Rappleyea v. Campbell

On November 1, 1990, Hal Rappleyea (plaintiff) sued Arizona residents Ken Campbell and another (Campbell) (defendants) in California state court. Campbell proceeded in propria persona but had an Arizona lawyer-friend call the Los Angeles Superior Court clerk’s office, who advised that the filing fee was $89 when in fact, for two defendants, the filing fee was $159. Campbell answered the complaint by mail from Arizona and enclosed $89. The clerk’s office received the answer by November 29, which was within the 30 days required for a timely answer under Code of Civil Procedure § 412.20(a)(3), but it rejected the complaint and check and returned the answer. Campbell promptly sent back their answer with the correct fee, and it was filed on December 11, 1990—nine days late under § 412.20(a)(3). In the interim, on December 4, 1990, which was the first day possible, Rappleyea applied to the clerk to enter a default against Campbell, which the court did, and Rappleyea mailed a copy of the application to Campbell. In May 1991, Rappleyea’s attorney misadvised Campbell, telling them that they had waived their rights to relief from the entry of default under § 473, which they had not. In October 1991, Campbell learned that a default judgment might soon enter, and they moved to set aside the default and appeared in propria persona on December 9, 1991. The motion was argued on January 15, 1992, and it was denied for failure to show good cause. Campbell hired counsel, who moved and was denied reconsideration because it was untimely. A default judgment of more than $200,000 was entered on January 29, 1992, and Campbell appealed. The California Court of Appeal affirmed, and Campbell sought further review.