Eldred v. White

Citations

• 102 Cal. 600
• 36 P. 944
• 1894 Cal. LEXIS 692

Syllabus

<p>Action to Vacate Judgment—Unauthobized Appearance—Unexplained Laches—Insufficient Showing.—An action to set aside a judgment of foreclosure on the ground that the plaintiff, who executed the mortgage, and who was the defendant in the foreclosure suit, had never been served with summons, and that his appearance therein by attorney was unauthorized, cannot be maintained where it appears that the action was not commenced until more than a year after the date of the judgment, and no reason is shown why it was not commenced sooner, or why proceedings were not commenced under section 473 of the Code of Civil Procedure to obtain leave “to answer to the merits of the original action,” or why other remedies at law were not exhausted before the aid of a court of equity was invoked, and there is no averment or finding that he did not know of the former judgment at the time of its rendition, nor that he has a good defense to the action, nor that the judgment is not regular and valid on its face.</p> <p>Id.—Relief in Equity—Prevention of Injustice—Plea of Statute of Limitations Kot Favored.—A judgment at law will not be set aside or interfered with by a court of equity except tor the prevention of fraud, or to relieve from substantial injury or gross injustice. A court of equity looks well to the consequences of its acts, and it will not readily nullify a judgment at law if the effect is to put it in the power of the judgment debtor to plead the statute of limitations to a debt which he does not deny to be justly due.</p> <p>Id.—Defense Upon Merits.—In order to obtain equitable relief against a judgment alleged to have been fraudulently obtained, it must be averred and shown that .there is a valid defense on the merits.</p>