Overview
HOLDINGS: [1]-Although a corporation was not named in the complaint, it was an aggrieved party with standing to appeal under Code Civ. Proc., § 902, because the complaint alleged it was a continuation of a named defendant, it filed an answer and fully participated in the litigation without objection, it signed a stipulation for entry of judgment, information about it was sought in postjudgment collection efforts, and it filed a motion to vacate that was the subject of the appeal; [2]-The trial court had authority under Code Civ. Proc., § 473, subd. (d), to vacate a stipulated judgment upon finding it void under Civ. Code, §§ 1599, 1671, subd. (b), as a penalty rather than liquidated damages; [3]-The stipulated judgment was void as a penalty because the amount bore no reasonable relationship to the damages that could have been anticipated from failure to timely pay the settlement amount.
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Outcome
Reversed and remanded.