How do I appeal a default judgment of Unlimited Civil Lawsuit with improper service?

Based on the information contained in your question, I would respond as follows: Appellate courts almost always only take into account what took place in the trial court. Right now all that's in the trial court record is what the plaintiff (who sued you in the first place) submitted to the trial court. That doesn't help you. So what you would need to do is to file a motion to vacate or set aside the judgment based on extrinsic fraud or mistake, to give the trial court a chance to cure the problem and put the problem on the record for the appellate court to review if the trial court denies your motion to vacate. What would make this harder for you is that after two years, extrinsic fraud or mistake, or if the judgment is void, are the only ways to set aside a judgment. You need to show that the plaintiff or their attorney provided false information to the court that induced it to enter the judgment against you without a hearing. The false information would be you did not reside there at the time. You would also need to provide some sort of evidence that the plaintiff knew that you did not reside there at that time, whether it's a bill or some other form of correspondence to you at the location you actually resided at at that time, or that the plaintiff did not comply with proper procedures for serving the summons and complaint on you, Filing a motion requires filing a notice of motion stating the grounds for your motion, legal arguments stating why you are entitled to this relief, and evidence in the form of a declaration signed by you or whoever else is making that declarationunder penalty of perjury. The declaration has to show that you have personal knowledge of what you are talking about, or else it's hearsay and may be inadmissible. Then, if the trial court denies your motion to vacate or set aside, to appeal you must file a notice of appeal with the trial court informing the trial court that you are appealing the order denying your motion to vacate or set aside. This is a 1-2 page document. This must be filed within 60 days of the notice of entry of the order. If you are late then the appellate court cannot help you, no matter how strong your argument. Then, within 10 days after filing the notice of appeal, you must designate the record, which tells the trial court what should be in the record sent to the appellate court, including the papers filed in the trial court by both parties, as well as all reporters' transcripts, not only of the hearing on your motion to set aside or vacate, but also any hearings in the trial court when or before the judgment was entered. After that the record is assembled, then you would have 30 - 45 days following the filing of the record on appeal with the appellate court to file your opening brief, which tells the appellate court the factual and legal reasons why the trial court erred in denying your motion and that therefore the judgment should be set aside. The other side will then have 30-45 days to respond to your opening brief, then you would have 20 days to file a reply brief, which is necessary. Then the appellate court will hold oral argument a few months later, then rule within 90 days, usually much fewer, after that. This should NOT be considered legal advice to a client and does not in any way create an attorney-client relationship. You should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel.

A default judgment is obtained by the plaintiff when the defendant does not file a response to the Summons and Complaint, or does not appear at the hearing. Defaults may be set aside or vacated by the court at the request of the defendant. California law provides specific grounds on which a defendant may base a motion for relief from a default or default judgment. The defendant bears the burden of proving to the court that he or she is entitled to relief from default. The moving party also must show that they have a meritorious defense to the original case. California Code of Civil Procedure sections 473(b), 476(d) and 473.5 specify the grounds on which you can base a motion for relief of default or default judgment. Based on the information you have provided, you should be able to have the default vacated due to improper service. Feel free to call my office for a more detailed evaluation of your case. Omer Rangoonwala, Esq. 333 City Blvd. West Suite 1700 Orange, CA 92868