STEPHEN O. TRACKMAN, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. MIKE KENNEY, Defendant and Respondent., 187 Cal. App. 4th 175

Summary

Because defendant's motion to set aside the default judgment was filed more than two years after entry of judgment, the court found that the trial court's review was limited to the face of the record. Therefore, the trial court erred by considering the evidence attached to defendant's motion. The court rejected defendant's contention that the proof of service was void on its face, because the name of the person given the summons was stated as "John Doe, co-resident." Persons given legal papers often refused to give their true legal name, and it was an established practice for process servers to identify such persons as "John Doe" or some similar name. Although the use of a fictitious name might at times be risky, leading to a successful evidentiary challenge to service, it did not make a proof of service void on its face. Moreover, leaving papers with an apparent co-resident at an address publicly registered by the defendant as required by law is a method of service reasonably ...