wouldn't expect anyone to post that information for no charge. I would suggest that you contact an attorney if you do not know how to proceed at this point, as the courts (at least in my area) are very particular about requests for entry of defaults and issuance of default judgments in unlawful detainers. Any small mistake will cause this to be rejected and more time wasted. In almost every case I have seen, the money you spend on an attorney to handle the case is more than made up for by the shorter turn-around time on an eviction.

*Due to the limitations of the LawGuru Forums, The Gibbs Law Firm, APC's (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided is general and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.

Re: Unlawful detainer

Your filing date doesn't control. Your ability to get a trial date set depends upon your completing service of process.

You can request a trial date after you have served the summons and complaint and the tenant(s) have appeared (by filing an answer) or have had their defaults taken or been dismissed. In most courts, this is done by completing, filing and serving Judicial Council Form UD-150, which if you study it should be self-explanatory. A few courts may have additional or different requirements.

Judicial Council forms are available to be viewed and filled in on line at www.courtinfo.ca.gov/forms. I suggest that you look at all the Unlawful Detainer forms - those with form numbers beginning with UD - for a better appreciation of the mechanics of handling an unlawful detainer. For example, at the end of the process, if you win at trial, you'll probably want to have several copies of a completed Form UD-110 ready for the judge to sign, and while I don't practice in this area, I'm pretty sure you need to give the sheriff a Writ of Possession on Judicial Council Form EJ-130, which you prepare but hand to the clerk to "issue" for you after trial. If you are terminating a lease early, you may have to wait five days for your writ. If you are seeking a money judgment as well as possession, you may need to prepare an EJ-150 as well.

This answer does not pretend to be a comprehensive beginners guide to doing unlawful detainers. It is only a brief mention by a non-expert of some factors that may affect the timing of events.