SAN TAN HEIGHTS HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION VS MOHAMMAD BHOLA

Tentative Rulings

Case Number: 19STCP00190    Hearing Date: March 04, 2020    Dept: 26

San Tan Heights HOA v. Bhola, et al.

MOTION TO AMEND JUDGMENT

(CCP § 473(d))

TENTATIVE RULING:

Judgment Creditor San Tan Heights Homeowners Association’s Motion to Amend Judgment to Correct Clerical Error is GRANTED.

ANALYSIS:

Judgment Creditor San Tan Heights Homeowners Association (“Judgment Creditor”) filed an Application for Entry of Sister State Judgment against Judgment Debtors Mohammad Bhola and Jane Doe Bhola, whose true name is Malika Bhola (“Judgment Debtors”) on January 17, 2019. The Court entered judgment in the total amount of $5,996.18 the same day. On June 10, 2019, Judgment Creditor filed the instant Motion to Amend Judgment. To date, no opposition has been filed.

Legal Standard

Courts have inherent powers to correct judgments by a nunc pro tunc order where there has been clerical error by clerk or by the judge himself, or where some provision of, or omission from, order or judgment was due to inadvertence, or mistake of court. (Lane v. Superior Court of Siskiyou County (1950) 98 Cal App 2d 165, 219; CCP § 473(d).) However, while a trial court may correct clerical errors and misprisions in a judgment, it cannot amend a judgment once entered, if the error to be corrected is a judicial one, for instance if it embodies an intentional action of the court even though legally erroneous. (Kamper v. Mark Hopkins, Inc. (1947) 78 Cal App 2d 885.)

Discussion

Judgment Creditor asks the Court to take judicial notice of the following: (1) Order entered in

the Pinal County Superior Court, State of Arizona on January 8, 2019 in the Court case

entitled San Tan Heights Homeowners Association v. Mohammad Bhola and Jane Doe Bhola

with case number CV2013-00123; (2) Judgment on Sister-State Judgment entered in the above-entitled action, in the Los Angeles County Superior Court with case number 19STCP00190; (3) Notice entered in the Pinal County Superior Court, State of Arizona on February 14, 2019 in the Court case entitled San Tan Heights Homeowners Association v. Mohammad Bhola and Jane Doe Bhola with case number CV2013-00123; and Order entered in the Pinal County Superior Court, State of Arizona on February 15, 2019 in the Court case entitled San Tan Heights Homeowners Association v. Mohammad Bhola and Jane Doe Bhola with case number CV2013-00123. The request is granted pursuant to Cal. Evidence Code section 452, subdivision (d).

The judgment entered in this action was based on a judgment entered on May 9, 2012 and renewed on April 21, 2017 by the Pinal County Superior Court, State of Arizona. (Motion, RJN, Exh. 2.) Following domestication of the judgment here, Judgment Creditor realized the amount of attorney’s fees and costs awarded by the Pinal County Superior Court was incorrect based on Judgment Creditor’s erroneous proposed order and filed a motion therein to correct the amounts. The motion was granted by the Pinal County Superior Court on January 21, 2019. (Id. at Exh. 3.) The attorney’s fees and costs were corrected to reflect an award of $2,417.20 and $545.46, respectively. (Id. at Exh. 4.) Therefore, the principal amount of the judgment entered by this Court should be corrected to $6,757.15 to reflect the correct amount of attorney’s fees and costs awarded in the Pinal County Superior Court judgment.

Judgment Creditor San Tan Heights Homeowners Association’s Motion to Amend Judgment to Correct Clerical Error is GRANTED.

Moving party to give notice.